The Mikado

I first saw this on Thames television and loved it. I subsequently saw a dreadful write-up by someone who certainly hadn't watched or listened to it. So, I bought a copy and then I bought another copy! The only sad thing is that it is not available on PAL VHS or Region 2 DVD. The Australian version is great, but this one is better! I might buy another.............

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!

The Mikado is my favorite G&S and I may be rating this low at 7, because certainly it's worth watching in any decent form. But I find the production a bit offputting.

The approach is odd, replacing the usual Japanese setting with what appears to be a semi-amateur 20s show. I don't really understand what they were going for with this, it just seems like they thought it would be cute to do it, but why not do it well, at least. At first I thought perhaps this was an early attempt to deal with complaints of its portrayal of the Japanese, but since at times the white characters pull their eyes into slants when they say "Japan" I'd say not.

Performances are mixed. A lot of people seem to love this Katisha but I didn't feel she was exceptional. Same thing with the celeb casting of Eric Idle, who also sings the greatest travesty, a Got a Little List with rewritten lyrics, which wouldn't be terrible if they were as witty as the originals but are just downright lame.

I did not object to the video effects that seem to aggravate some other reviewers here, and don't understand why that's a sticking point.

There are cute moments, the choreography is sometimes entertaining, and it's got amazingly funny songs sung by talented operetta singers and a kooky story, so like any competent version of The Mikado it's worth checking out. But it didn't really work for me.

Yet another example of an English Opera production, recorded on an English stage and yet not being on sale in England, sorry, the UK. Anyway, if you are unfortunate enough to live in the UK and you try hard enough and you have a multi-region player then you can get a Region 1 DVD sent over from the USA. Not a great DVD, no subtitles for example. But better than nothing.

The performances are excellent as other reviewers have already said. The sound is too on-mike in places, which gives the game away a bit; my guess is that what we see and hear is a gluing together of material shot at one or more real live performances with a lot of extra material re-shot without an audience.

What makes this DVD poor is not what is happening on the stage but what is happening in the vision mixing department. Terrible camera directing; silly and contrived angles; poor transitions from closeups to wide shots; gimmicky and superfluous "multi-faceting lens" effects. If only it had been directed by a better director of televised operas (the excellent Brian Large springs to mind) then this would have been a wonderful record of a production that is still (2008) being staged in London. It is sad to think that when it eventually ceases to be performed the only video recording of it will be this visually flawed one.

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.