The Mikado or the Town of Titipu

I really enjoy this particular production of "The Mikado." The producers added a few touches throughout to make it more amusing for modern audiences -- for instance, "As Some Day It May Happen" (the "little list" song) is completely updated, and a few lines are ad-libbed throughout the play. Liberties were also taken with the setting. The costumes are not Japanese, but rather 1920s English (although some of the "Tittipudlian" girls wear '20s-inspired kimonos). This production is well-choreographed with some 1920s dance styles, and there are some extra dancing maids and bellhops to keep your eyes (as well as ears) entertained during the songs. If you're a Gilbert & Sullivan purist these changes may bother you, but I think they're fine -- and I love the costumes!

Felicity Palmer (Katisha) is absolutely hilarious; all of her scenes make me laugh out loud (one of my favorite add-ons is when she first makes an entrance -- the dancing bellhops annoy her with their antics, so she screeches at the top of her voice, "STOP IT!!!"). All of the other main characters do a fine job as well. I particularly like Mark Richardson as Pish-Tush (that toupee!) and Lesley Garrett as Yum-Yum.

You must keep in mind that this is a stage production being filmed and set your expectations accordingly. There is no change of setting, although the filmmakers used some 1930s film techniques to add interest. If there is one draw-back to this production, it is that the stage makeup wasn't modified for close-up shots with a camera. Foundation lines are often visible and there seems to be a surplus of eyeliner, lipstick, and blush everywhere. I've seen this sort of thing happen before with films of plays, and it's a little jarring at first. However, I hope you'll get used to it and enjoy "The Mikado" for what it's worth -- a thoroughly enjoyable rendition of a classic!

There are times I am convinced that The Mikado is the best Sullivan & Gilbert opera ever, but that is only so long as I'm not listening to Iolanthe. Be that as it may, The Mikado is probably the most frequently filmed of the Savoy Operas. (Yes, I put the composer first. Nobody says Hammerstein and Rodgers, or Hart and Rodgers, or Boito and Verdi, or What's-His-Face and Strauss. You don't even hear the names of librettists for Offenbach, Suppe, or Balfe. Gilbert was just the bigger name (and the bigger ego) at the time, so they put his name first. It's time that silly practice was put to rest.

Anyway, The Mikado is a compleat S&G operetta. It has some of Sullivan's catchiest numbers, combined with some of Gilbert's cleverest lyrics. It has an interesting book and sprightly dialogue. It's got a wonderful degree of craziness. And it leaves the door wide open for elaborate and whimsical costuming.

This particular production, filmed in a live performance in 1990, turns its imagination toward striking simplicity. Set in a British seaside resort toward the end of the Art Nouveau period, it throws over the japonerie of the original entirely. The result is costuming and setting in an eye-caressing medley of whites, grey, and blacks, accented by occasional bits of red (and less frequent uses of yellow and green). It takes some getting used to, but it's really spiffy. Of course, when the chorus tells you they are gentlemen of Japan, you would be right to exclaim, "Oh, pooh. Bah!" (Did I just say that?) It's most gratifying that this fine production is now on DVD. However, one caveat: the print seems to be photographed through a glass of imperfect clarity, so that the expected sharpness of the image is softened and ever so slightly fuzzy. The tendency to superimpose images is, alas, annoying. Why do people who are doing a really spiffy production want to muck it up with artsy-fartsy stuff of that sort? But it's the performance that counts the most. We may skip the overture, since although one is performed, Sullivan never wrote one. (True, it may be so he wrote none for any of the Savoys. But the Mikado overture doesn't even date from Sullivan's lifetime and was compiled by observing the techniques used in the others.) As for the rest of the operetta, it's first-rate and supremely funny.

The Ko-Ko here is the estimable Eric Idle, who does it credit. There is a tradition of bringing a Big Name into the role. The was a U.S. TV production years ago in which Ko-Ko was played by Groucho Marx with mixed results. Idle's performance is delightfully quirky ... he does "Taken from a county jail" assisted by a tennis racquet. His "I've Got a Little List" is done as a speech to a microphone -- of course it has the usual updated lyrics, which are much funnier than the usual run of such things, and his delivery is positively hysterical. It goes on that way throughout.

In this operetta, it's important to have a good Katisha; it's just no fun if you're not being bellowed at in style. This Mikado has a fabulous Katisha in Felicity Palmer, in her way almost as Big a Name as Idle. She bellows with the best of them in a wonderful rich contralto ... wonderful, especially, for a soprano. And her costume...!!! (Not to mention her recital with Franz Liszt, apparently, accompanying.) Nanki-Poo is played by Bonaventura Bottone. I have trouble getting around is somewhat un-Nanki-Pooish chubby shortness -- but is voice is undeniably a solid, rich addition to the vocal palette. There is a nice touch during "A Wand'ring Minstrel", where the chorus reacts with distaste to the mention of "his nancy on his knee" -- bear in mind the Mikado's decree about flirting. Be that as it may, Bottone is a fine singing actor and if his appearance doesn't put the best face on Nanki-Poo, his performance does.

Yum-Yum (Lesley Garett) and her friends are appropriately pretty and silly. She and Bottone do lovely duets. Pish-Tush (Mark Richardson) plays his persona as something a blageur and does it very well. Poo Bah (Richard Van Allan) is wonderful as a stuffed shirt out of water ... a role later done to death in American sitcoms (you know: haughty butlers forced to cater to bratty children -- that sort of thing). The Mikado (Richard Angas) is bloody marvelous, with an imperious voice at absolute variance with his ridiculous lyrics.

I don't recommend you get this as your only Mikado. Get a good traditional production as well, so you can see what Gilbert intended (more or less) in terms of staging. That being said, I'll watch this one twice while viewing any traditional bit once. On the whole this is a terrific offering, a vocal and visual delight, with delicious over-acting. It's a DVD to treasure, with dervish-like maids, tap-dancing bellhops, and all. Watch for the bellhops with signs.

If you want to see a brilliant performance of Mikado, played to perfection with expert timing and panache, don't watch this version. If you want to see a hammy version with Eric Idle strutting around in 1930's english gentlemen's private club society, this is the one to watch. It's a lot of fun and a good intro to Gilbert and Sullivan, but after this, rush out and rent the Canadian Stratford version. You'll see the difference between good and great. Nobody does G&S better than Brian McDonald and the Stratford group.

I am a big Gilbert and Sullivan fan, and this Mikado is not just the best Mikado but also one of the better G&S productions I've seen. The only problem I had was some slightly fuzzy sound quality, other than that it was delightful and very inventive.

The camera work and visual effects are well above average, the sets are wonderfully exotic and the costumes are truly lovely. The music is outstanding, with droll lyrics and often beautiful melodies. The story is standard but very charming, and the dialogue is always delightful, witty and quite subtle sometimes too.

As for the choreography, one of the best assets about this Mikado. The Busby Berkeley-like tap dancing is simply splendid and a hoot. There is also some stylish orchestral playing and rock-solid conducting.

The Mikado(1987) is blessed by all-round great performances. Eric Idle is a hilarious Ko-Ko and Bonaventure Botone is one of the more convincing Nanki-Poos I've seen, he is very likable. Lesley Garrett as Yum Yum sings beautifully, Mark Richardson is a vocally rich Pish-Tush and Richard Angas is a very imposing and quite seedy Mikado complete with an amazing costume. My favourite performances are Felicity Palmer as Katisha, she sings and acts with humour, nastiness and pathos, and Richard Van Allen as Pooh-Bah, in perhaps the best interpretation on VHS/DVD.

All in all, the best Mikado thus far though I am re-watching the Stratford version as soon as possible. 9/10 Bethany Cox

There is one bad bit of casting: Felicity Palmer, of that extraordinary voice, most definitely does not have "a caricature of a face." Even if she weren't lovely to look at, she is so very lovely to listen to.

This production of "The Mikado" in formal English dress does not quite fit with the songs and general story. Yes, "The Mikado" has been produced in many different settings, and perhaps the people who do the producing figure, "Well, heck, we don't have any Japanese performers, why should anything else be Japanese?"

OK, we have already suspended our disbelief, so let's do it completely.

That's about it for criticism and complaint. The singers are simply magnificent, even Eric Idle, who is still mostly known as a "Monty Python" comic. Probably it would be wrong to try to single out anybody else because in this English National Opera production, the individual performers are, again, simply magnificent, and each and every one deserves huge bravos and plaudits.

Since this "The Mikado" is one of several at YouTube, you can watch it, compare it to any of the several others, and watch it again. And re-watch it again. "The Mikado" is apparently the most popular of the Gilbert and Sullivan creations, and there is even a motion picture version, also at YouTube, released in1938, in addition to one more produced the same year as this one, 1987, one from Canada, and still more.

Probably none of them are not worth watching at least once, and I certainly recommend this ENO version.