The Mikado

[marincrazy11]

Posted: 4/16/04 at 12:41pm

Can anyone enlighten me on this show? We're doing it at school next year and I don't know much about it.

[ChrisLovesShows]

Posted: 4/16/04 at 5:12pm

The Mikado is a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta. Just do a google search for Gilbert & Sullivan + "The Mikado" and I'm sure you'll find all sorts of information. There are also many CD recordings and a few DVD and VHS versions of the operetta available. Check you local library.

[beacon1]

Posted: 4/16/04 at 9:14pm

I LOVE THE MIKADO!

It is hilarious and romantic and oh so much fun. It was the first performance I saw a G&S work. I was instantly hooked by the hero, Nankypoo, and thought the Lord High Executioner was a scream. Yum-Yum and her sisters Pitti-Sing and Peep-Bo were fantastic and so was older woman Catishaw (sp). Pokes fun at Victorian mores and primness. To this day I can't hear the word "Defer" without "defer! defer! to the Lord High Executioner" playing in my head. :o)

[ChrisLovesShows]

Posted: 4/16/04 at 10:13pm

Here's a nice little summary at stageagent.com (beware of obnoxious pop-ups):
The Mikado

Updated On: 4/16/04 at 10:13 PM

[JoizeyActor]

Posted: 4/16/04 at 11:21pm

Interesting names. There's a song in my one music book from The Mikado, and my voice teacher and I were looking through it and she just started cracking up when she got to the song. Apparantly she likes the show, and she tried to explain some of it to me, but I was a tad scared with all those strange names.

It was one of the Lord High Executioner's songs.

[ChrisLovesShows]

Posted: 4/16/04 at 11:37pm

Topsy-Turvy is a very entertaining movie about G&S. A large part of it deals with the making of The Mikado.

[ShineOn]

Posted: 4/17/04 at 12:35am

Ah, I've been forced to do many a Gilbert and Sullivan show in the day... and though I've grown to be very unfond of the duo, The Mikado still remains one of my favorites. I played Yum-Yum, but wanted/want ever so badly to play Katisha!!! She's deliciously evil and has some great songs. (And, I'm a freakin' mezzo, dammit.. and a belter.. whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhy oh whhhhhhhhy was I always cast as the freakin' soprano lead in these stupid shows?)


I loooove Poo-Bah... he's hilarious. Ko-Ko is the Lord High Executioner... Poo-Bah is the Lord High Everything Else. Ko-Ko's most famous song is "Tit-willow". Is that the song you were looking at?

"The Sun Who's Rays Are All Ablaze" is like my signature g&s audition piece, though I will never again in my life ever ever audition for another one (mikado, pirates, pinafore, gondaliers, iolanthe, yeoman, patience... that's right... throw in rudigore, and i've cover all bases...).


The Mikado IS fun... good luck with it. What part are you going for? (I'm telling you, Katisha is the SH*T...I will one day play her... just so I can speak of my left elbow which people come MILES to view...)

[nesatchr]

Posted: 4/17/04 at 7:11pm

I've played Katisha twice. The first time, my husband and I met doing the show. We were in it together again two years later. So I'm a little biased. But it's great! In G&S, the women are the strong characters, but they can still be funny. Are you interested in suggestions for audition material?