The Mikado: Or The Town of Titipu

This is a wonderful Mikado from all counts. This production was a great success and it's easy to see why.The only drawback is the "Little List" Canadian update but this is minor. Everyone shines, especially Katisha and Pooh-Bah. What a wonderful way to kill two hours amd what a happy feeling when it is finished.

This "Mikado" is a delight. I have seen several DVD versions of this show. This production from the Stratford Festival is by far the best. The costumes are colorful, the makeup is beautifully done, and the choreography is as precise as it is fascinating. The stage that has been designed for this show, which is a marvel to behold, is most appropriate for this Gilbert and Sullivan production. Every performance is a strong one. The beauty of this DVD is in the clearness of sound and picture.

The video/DVD is of a staged Canadian production, filmed from the proscenium-audience point of view with some close-ups, in full costume and makeup appropriate to the G & S script and score. The score is very well sung although the songs are dubbed, you have to pay special attention to notice this. The lip-sync is very, very good and since they don't have to worry about singing perfectly "live" with the camera, they can do more acting while mouthing their parts, and it all works very well. Some wonderfully stylized performances make it fun, expecially from Pooh Bah who is the tallest actor I've ever seen in a G & S opera! Folks who are addicted to perfect-score singing will notice some deviations (not bad ones, just different) but overall its well-done and includes encores that are usually performed of the most popular numbers at high speed for an appreciative audience. I recommend this version to Mikado-lovers.

This is the version done at the Stratford Festival in the late 80s with Eric Donkin and Marie Baron. The staging is very sparse, but quite well done. This new version is not as high quality as the earlier (more expensive) version, but well worth the $17. Purists beware -- some of the songs have been gutted and the lyrics have been changed!