At Saturday night's opening of a two-month run, the former Miss New Jersey was a clear standout, carrying the show. She has a full, compelling stage voice and presence, even during a second-act steno-pool scene that demands that she be oblivious to the action. Whenever she's on stage at the professional dinner theater in Ardentown, Del., you know things will be all right - her Millie's the tops.

Harr is backed by Chris Alberts' evocative art-deco skyscraper set, which he lights to full 3-D effect. And she's accompanied by a cast dressed richly in period costumes by Christina McGovern. These folks know how to cut a rug, and possibly even the stage floor underneath, when they tackle Valerie Smith Byron's zesty choreography.

But there's little else approaching virtuosity in this tale of a Kansas gal who comes to New York empty-handed in 1922, seeking her fortune as a thoroughly modern woman - whose idea of a future is to marry a rich boss and worry about love later.

The show burst onto Broadway seven years ago, buoyed by the boo-bee-yoop music of Jeanine Tesori (Caroline, or Change) and lyrics of Dick Scanlon. The script is pretty funny, too, but not here, where one-liners fell leadenly into the audience until the very end, when Millie turns from comedy to farce. It's a good bet no one at New Candlelight saw Media Theatre's nearly seamless production of the show, which ended as the summer began - and surely a good thing, too.

Poor Justin Damm, playing the young man who mocks Millie before he's hooked on her, suffered through a minor disaster opening night - his mike fizzled as he began the first bars of his big solo number. No one in the sound booth turned down the prerecorded orchestral accompaniment that New Candlelight typically uses, and it overwhelmed him. In the second act, when his mike worked, he was overwhelmed again in a duet with Harr, by the sheer quality of her voice.

But Damm was not alone; several voices could not stand up to either Harr's or the canned accompaniment in a show ripe with musical crescendoes. Jillian Pirtle, as the fashionable chanteuse Muzzy Van Hossmere, nearly overcame the problem, but the treble in her amplification and her odd upper-crust accent made the lyrics hard to understand.

Micki Sharpe, as a highly suspicious hotel operator, is a belter who probably needs no mike, but her interpretation of perhaps the most politically incorrect character in a modern musical was as uneven as the night. Sharpe also directed the show, proof that an actor needs direction.

In this Millie, an offstage fog machine engages, for no apparent reason, during Manhattan night scenes. But you don't always need a fog machine to find yourself in a fog.

Thoroughly Modern Millie

Through Oct. 30 at New Candlelight Theatre, 2208 Millers Rd., Ardentown, Del. Tickets: $50-$55, including buffet dinner. Information: 302-475-2313 or www.newcandlelighttheatre.com.