DVD : Gilbert & Sullivan - The Mikado / Eric Idle, Lesley Garrett, Richard Van Allan, Felicity Palmer, Richard Angas, Bonaventura Bottone, Susan Bullock, English National Opera

Rating: - Give it a watch...........
I'm always leery of "new and improved" productions of the works of Gilbert & Sullivan. The originals are hard to beat. To my amazement, this version of The Mikado is actually very watchable and enjoyable! The producers stayed true, for the most part, to both the original story line and libretti (other than the fact they "moved" the story from Japan to England, and made a few very minor changes to the dialog). The performance of the musical score is outstanding - Sullivan would be proud.

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Rating: - Virtue is Triumphant Only In...Theatrical Performances!
"The Mikado" is arguably the most-performed of all the G&S operas. The current stage director of the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin and renowned G&S scholar Ralph MacPhail said that not a day goes without the Mikado being performed somewhere in the world. I don't know if that's true, but "Mikado" is without question a very popular and frequently-performed comic opera. In addition, there are many different takes on it. There's Red Mikado, Hot Mikado, Swing Mikado, and recently the Mikado Project.

This version, with Monty Python's Eric Idle as Ko-Ko, is set in a seaside resort in the 1920s. (For those of you not familiar with the plot of Mikado, see my comment for a link to the G&S archives, as they summarize it far better than I could.) The setting, a 20s resort instead of ancient Japan, works surprisingly well. The costumes are enjoyable to watch, though I thought they went a bit heavy on the makeup for a filmed version. The highlight of the show is clearly Eric as Ko-Ko. His presence injects life into the show. Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum do an adequate job, though I didn't think they particularly had a lot of presence. Katisha and the Mikado are both excellent.

I think producing it as a movie, rather than filming one of the stage performances, works against it somewhat. For it to work as a movie, the screenplay would have to have been considerably revised, which it wasn't, and so it never escapes its stage roots. As the Mikado says, "virtue is triumphant only in theatrical performances." Beyond that, my only major complaint was that in the Act I finale, the tap-dancing of the chorus drowns out the principals. Overall, however, this is an enjoyable production of one of the greatest comic operas ever written, and belongs on the shelf of every G&S fan.

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Rating: - "Maiming G & S"
Director Jonathan Miller is normally an intelligent and resourceful stage director, as some of his witty comments even here on the making of this largely blighted production suggest. In the present case, sadly, he has fallen victim to a widespread delusion among contemporary opera and theater directors about the nature of how to please their audiences. He remarks that since we've by now ALL seen various productions of "The Mikado" set in the original Japan, the times cry out for a version that's radically different. Neglected in this view is the fact that in the audience of any production of even so familiar a work there will be a significant number of people who've never seen it before. For their sake, if it's still stageworthy, it deserves to be presented without being maimed by a "bright" idea. Miller, though, has presumably thought it wiser to cater instead to those sated members of the potential audience who'd be bored by straightforward Gilbert and Sullivan. If, however, such is his judgment, why do a new production of "The Mikado" at all? If this masterpiece of comic opera can no longer hold the stage as written, why not let it slip quietly into oblivion? Having chosen to set the work in the England of the 20's and 30's of the last century, Miller ignores so many consequent absurdities that he unwittingly invites viewers to question whether he's done more than just maim G&S. Signs saying "No Flirting," which might make sense in the repressive Victorian England which lies just beneath the surface of the original "Japan," seem pointless in a roaring 20's hotel. More seriously, "Japanese" concerns with beheadings and the presence of a Mikado have no pertinence at an English seaside resort. And just how the work has been made meaningful much less been improved by early 30's cinematic references and dance routines remains problematic at best. Miller, in sad allegiance to our current conformist tradition of arbitrary "innovation," emerges here as a director who could himself benefit from having a director with the foresight to nix such "bright" ideas in future.

The three stars here are for the singers from the English National Opera, all of whom manage through fine voices to transcend the dull and ugly irrationality which has replaced the fun and high spirits of the original
work.

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Rating: - Gilbert & Sullivan - The Mikado / Eric Idle, Lesley Garrett, Richard Van Allan, Felicity Palmer, Richard Angas, Bonaventura Bott
An absolutely brilliant "modern" version of the Mikardo - sung very well and an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours.

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Rating: - Can't see it
I tried to stop this coming when I realised it will not play in Australia. I could not stop it and have to return it when the next one arrives