The Mikado

I've seen this 1939 Technicolor version of the Mikado now maybe 10 times over 3 decades and it hasn't palled on me yet, it's a wonderful production of a wonderful operetta. I'm not a huge Gilbert & Sullivan expert, but I consider this to be their best work overall - I'd give the music and lyrics 9.9 out of 10 alone - and I do recognise this was edited to be squeezed into 90 minutes. This means a few great scenes and songs are not here, but as it's still great all the way through anyway I don't mind too much.

Although he did a good job, was good looking and had a fine singing voice Kenny Baker is the only thing about this production that jars a little, his kind of material was best displayed in films like At The Circus. But I'm not a Kenny Baker expert either! Was it simply to help sell it in America, or did he want the role?

At this distance we should be grateful for what we've got - I wish this entire team (cast and crew) had also made some of the other greats such as Pinafore and Penzance for us to admire and then quibble over the chosen edit! To anyone who wants to give G&S a try, try this, revel in Gilbert's gloriously witty and extensive use of the English language, be roused by some of Sullivan's most beautiful and catchy tunes. If you still don't appreciate it then I don't think any of their other work will do it for you either.

Admittedly, there are some magnificent performences here. Ko-Ko is truly delightful, and probably quite canonical. However, the cuts and interpolations made to turn the play into a movie are absolutely vile. Several totally uncessary scenes are added, songs are given to the wrong characters, and several of the best are cut. What's The Mikado without "I've Got A Little List" or Katisha's magnificent "Oh, Living I" aria? I'd also be more comfortable with classic Japanese costumes (which, BTW, Gilbert insisted on) rather than these exaggerated, silly versions of them. Sigh. The D'Oyley Carte association with this film led me to expect an absolutely authentic production, and I was terribly disappointed.

For many years it was fashionable to sneer at this early marriage of Gilbert & Sullivan, the D'Oyly Carte and the movies. But the distance of time has given us a more benign approach. There is very little - surprisingly so - damage done to the operetta; an aria or two juxtaposed and some odd casting. But most of what remains is charming, fresh and very lively.

Martyn Green steals the film as KoKo, though Sydney Granville gives a time honoured performance as Pooh Bah. My only real gripe is that Darrell Fancourt, that doyen of the D'Oyly Carte, was not called upon to sing the title role. What a document that would have been! As it is, it is the seasoned artists who make the most of the material. And if I don't believe that this is the best of the G & S works, it is certainly a delightful way of spending an hour and a half.

The Mikado is one of Gilbert and Sullivan's best works, and I was most interested in seeing this version after trying to view as many G&S productions as possible. I personally prefer the Lesley Garrett/Eric Idle 1987 version, but while flawed this Mikado is still interesting. Much has been said about the cuts, and I have to agree. I can understand why there were some, but some either didn't make sense to be cut or are just too good, KoKo's Little List number was especially true to this. I also thought the spoken prologue was rather pointless and characters have a tendency in important scenes in drift in and out of range.

However, visually and technically it is splendid, the Technicolour looks gorgeous and the costumes and sets are wonderfully authentic. The music is among G&S's best, and while you do wish it was complete it is beautifully performed and conducted. The comedy is sparkling and witty also, and the story is still charming enough. The performances are generally great, Kenny Baker is not quite as impressive as Nanki-Poo, vocally the singing is bright and clear and he looks the part but his acting is rather bland. On the other hand, Jean Collins sings Yum-Yum beautifully and Constance Willis is wonderfully arrogant and poignant as Katisha. John Barclay is an imposing Mikado, Gregory Stroud is good in the insubstantial role of Pish-Tush and Sydney Granville is delightfully pompous as Pooh-Bah. But the best performance easily comes from the splendid KoKo of Martyn Green, one of the best ever in this role, that's for sure.

All in all, interesting and generally well-made and sung, but at the same time perhaps not the most ideal of versions. 7.5/10 Bethany Cox

In the 1930s the decision was made to do a movie of a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta as a star vehicle for Kenny Baker. They decided to do "The Yeomen of the Guard" with Baker as Fairfax and engage members of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company for other roles in the film--including Martyn Green as Jack Point. However, they went back in this decision and decided to make a movie of "The Mikado" instead. In his autobiography, Green states that he feels "Yeomen" would have made a better movie.

This is an interesting Mikado, with both its upsides and its downsides. The biggest downside being the large amount of song cuts. The Mikado is one of Gilbert and Sullivan's best works, and it's a shame that so much of G&S's score is left out. Missing from the production are Pooh-Bah's "Young Man Despair;" Ko-Ko's excellent "Little List" song; "So Please You Sir, We Much Regret" (the quartet between Pooh-Bah and the girls); much of the Act I Finale; the quintet between Pooh-Bah, Pitti-Sing, Ko-Ko, the Mikado, and Katisha--"See How the Fates Their Gifts Allot;" Katisha's solo "Alone and Yet Alive;" and Katisha and Ko-Ko's duet "There is Beauty in the Bellow of the Blast." I assume these were all cut due to time, but it is a shame to lose them. Much of the dialogue is cut as well, cutting out some of Gilbert's funniest lines.

All this is made up for, however, by the actors. Despite the fact that it's Kenny Baker and Jean Colin's faces you see on the front of the box, the star here is Martyn Green as Ko-Ko. Green was the principle comic baritone with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company (a name which has always been synonymous with the best performances of Gilbert & Sullivan you can find) for many years and both this and the many recordings he made show that he was one of the best actors to ever play the Grossmith roles. He gives a stellar performance as Ko-Ko, the lord high executioner, and it really is a shame the list song was cut. Another D'Oyle Carte regular, Sydney Granville, plays Pooh-Bah and he is excellent as well. His Pooh-Bah is just as great as Green's Ko-Ko. There are quite a few other D'Oyly Carters here as well--Elizabeth Paynter and Kathleen Naylor (Pitti-Sing and Peep-Bo), the entire chorus, and Gregory Stroud (Pish-Tush) had done a bit of work with the D'Oyly Carte during the 1926 season. The rest of the cast does an excellent job as well. Victor Schertzinger manages to transfer the show to film quite well without it feeling too awkward on the screen (although I agree with Martyn Green in feeling that Yeomen would have made a better movie).

All in all, despite the song cuts, it is an excellent production of the Mikado, one that is well worth seeing. Of the Mikados I have seen on video and/or DVD (including this one, Stradford's production, Opera World's, and English National Opera's), I would say this is the best one out there. This is G&S performed the way it should be performed, the only disadvantage being that there's not enough of it.