The Mikado controversy

I haven't seen a major discussion of this here yet, so I figure I'll bring it up. With the cancellation of THE MIKADO, both the production and the piece itself have fallen under closer scrutiny. Where do you weigh in? Is MIKADO a harmless product of its time, or a minstrel show whose time has passed? Can staging changes or textual adaptations- so common with Gilbert and Sullivan anyway- save the show, or does the show not need saving at all?

Years ago I did MIKADO- it's the only G&S operetta I've ever done, so I'm deeply curious how other people feel about the piece today.

One of the more interesting reconceived productions I've seen is the Essgee Company in New Zealand, which presents MIKADO as part of its "Trilogy" of quasi-connected Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. The concept of the "Trilogy" is, in a bit of metatheatre, the actors portray, not quite THEMSELVES, but performers in a semi-fictional Essgee Theatre Company who present all three Gilbert and Sullivan shows in repertory. For instance, an Australian comedian plays "The Australian Comedian," who plays Major-General Stanley, Ko-Ko and Sir Joseph, with liberal applications of their own schtick and persona. A celebrity guest plays "The Celebrity Guest," who plays Poo-Bah, Pirate King and Dick Deadeye, and feuds with the show's conductor over his rapidly-dwindling star status.

In MIKADO, the company cut most of the cringier and more insensitive lines from the original play, and eschewed all yellowface or Kabuki makeup. Instead, the cast appeared mostly with natural hair and face, in costumes that were less Asian stereotypes than iconographically inspired... until Act 2. When the Mikado arrives, a white man in Kabuki makeup and costume, swathed in a gigantic Japanese flag and speaking with a realistic but thick Japanese accent, he is the only character onstage engaging in any race-play. And the other characters are well aware of it. They even try to call him out on it, but he keeps up the outdated pretense in the face of fourth-wall-breaking criticism. The joke lands, because it's a joke on him, and on the outdated cliches of so many MIKADO productions past. (In the megamix finale, the Mikado appears in a de-Orientalized, Elvis-inspired version of his costume, most likely to reassure the audience that they know they were pushing some buttons and are capable of thinking outside the outdated racialized box.)

We are losing nothing by treating people with dignity and respect but our own blithe ignorance. Why on earth would it bother you to change the name of Indian Guides and Princesses? What are you losing? Same about yellow face. I've found that people who defend antiquated, offensive practices by hollering about "PC" have very little of substance to contribute to the conversation.

Of course, "The Mikado" is a wicked if gentle little satire on the British, not the Japanese. Its arch Orientalism is means to an end, not the subject of the send-up. It's not even about appropriating or co-opting a culture; it actually employs the stereotypes merely to address English customs, foibles, and mores with another bag of tricks. That doesn't make "yellowface" remotely acceptable. Or necessary. It should inspire gifted (or at least ambitious) directors to work around it and with it, as many have over the decades. Anyone who thinks a literal depiction of Japanese people is a responsible -- or remotely artful -- approach to the material is devoid of directorial imagination, and shouldn't touch the operetta anyway.

By the way: if a production was mounted with an entirely Japanese cast, it would be mind-boggling for other reasons, per my comment above. In effect inadvertent "Occidentalism," since it would have Asian actors playing a satirical look at Western cultural mores. Hard to unpack, that, but if true to G&S, kind of what it would be.

Updated On: 9/19/15 at 05:11 PM

Well said Auggie. And they weren't in yellowface, let's just clarify. They were in kabuki makeup.

And hell, it's a no-paying gig. Maybe no Asians wanted the job.

I think THE MIKADO is G&S' best score and Auggie's post above the best post on the subject.

Read his first sentence again: the target of the satire is English politics and customs. So the best design will indicate as much by fusing English with a few Japanese design elements. So:

1. No yellow face.

2. Rewrite the "N-word serenader" and similar references.

3. Perform with English accents as originally intended.

4. Emphasize the physical comedy which is anything but Orientalism.

5. Ideally cast a mixture of Asian and European faces to call attention to the joke.

6. When possible, perform MIKADO in rep. One taste of any other G&S opera will tell the audience what the boys were doing.

7. In general, I don't think we should hold antique art forms to standards which were not invented in the day the art form was created. Yes, there are pieces so heinous (comedies on slavery--though it occurs to me we still do Plautus) as to be irretrievable, but *I* don't think THE MIKADO is one of them.

I'm sure others can add to the list above. I don't claim to be an expert on Asian-American sensibilities, but though I know it's not exactly analogous, PINAFORE has a jolly good laugh at MY ancestors, the sentimental and easily duped working class of 19th century Britain. I don't think we need to ban PINAFORE either, though it hardly paints a favorable picture of English intelligence or patriotism or nannies.

Updated On: 9/19/15 at 10:17 PM

^^^ I'd rather see an inventive approach to G&S than a reverent one. (Though I did see a production of RUDDIGORE set at Big Sur and played as "Gidget Sees a Ghost". I never did figure how what they thought they were doing.)

Ripped Man, Auggie27, Fan123, GavestonPS and South Fl Marc -

I strongly suggest you read all the linked articles in LizzyCurry's post. Perhaps, you will understand what the authors are explaining.

Ripped Man, you write, "And they weren't in yellowface, let's just clarify. They were in kabuki makeup."

I've seen the pictures and they are NOT in kabuki makeup. Even if they were, there would still be a problem.

South Fl Marc, you wonder,"Fiddler on the Roof is being revived, Will it soon be necessary to cast an all Hebrew cast."

Hebrew is a language! The original production of "Fiddler on the Roof" did not have an ALL JEWISH CAST. Your question is dumb!

At the same time I wonder how far this political casting will go. Fiddler on the Roof is being revived, Will it soon be necessary to cast an all Hebrew cast. How about Hairspray. Maybe soon it will be incorrect to cast a thin Edna and put them In a fat suit. Or maybe casting a man as a woman might soon be wrong.

Updated On: 9/20/15 at 12:31 PM

Isn't "banjo serenader" a much clearer race reference in America than it would have been in postwar Britain, when people like George Fornby and other semi-obnoxious music hall veterans were performing cheeky tunes on banjo regularly? The banjo's relationship to minstrel show is stronger in America.

That said, "lady novelist" is usually changed too for obvious reasons. One of my favorite "topical updates," circa about 2009, was "And that singular anomaly- the Twilight novelist/Vampires can't be kissed!/For THAT, she's on the list."

Google--The Black Mikado....especially for Lizzi

Here is a link to the English National Opera production, directed by Jonathan Miller and starring Eric Idle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SkOWxcbzn0

As previously observed, Gilbert & Sullivan satirized their own society, using the entirely fantastical town of Titipu as an extended metaphor for the follies of their own time and place- in the same way that Shakespeare set 'Romeo & Juliet' in Verona but was really discussing his own society's attitudes.

For Japanese people only to play the roles would actually begin an insult, since it would imply that the characters and their behaviour in the play actually resemble real Japan.

Surely any colour-blind casting is wrong if it is intended to disrespect a race. The Mikado is not disrespecting Japan, only England.

devonian.t said: "Surely any colour-blind casting is wrong if it is intended to disrespect a race. The Mikado is not disrespecting Japan, only England."

Sure, but it's by way of disrespectful jokes about Japan, which are still offensive unless couched in some kind of critical framing device.