Amazon.com

Jonathan Miller set his well-known production of The Mikado,staged for the English NationalOpera, in a British seaside resort of the 1920s. The result, complete with achorus of gentlemen of Japan as cartoon-like British peers, emphaticallyunderscores the Englishness of the satire. The occasional non sequiturs, like abunch of gentry dressed for Ascot and singing in Japanese, are loonily fun, andno more absurd than the fantasyland Japan that Gilbert and Sullivan invented.The time frame, though, seems little more than an excuse for a smartblack-and-white production design.

The show's main calling card is Eric Idle as Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner. Unfortunately,his star turn of a performance, like the production as a whole, is not as funnyas it should be. There are loads of comic ideas, some of them effective(bellboys parading through the hotel lobby with "No flirting" signs), somedubious (Ko-Ko delivering a 1980s-updated "little list" song at a pressconference), some worked beyond their shelf life (insanely posh accents). Thisvideo recording of a 1987 performance could have been better made; the chorus,badly miked, sounds as if it is far off-stage. The actors' heavy makeup andheavy mugging are reminders that the production wasn't originally created forthe camera. Such staginess may take some getting used to, but it fits in nicelywith the aggressive fakery characteristic of G&S. This revisionist Mikadois probably best after you've experienced more straightforward approaches.--David Olivenbaum ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Must have been great on stage
The best sung and most intelligently staged Mikado available on video is marred by obtrusively lame direction for television that makes some bits almost unwatchable. But let's dwell instead on the production's many virtues. Jonathan Miller's resetting is brilliant. Gilbert needed an an exotic location (Japan) to parody contemporary Victorian England, but in our era a 1920s British seaside resort affords all the distance in time and manners that parody requires. Not having to act in an "artless Japanese way" (apologies to Yum-Yum) seems to have freed the performers to take over the characters body and soul, to speak, move, and sing as if effortlessly yet very expressively. Van Allan (Pooh-Bah), Palmer (Katisha), and Garrett (Yum-Yum) put the lie to the notion that opera singers can't do G&S. Bonaventure Bottone is the only convincing Nanki-Poo I've seen. Eric Idle, the name draw of the production, blows hot and cold as Ko-Ko. In Act 1 he can't seem to get ahold of the character and goes for empty gags as if it were a 30-second Python sketch, but in Act 2 he buys into the role and brings off his big scenes with the Mikado and Katisha beautifully. The splendid choreography with the chorus--the Busby Berkeleyish tap dancing in the finales is a hoot--makes good use of the period sets which, even though mainly black and white, are pure eye candy. But I missed the kind of imaginative blocking-out of trios and quartets that you get in some other productions (like the Act 2 madrigal in the Stratford production); Miller has the performers huddled together as if against a stiff ocean breeze. It was a relief, though, to be spared the frantic cliched gesturing with which G&S performers typically accompany their songs (the gestures are meant to tell the story in lieu of the often unintelligible lyrics), as it allows them to do more natural and unexpected things with their hands. As to the TV direction, the less said the better. Just close your eyes when headless dancers appear in a thought bubble above Ko-Ko's still-attached head.

An absolute classic
The only time I have seen this musical was on a TV station with a terrible reception quality and during a thunder storm. Even so, I recorded it and played it over and over until my brother recorded over the top of it. Needless to say, I was not happy and I've been looking for a copy now for about the last ten years, so it's brilliant that it's about to be released for sale. I thought the production was incredibly original -Jonathon Miller is so inventive - although obviously if you're a lover of the traditional Mikado then it may not be what you're looking for. Eric Idle of Monty Python was great - he really brought the musical to life with his humour, and his voice was great as well. In fact, my drama school was so impressed with this version that they used some of the subtle humour for their production. I definitely recommend this video for anyone with a sense of fun. Go on, give it a try!

Fabulous
I remember this from HBO when I was young. It made a big impression on me then, and makes a big one now that I have finally seen it again, with all the knowledge of Gilbert & Sullivan that I've acquired over the years. The set design and costumes are wonderful, and the English seaside setting is clever if not particularly meaningful in and of itself. The video effects are fairly ham-handed, but don't detract from the stage show which is, in a word, delightful. This is quite simply the most hilariously funny "Mikado" available on video. Richard Angas in the title role lends the Mikado a certain sinister seediness (and his costume is amazing). Eric Idle does a great Ko-Ko, putting his patent insincerity to good use, and putting to rest any quibbles about stunt casting. The rest of the cast and chorus are equally outstanding. Most notably, Felicity Palmer's Katisha and Richard van Allen's Pooh-Bah are as close to definitive as I can imagine (both later reprised the roles on the delightful Mackerras recording). Ms. Palmer deserves special mention, as she milks Katisha for all the humor and pathos she's worth, while delivering the demanding vocal passages in a ringing mezzo voice. It's a shame there's not a traditional Japanese-dress "Mikado" on par with this one, but I have no difficulty in saying that for casual viewers and Savoyards alike, this should be at the top of everyone's "little list."

Mikado in Black and White
When I showed this video to my brother-in-law, he said, "Well, that was different without being different." I think that says it all about this production. Despite being set in the 1920's, and in England, it doesn't lose the essence of the Gilbert & Sullivan original. I have 4 different versions of "The Mikado", and rank this one as one of my favorites, along with the Stratford Festival's production. Eric Idle is excellent as Koko, and the rest of the cast is well chosen and give equally excellent performances (I think this Katisha is the best I've seen, and her solo the most moving of all of the Katisha's). The costuming & sets are all black and white, and very effective, and the Busby Berkely-style dance numbers quite amusing. The direction doesn't seem to have been thought out very well for video, but I overlook that, as I enjoy the rest so much. There are so many nuances of humor thrown in that you'll see something new each time you watch it. And, speaking of humor, there's never been a better toupee than the one Pish Tush wears! Although I'm pretty sure G & S would be pretty upset about the license taken with their work, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Here's a Title for Review
Just picture this:

Pooh-Bah sings in recititive "Here he comes, equipped as fits his station. He'll give you any further information" The Chorus enters and sings the stately "Behold the Lord High Executioner" then, enter Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner (marvelously played by Monty Python's Eric Idle), dressed for tennis.

I doubt this joke was in Sir William Gilbert's mind, but even to the purist it works. The revised "List Song" is even a breath of fresh air, as Gilbert's lyric had become obsolete and, therefore, unfunny. However, this new lyric will leave you laughing (unless you're from Austrailia, that is).

All other performances were wonderful at worst, although Nanki-Poo could have enunciated a little better. Those few dialogue cuts are not missed.

I cannot say enough about this production. It is, undoubtably, the best "Mikado" I've seen! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Comedy with some culture and good singing
This opera is a comedy set in an english village in the early 1900's. The basic story is that the village notables decide that none of the village girls are good enough in reputation to elect a festival queen so they choose Albert Herring, the shy village green-grocer who is firmly under his mother's rule to be the festival King . In the subsequent events, Albert appears at the festival, collects his prize money and disappears, much lamented by all. He reappears at the end having spent some of his prize at nearby pubs. Clearly, he is transformed by the experience and takes charge of his own life in a happy ending.
The music is fairly modern and difficult both to sing and play. In spite of this, it easily caught my ear. The lament for Albert near the end is the high point of the music and is wonderful to any ear. Both the singing and playing are at an exceptionally high standard as you can recognize from the cast list. The appearance and acting of the singers and and the stage sets all make for a wonderful sense of the action and the period of time in which it is set. My only negative view is that it is very difficult to understand the sung language of the women and that subtitles or a libretto would be helpful. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

An Intense, lyrical opera
On the DVD the orchestra is really there. I liked the production, and the cast sang and acted well. Perhaps the sound was remixed for the DVD as I could not understand the negative reviews given this production.

OK at Best
This production of Katya Kabanova is OK, but not much more than that. It has respectable singers, especially in Nancy Gustafson and Felicity Palmer, but they appear bloodless and dull, and the orchestra, as another reviewer has pointed out, has faded into the background. Add this to Glyndebourne's totally non-descript sets and costumes, and you get something that's sort of dull. Also, there are some cuts from Janacek's original score, which is absolutely unfathomable in an opera that doesn't run for an hour and a half in its full version

A much better choice is the Salzburg Festival DVD of this opera by TDK. First, the negatives: it's one of those productions by a European director who thinks that Janacek would have done it this way if only he had just been as clever as the director. It's set not on the banks of the Volga, but in the courtyard of a Soviet-era apartment building somewhere in Eastern Europe. There are a few distractors: a non-singing drunk/demented person (take your choice) who is on-stage all the time; a broken fountain that substitutes for the Volga; the Kabanicha's room perpetually open onto the stage, and so on.

However, the positives far outweigh the negatives. Angela Denoke is incandescent as Katya. The entire supporting cast beats the Glyndebourne cast, one-on-one, hands down. Dagmar Peckova (Varvara) and Rainer Trost (Kudryas) elevate their roles through their artistry to primario status. The orchestra(the Czech Philharmonic, Sylvain Cambreling conducting) is clear and powerful, and well-balanced with the singers. Worst case, you can turn off the picture and just listen to it.

I got my copy of this version of KK from the Royal Opera's website (Region 0 encoded). ...

musically interesting, but very cold staging
The cold and abstract staging here is clearly meant to reflect the suffocating world of the title character, but two hours of it becomes very disagreable. Better get the CD version: the music is gorgeous and there is no distraction from the intensity of the music.

Where's the orchestra?
Listening to this over high fidelity stereo loudspeakers, I found this video largely unsatisfying. It's pleasant to look at, and the singing is fine. The main problem is the balance. The orchestra is much too far in the background, as if the engineers mistakenly considered it to be accompaniment to the singing. As a result the spectacularly colored orchestrations, the harmony, and much of the DRAMA (!) of this work are lost in this video. In short, musically it makes no sense...except for a number of scattered moments when the beautiful sound of the music is discernible. I suspect that this was a good performance, badly recorded or engineered. ... Read more