| New
'Broadway-style' G&S
This
is pure musical theatre with some pantomime
elements ...
... it is NOT an operetta for the G&S
purist!
Simon Gallaher's Essgee Entertainment has
brought Gilbert and Sullivan into the twenty-first
century through modern orchestrations, tighter
funnier scripts, a fabulous 'megamix' finale,
and the unique funky female chorus in three
part harmony.
The Mikado is universally acknowledged
as Gilbert and Sullivan's masterpiece -
not so much a national, as an international
British treasure, and, in 1865 at the Savoy
Theatre, London, the curtain went up for
the first time on 'a new Japanese opera
in two acts by WS Gilbert and Sir Arthur
Sullivan'. Ever since that historic premiere,
The Mikado in any and every imaginable (and
unimaginable) production style has played
triumphantly to audiences in their millions.
EssGee Entertainment's adaptation of 'The
Mikado' takes the gentle humour of Gilbert's
original words and introduces, additional
more modern elements to maintain the interest
of a contemporary audience. A number of
the principals have some very funny lines
to deliver, often during business which
verges on pantomime.
Some of Sullivan's music has been 'jazzed
up' slightly (notably some of the chorus
numbers), but the most beautiful and lyrical
numbers remain untouched. The most striking
alteration is the ability to reduce, if
required, the female chorus down to three,
and a huge 'megamix' style finale.
The end product is true to the spirit of
G&S, and unlike the 'Hot Mikado', it
is played in traditional costume, but it
is still much more accessible for today's
theatregoer.
Synopsis
: Our story begins in the town of Titipu
in Japan where, having introduced themselves,
Japanese nobles meet a wandering minstrel
named Nanki-Poo. He tells them of his love
for Yum-Yum whom he first saw as he was
playing in the Titipu town band. Yum-Yum
was engaged to Ko-Ko, a cut price tailor,
but he has been sentenced to death for flirting,
so Nanki-Poo returns to find his beloved
Yum-Yum and marry her.
The death sentence for flirting is the
idea of the bloodthirsty ruler of Japan,
the Mikado. The gentlemen of Titipu decide
to get round this law by creating Ko-Ko
Lord High Executioner on the grounds that
he is then unlikely to execute himself.
All the senior Titipu civil servants resign
in protest at these shenanigans only to
find that the ambitious Pooh-Bah snaps up
all their jobs, salaries and perks to become
Lord High Everything Else.
Ko-Ko is set to marry Yum-Yum who arrives
with her girl friends, Pitti Sing, Peep-bo
and Yo-Ko - three little maids from school.
When Yum-Yum sees the handsome Nanki-Poo,
she is overjoyed since she does not love
Ko-Ko, but duty makes her reluctantly realise
that her wedding with the recently ennobled
cheap tailor must take place. Then a crisis
hits the town. The Mikado is coming to visit
Titipu to check that his savage law has
been carried out. Since Nanki-Poo has decided
to kill himself because he cannot marry
Yum-Yum, Ko-Ko convinces him to become the
necessary victim the Mikado wants to have
executed. Nanki-Poo agrees on the condition:
that he weds Yum-Yum and they enjoy a month's
married bliss before he gets the chop -
after which, Ko-Ko can marry her.
This seems to fit the bill, and everyone
rejoices until another crisis descends in
the frightening person of Katisha, an aristocratic
older lady who was engaged to Nanki-Poo
before he fled the court unable to face
marrying her. She tries to reveal Nanki-Poo's
identity as the son of the Mikado and heir
to the Japanese throne, but the local people
refuse to listen to her, and she storms
off vowing revenge.
On Yum-Yum's wedding day, Ko-Ko brings
news that due to another cruel law, the
wife of a beheaded man must be buried alive,
a fate Yum-Yum does not relish on account
of its stuffiness. Pooh-Bah and Ko-Ko decide
that the only solution is to do a snow job
on the Mikado. They will let Yum-Yum and
Nanki-Poo get married, pack them off abroad
on a honeymoon, then draw up false documents
and lie to the Mikado about the execution.
Accompanied by Katisha, the Mikado arrives
and is informed by Ko-Ko, Pooh-Bah and Pitti-Sing
of the alleged execution of Nanki-Poo. The
deceit boomerangs however, since yet another
crazy Japanese law insists that no matter
how ignorant of their actions, everyone
remotely associated with the death of the
heir apparent must be boiled alive. Since
the bloodthirsty and husband-hungry Katisha
is keen to see the plotters killed, the
only solution seems to be for someone to
marry Katisha as quickly as possible, then
get her to beg the Mikado for mercy. Ko-Ko
draws the short straw and marries the dragon
lady.
When Nanki-Poo and his wife appear, there
is a lot of complicated explaining to be
done. Fortunately, by a justification even
crazier than the fictitious laws of the
stage Japan, Ko-Ko manages to placate the
Mikado, and with laughing song and merry
dance, everyone lives happily ever after.
And our object all sublime is to delight
you with Savoy musical comedy at its maddest
and merriest as we sing and dance the topsy-turvy
carryings-on of a wandering minstrel, a
Lord High Executioner, a Lord High Everything
Else, three little maids from school. a
yumyummish heroine, a timidly bloodthirsty
tyrant, a dragon lady whose bark is worse
than her bite, and some of the wackiest
and most athletic gentlemen of Japan the
stage has ever seen - all a source of innocent
merriment thanks to Gilbert and Sullivan.
'The Mikado' has a six-part orchestration
for three keyboards, percussion, drums and
bass.
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