'Born Yesterday' heroine calls her own shots in American Players Theatre remake

Mike Fischer, Special to the Journal Sentinel | June 26, 2018

From the moment she makes her first appearance in the smart and funny “Born Yesterday” that opened Saturday at American Players Theatre, one-time chorus girl Billie Dawn is performing. 

As played by an outstanding Colleen Madden, Billie flaunts her body, accentuated by a trademark hip check as well as her eye-catching and form-fitting wardrobe (spot-on period costuming by Fabio Toblini). She likes to dance, inspiring those around her to furtively try a step or two on their own.

And she’s particularly fond of Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes,” in which she’d once appeared; she periodically hums the title song, with its liberating insistence that “times have changed” and old ways of doing things will no longer make the grade.

Billie may present as millionaire Harry Brock’s kept woman – or, in the words of her own father, Harry’s “concubine.” But from beginning to end of this “Born Yesterday” – Brenda DeVita’s auspicious directorial debut in APT’s outdoor Hill Theatre amphitheater – she’s making clear what she later tells Harry: “You don’t own me. Nobody can own anybody.”

Read the full review here!