NEW YORK -- Not all of the new shows competing for Tonys tonight are groundbreakingly original.

Despite its title, Thoroughly Modern Millie -- the show with the most nominations (11) -- is a thoroughly old-fashioned musical. That's not a bad thing -- after all, so was last season's mega-Tony winner, The Producers.

But while The Producers was based on one of the most hilarious movies ever made, director George Roy Hill's 1967 Thoroughly Modern Millie is one of the most ridiculous -- a 1920s-era spoof that manages to be airless and overblown at the same time.

To its credit, the Broadway Millie -- book by Dick Scanlan and the movie's late screenwriter, Richard Morris -- improves on its source. However, this story of a Midwestern girl (spunky Sutton Foster) who comes to New York in 1922, bobs her hair, hikes up her hemlines and hunts for a rich husband, is still a piece of reactionary fluff.

Granted, much more sensitivity has gone into the treatment of the Chinese henchmen who assist the show's villainess (comically conniving Harriet Harris) in the far-fetched subplot about the white slave trade. Indeed, one of the henchmen (Ken Leung) turns out to be a romantic hero.

Even so, all the characters are basically cartoons. The nine new songs, composed by Jeanine Tesori with lyrics by Scanlan, are catchy. Michael Mayer's direction is frequently amusing, and Rob Ashford has supplied plenty of tap-happy choreography.

In the end, however, Millie is all surface and very little substance. And yet, if Tony voters balk at choosing a show called Urinetown, then Millie could dance off with top honors -- especially since its only other competitors are the critically panned Sweet Smell of Success and Mamma Mia!, a compilation of ABBA's greatest hits strung together with a story so thin, it makes Millie look deep.