I need Gilbert and Sullivan help!

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 2/2/06 at 12:00am

I'm doing two duets from The Mikado, and I am wondering what is the general rule on accents for G&S. Should I do a british accent even though the characters are Asian? Or should it just be my american accent?

[nztheatreluva]

Posted: 2/2/06 at 12:04am

I think because it's The Mikado just do it in your normal accent.

[dry2olives]

Posted: 2/2/06 at 12:18am

Yes, your normal voice would be best. Which songs are you doing? The Mikado is one of my very favorites.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 2/2/06 at 12:45am

Oh yeah, I'm doing "Miy-ya sa-ma" (I am Katisha) with a lovely baritone playing Mikado to indroduce him before he sings "A More Humane Mikado". And then later as Katisha, I am singing "There is beauty in the bellow of the blast" with a tenor who of course will be Ko-Ko. We are doing the dialogue just before, which is why I was wondering about the accent!

Thanks for the advice! I appreciate it greatly!

[dry2olives]

Posted: 2/2/06 at 1:47am

The thing about The Mikado is, even though the characters dress like Japanese and say they are from Japan, they speak and act like Britishers. G&S were making fun of the obsession the English had with Japanese culture at the time. It had become the fad for fashionable British women to dress in kimono at social events.

But in your case the American accent is the way to go.

[TheEnchantedHunter]

Posted: 2/2/06 at 1:57am

Everything about the language and patois of G&S demands, at the very least, an elevated, 'classical' elocution, if not an outright British accent. Performing it with a flat American tone would only be doing the material and yourself a disservice.


Jerusha Bromley
Walpole, Massachusetts

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/2/06 at 2:04am

Yea, performing it in an "American" accent would be entirely wrong and would annoy me as an audience member. It doesn't have to be British, but it needs to have a certain grand, pompous, articulation to it. I can't describe it.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 2/2/06 at 2:23am

Alright. I see what everyone is saying. In that case, I will definitely play around with this! Thanks everyone!

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/2/06 at 2:46am

Just listen to a recording of it. That's all you need to know.

[dry2olives]

Posted: 2/2/06 at 8:38am

With all due respect to the above opinions, the New York Gilbert and Sullivan players perform in American accents and their work is very highly regarded.
Updated On: 2/2/06 at 08:38 AM

[Jon]

Posted: 2/2/06 at 10:44am

Here's a clue - rent one of the early Marx Brothers movies (Duck Soup or Animal Crackers would be berst) and look at the work of Margaret Dumont. She always played the snobby rich lady who was Groucho's foil. She didn't use a British acent, but more of an general upper-crust socity speech pattern. Her characters were very much like Katisha and many other G&S character women.

Infact, Groucho Marx played Ko-Ko a TV verion of MIKADO in the 1950's. Katisha was Metropolitan Opera star Helen Traubel.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/2/06 at 11:18am

I recently saw the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Player's production of THE MIKADO. It was the worst piece of crap I have seen in my 20 years of existence on this earth.

[MagicToDo82]

Posted: 2/2/06 at 11:20am

I couldnt agree more with Jon. Margaret Dumont was as British as she could be, without ever being British. Its a good idea to look at her - and shes at her best in "Duck Soup." :)

[twogaab2]

Posted: 2/2/06 at 12:30pm

I think it would be very hard to perform Gilbert and Sullivan songs with an American accent. As these songs were written with English vowel sounds in mind, it is very hard to perform with an American accent (which one?). On the other hand it depends on how your English accent sounds. You might want to give this a lot of though before making your final decision.

Just my opinion, I may be wrong.