After a week in New York City, Millie Dillmount once again bumps into the very first person she met in the city. “You’ve come a long way,” he says, after giving her the once over.

Kristen Beth Williams and Robert Pieranunzi are high-rise

lovers in "Thoroughly Modern Millie."

Photo: Ken Jacques

The same might be said of the musical, “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” Based on a tepid 1967 film, the musical -- with book by Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan, and new music by Jeanine Tesori -- began life at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2000, traveled to Broadway in 2002 and then traipsed across the country in a national tour (hitting San Diego in 2004), shifting in look and size along the way. Now the loveable tramp is back, in a solidly pleasing West Coast regional premiere by Moonlight Stage Production.

“Millie” took home six Tony Awards in 2002 including Best Musical, but it’s not without its flaws. Chief among these is a somewhat unkempt book with a too tidy wrap-up, borderline xenophobia and a few forgettable numbers. But mostly the musical is glittery, trifling fun about a small-town girl who makes good. Under the swift, sure-footed direction and choreography of Kirby Ward (also a tap dancer, actor and writer), Moonlight offers a tight, spirited and audience-pleasing production of this fluffy tale of American can-do attitude and ambition.

Millie (Kristen Beth Williams) trades in her Kansas frump and long tresses for the short skirts and modern bob of 1922 New York, viewing marriage as a business proposal and looking score a huge promotion. But while she’s intent on roping in her stuffy boss (Randall Dodge), Millie ends up falling in love with poor Jimmy (Robert Pieranunzi), a charming drifter and a rake. In the meantime, she checks into a boarding house for young women that’s actually a front for a white slave racket run by the evil Mrs. Meers (Diane Vincent). There Millie meets and befriends the naive Miss Dorothy (Sarah Elizabeth Combs), a wealthy girl slumming it to “see how the other half lives”-- and who is also Mrs. Meers’ next target. A famous jazz singer (Debbie Prutsman)gets chummy with Millie and somehow becomes caught up in all the action.

Millie at the center of the office antics.

Photo: Ken Jacques

Sure it’s concentrated inanity, but when the big ensemble numbers hit, as they often do in this production, the plot point absurdities hardly matter. The chorus kicks up the energy in Ward’s Roaring Twenties-style choreography, the tap dancing is stylish and upbeat, the generally strong cast gets the light comedic tone right and Ward keeps the pace brisk.

Williams is sassy, wide-eyed and cheery as the increasingly cosmopolitan farm girl. After a few moments of vocal unsteadiness early on, she quickly warmed up to the role, giving shimmering performances of “Jimmy” and “Gimme Gimme.” Pieranunzi plays up the bad boy shtick and then shows us Jimmy's romantic side in “What Do I Need with Love?” The give and take between Williams and Pieranunzi makes the pair believable as antagonists turned lovers.

But the show’s most memorable numbers belong to the ensemble. The love-at-first-sight send-up between Dodge and Combs provides sweet over-the-top hilarity, Caleb Goh and Charles Hand elicit huge laughs with their Chinese song and dance numbers, and the tap-typing dance is still a treat, aided by Dodge’s lightning-fast verbiage in the patter song, “The Speed Test.” Also impressive is Prutsman’s robust voice as the jazz chanteuse.

Musical director Terry O’Donnell conducts and coaxes a rich, crisp sound from the 18-piece orchestra. The art deco sets are serviceable, while the costumes better reflect the glitz and glamour associated with the period; both are courtesy of Music Theatre of Wichita.

After traveling so far so fast, Moonlight’s enjoyable “Millie” is a welcomed homecoming.