View: Next message | Previous message Next in topic | Previous in topic Next by same author | Previous by same author Previous page (September 1998, week 1) | Back to main OPERA-L page Join or leave OPERA-L Reply | Post a new message Search Options: Chronologically | Most recent first Proportional font | Non-proportional font ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1998 01:41:15 +0000 Reply-To: "H.E.Elsom" Sender: Discussion of opera and related issues From: "H.E.Elsom" Subject: Mikado, RFH, 5Sep98 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Pauline Birchall Pitti-Sing Lynton Black The Mikado Gaenor Ellis Peep-Bo Gareth Jones Pooh-Bah Charlotte Page Yum-Yum Jill Pert Katisha Eric Roberts Ko-Ko Joseph Shovelton Nanki-Poo Alan Watt Pish-Tush John Owen Edwards Music director Fenton Gray Director Lisa Kent Choreographer D'Oyly Carte Opera Company I had a choice tonight between, Rusalka, the first performance of the new ENO season and this, just across the river. Rodney Milnes said in The Times that The Mikado production was not half bad, and that only snobs would look down on it. In the end, I went south of the river -- there are more performances of Rusalka, and I wanted to see what the D'Oyly Carte was like in its third incarnation. Musically, not half bad is probably accurate. The singers could all sing the music, but not necessarily great voices. All three little maids were shrieky well beyond the needs of their jolly-hockey-sticks characterisation. The orchestra was about the right size for the hall, unlike the desperately string-starved band of the old days, and delivered the wit of the music but had its fuzzy moments. But the production seemed to me to balance tradition and "art" very well. The attractive sets were Ikea Japanese (black, white and red with paper screens and calligraphy ) and the chorus costumes were Muji black, with at least one bowler hat to remind us that this is really England. The principals had semi-authentic constumes, with Katisha, the Mikado (massively tall, something like Darth Vader) and Ko-Ko initially in complex theatrical constructions. I blush to admit that I don't know whether these are Noh or Kabuki -- no masks, lion's mane wigs, platform boots to add height under the robe, and artificial hands. The acting style was traditional G&S. There were a few production gimmicks. Most involved a lot of running around and quick costume changes. But a grisly interpretation of Here's a howdy-do had Ko-Ko digging Yum-Yum's grave and bringing on a headstone, then a reprise involving a chorus of masked gravediggers with fluorescent red grins. The production, in fact, brought out the pervasive comedy of death by elaborate means (much more than just the Mikado's list of sources of innocent merriment), which makes The Mikado both Aristophanic in spirit and an avatar of Sweeney Todd. Ko-Ko tried to cut his own head off with the snickersnee, and Pooh-Bah and Pitti-Sing tried to help him. The three executees near the end were brought on on hospital trolleys, possibly in a nod to Peter Sellers' Theodora. The many law and lawyer jokes also form part of this comedy, which could be said to be based on the state's monopoly of legitimate violence, transferred to an autocratic individual who shares the audience's prejudices. Some of the satire worked as originally intended. Pooh-Bah as an aristocrat always looking for an insulting bribe still worked verbatim. His general sense of his status didn't, though it involves some of his most memorable lines (something about an amoeba, and adding verisimilitude to an otherwise bald an unconvincing narrative) and you couldn't change it. The little list and "My object all sublime" were updated with lyrics by Simon Butriss. Bleeping watches and mobile phones (all made in Japan) on the list, Bill Clinton getting a tasteless punishment. There were actually quite a few bad-taste touches that just about caught the edge which the script must originally have had. There were also digs at those who don't support the D'Oyly Carte. Trendies who despise G&S have to memorise Rent, "as stiff as cement and longer than Bernard Shaw", and there was something horrible for, presumably, Peter Mandelson for spending zillions on the Dome but not on giving the D'Oyly Carte a home. This is a teeny bit disingenuous. Raymond Gubbay is supporting this production, presumably as a purely commercial operation, and it seems to be doing well on that basis. Which really resolves the problem of what the D'Oyly Carte should be doing. This sort of production pleases the traditional Gilbert and Sullivan constituency who don't like fancy stuff, but it's perfectly entertaining for non-initiates. It even risks introducing Gilbert's dangerous wit and Sullivan's literate music to an audience who would never set foot inside the ENO. Incidentally, Jonathan Miller's Mikado was, by the time I saw it on its third or fourth revival, about as creaky as anything the old D'Oyly Carte ever did. Also incidentally, I had a strange experience watching the Mikado tonight. It dawned on me that it was written (I think) seven years before Puccini wrote an opera. But I'd have sworn there were parodies of Butterfly and Turandot in there, as there definitely are of Simon Boccanegra and Don Carlos in The Gondoliers. Well, I must get back to writing my seminal essay on Nietzsche as the model for Goethe's Mephistopheles. Regards, Helen - H.E. Elsom he@helsom.demon.co.uk http://www.helsom.demon.co.uk/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main OPERA-L page ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Back to the CUNY LISTSERV home page at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU. [Powered by LISTSERV(R)]