The Mikado Backdrop Blur
The Mikado Poster

The Mikado

"Operetta, Musical"

Jonathan Miller set his well-known production of The Mikado, staged for the English National Opera, in a British seaside resort of the 1920s. The result, complete with a chorus of gentlemen of Japan as cartoon-like British peers, emphatically underscores the Englishness of the satire. The occasional non sequiturs, like a bunch of gentry dressed for Ascot and singing in Japanese, are loonily fun, and no more absurd than the fantasyland Japan that Gilbert and Sullivan invented. The time frame, though, seems little more than an excuse for a smart black-and-white production design.

Top Cast

  • Eric Idle

    Eric Idle

    Ko-Ko

  • Lesley Garrett

    Lesley Garrett

    Yum-Yum

  • Bonaventura Bottone

    Bonaventura Bottone

    Nanki-Poo

  • Richard van Allen

    Richard van Allen

    Pooh-Bah

  • Felicity Palmer

    Felicity Palmer

    Katisha

  • Richard Angas

    Richard Angas

    The Mikado of Japan

  • Susan Bullock

    Susan Bullock

    Peep-Bo

  • Ethna Robinson

    Ethna Robinson

    Pitti-Sing

  • Mark Richardson

    Mark Richardson

    Pish-Tush

Overview

Jonathan Miller set his well-known production of The Mikado, staged for the English National Opera, in a British seaside resort of the 1920s. The result, complete with a chorus of gentlemen of Japan as cartoon-like British peers, emphatically underscores the Englishness of the satire. The occasional non sequiturs, like a bunch of gentry dressed for Ascot and singing in Japanese, are loonily fun, and no more absurd than the fantasyland Japan that Gilbert and Sullivan invented. The time frame, though, seems little more than an excuse for a smart black-and-white production design.

Rating

7.5 / 10
2 Reviews
0 Popular

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