I love the English humor and productions. They are wonderful. They know how to do it right---wonderful humor and entertainment. God Bless the artists in Britton.
Incredible performance. Does anyone have recordings of; "The Black Mikado", I saw in London ~50 years ago. It was great. Titipu moved to Africa, music, a jazz, but faithful modification. All-black, very talented cast, except for Pooh Bah who was a thin 6 1/2 foot tall white actor, all in white plus a white top hat. Great show. Probably couldn't be run today.
This is a masterpiece that lends itself to adjustment for modern interpretation. Every time they tweak the songs (like I've Got A Little List and Let The Punishment Fit The Crime), the main body of the operetta stays relevant. It is about hypocrisy and the pitfalls of legislating morality, particularly when it emboldens those who shouldn't be allowed such position. Also.. the woman playing Katisha in this production is very attractive for her age.
Dame Felicity Palmer (b. 1944) had a long and distinguished international career as a singer, first as a soprano and then as a mezzo-soprano. Her recorded legacy ranges from Handel and Mozart to Verdi, Elgar and Richard Strauss; along the way she played Mrs. Lovett in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd and did fine recordings of many of the Rosina Brandram roles in the G&S repertoire with conductor Sir Charles Mackerras.
This truly is an outstanding and super fun production. I have watched (literally) countless times and have purchased several copies to friends and family as gifts. FUN FACT some may already know: Once Idle left this production, Koko was then played by Dudley Moore. A replacement I can easily picture but have yet to see even a photo from it.
Laughter shouldn't be an indication of a great performance. I have watched Count Ory and didn't laugh once, but the performance was great, Seattle's performance in July. I hate canned laughter and I am mezmearized by great talent. This performance and the performance I recently viewed in Seattle had people laughing, but I never laughed once. But, the performance like this one is so beautiful and the talent and beauty of the performance is what holds me glued to my seat. I don't have to laugh at disignated parts suggested or indicated to enjoy a performance. If an audience feels laugher is needed or desired, in their opinion, then let it be. Not everybody has to laugh if the whole place laughs.
I know the lady who is in the chorus of girls singing in the back row at 1.34 into the clip. She is still a member of the ENO. Wasn't this version produced by Jonathan Miller, who sadly passed away only a few days ago?
As Dame Ethel Smythe replied to Sullivan when he said that his opera Ivanhoe was the best of him, NO Sir Arthur the Mikado is the best of you I must agree
Richard Angas reprises his Mikado role in this production after he first performed it for TV for the BBC 14 years prior. I bet it must've been boiling wearing the suit.
Almost all of Gilbert's characters are ultimately out for themselves, however much they conceal their self-centeredness under social politeness. That's one of the things that makes Gilbert such a ferociously fine satirist!
+Tyler Miller The first Mikado I saw was played by William Conrad, who quite a heft himself. You should see Richard Angas, though. Tall, fierce, freaky looking!!
I don't understand why they chose to do it as aristocratic British rather than the original libretto's Japanese style, I mean the names and references don't match, it's as though it's mocking it?
That opera was meant to mock the British to begin with. So why not make the characters English? I think it was a creative interpratation of that play. I rather liked Poo-Bah as a stuffy english aristocrat.
Absolutely wonderful on many levels, not least in that it solves the problem of yellow face that currently makes this show problematic. It was a satire of English attitudes, so why not do it in absurd 1920s English costumes? (The naysayers here sound an awful like the pompous prigs being mocked in the show.)
The "problem of yellow face" is nonsense. The choice of Japan as a very thin disguise for a satire on English society (which never fooled anyone for an instant) has to do with both cultures have a rigid class structure, as well as a certain societal separation of women and men. Racism/racialism has never entered into it. If some modern productions have chosen to use "yellow face," there is certainly nothing in the script or the history of the D'Oyly Carte company to support such a choice. The piece works wonderfully well in this "Englished" version by director Jonathan Miller, and equally well in the excellent Japan-set 1973 BBC studio production conducted by David Lloyd-Jones (with a terrific cast), which can be found elsewhere on RUclips.
I just think it doesn't work when they sing about Lord high executioner and the emperor of Japan whilst being very English and wearing 20's attire. They just seem a contradiction.
+Marian Ellison At a first glace it is true, but the Mikado was written as a satire to the Victorian society in England, disguised behind feudal Japan. That means that there is a wonderful irony on beeing very English, as the true intention of the play is to portray the English society.
+MateusVIII Yes! And in a way, it's not difficult to imagine the 'Japanese'-isms being almost a kind of slang that that certain strata of posh society would adopt in their odd isolated outpost (it's very much like a British embassy somewhere).
It's like Jonathan Miller's uncostumed production of "Alice in Wonderland" -- Show the characters as what they're satirizing, not as how they (usually) are physically described.
I don't find the acting here very appropriate to be quite honest. They are all a little too posh with everything and a bit too poetic with the whole text. It needs a little bit of a different, more dramatic treatment.
I rather like the concept although I was disappointed to hear Miller made the cast watch Brief Encounter for the accents. Lesley somewhat worryingly though Celia Johnson sounded "Terribly bright and well terribly, terribly bright" which misses the whole concept of Johnson's performance. But as I say this works quite well on it's own terms - and both the traditional Mikado and indeed Brief Encounter are still there.
Sorry, am I the only one who hates this version. How can you have the Emperor of Japan, dressed in English 1920's attire, why couldn't they leave it as Japanese. the words don't make sense with them all dressed like that. I like the traditional costumes better. The music and singing is glorious but the 1920's costumes look wrong.
+Marian Ellison It's a lot of fun and you should not take the words too seriously, as witty as they are! Having seen the traditional version so many times, I find this updated production still perfectly true to the spirit and of course the antics of Eric Idle are too precious -- he is such a fine singer, as well!
+Marian Ellison The Mikado was actually a commentary on Victorian England, not Japanese culture. It was only set in Japan to keep it from being extremely obvious that it was criticizing the problems in 19th century England. It seems a natural progression, then, to have the characters wear British attire when being performed some 90 years later.
+Marian Ellison the joke is; this an operetta about England in the 1880s set in medieval Japan. The director then sets it in the future, the 1930s, which is now the past. Now that is Topsy Turvy. The funny thing is the jokes still hold today.
Sorry, this whole production is just too stilted - no wonder there's hardly any laughs from the audience. Eric is the only one in this cast with any liveliness at all.
This version of Mikado is very poor compared to the Stratford Festival production - in fact just plain lousy poorly produced and acted - not worth watching - a minus 10 rating
This is one of the best productions of this Gilbert and Sullivan classic, perhaps the greatest of all their operettas.
It's not an operetta. Blasphemy.
@@mathewdallaway it is an operetta, though I would like to know why you say it is not
@@mathewdallawayoh shut up. Go and find something else with which to occupy your time. It has become a classic.
Nice touch having Katisha dragging Ko-Ko off to the wings, to have him dash back, partially unclothed.... Adds texture to the finale.
This is my favorite production by a lot...
An amazing achievement, setting it in the 1920s is simply lavish. A glorious production.
Culture in the 1920s
I think the best performance I've heard of this jewel of a piece.
I love the English humor and productions. They are wonderful. They know how to do it right---wonderful humor and entertainment. God Bless the artists in Britton.
Britain x
Mary, you neglected to say your country of origin: Oz? Can.? U.S.? NZ? N. Korea? Afg? Pak?
Eric Idle is everything
I am going to purchase a copy of this production and watch it until I die.
Best version ever. Thanks Jonathan and Eric
Sublime! Just stupendous!
Incredible performance. Does anyone have recordings of; "The Black Mikado", I saw in London ~50 years ago. It was great. Titipu moved to Africa, music, a jazz, but faithful modification. All-black, very talented cast, except for Pooh Bah who was a thin 6 1/2 foot tall white actor, all in white plus a white top hat. Great show. Probably couldn't be run today.
Utterly glorious! Thank you so much for making this available.
Love this production
This is a masterpiece that lends itself to adjustment for modern interpretation. Every time they tweak the songs (like I've Got A Little List and Let The Punishment Fit The Crime), the main body of the operetta stays relevant. It is about hypocrisy and the pitfalls of legislating morality, particularly when it emboldens those who shouldn't be allowed such position.
Also.. the woman playing Katisha in this production is very attractive for her age.
Dame Felicity Palmer (b. 1944) had a long and distinguished international career as a singer, first as a soprano and then as a mezzo-soprano. Her recorded legacy ranges from Handel and Mozart to Verdi, Elgar and Richard Strauss; along the way she played Mrs. Lovett in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd and did fine recordings of many of the Rosina Brandram roles in the G&S repertoire with conductor Sir Charles Mackerras.
This truly is an outstanding and super fun production. I have watched (literally) countless times and have purchased several copies to friends and family as gifts.
FUN FACT some may already know: Once Idle left this production, Koko was then played by Dudley Moore.
A replacement I can easily picture but have yet to see even a photo from it.
I think I'd rather see Dudley Moore in the part. He is far more musical for starters.
Brilliant!
Who needs laughs when the performance is outstanding!
Wait... why are they still saying "raven" hair if Yum-Yum is a redhead in this version? Have these people never seen a raven?
What a gift from the Victorian past. Lovely production in every way. Even as an Irishman I can say this!
Laughter shouldn't be an indication of a great performance. I have watched Count Ory and didn't laugh once, but the performance was great, Seattle's performance in July. I hate canned laughter and I am mezmearized by great talent. This performance and the performance I recently viewed in Seattle had people laughing, but I never laughed once. But, the performance like this one is so beautiful and the talent and beauty of the performance is what holds me glued to my seat. I don't have to laugh at disignated parts suggested or indicated to enjoy a performance. If an audience feels laugher is needed or desired, in their opinion, then let it be. Not everybody has to laugh if the whole place laughs.
Brilliant! The Mikado in this looks like the godfather!
He's kinda too large in this 1920s British style.
This truly is something different.,
In our college production of the "Kabuki Mikado," Koko drew his wakiazashi . . . Makes more sense culturally though a short sword won't behead anyone.
I lit Mikado at Northwestern in 1973. I love the show and all the variations.
Thank you You Tube. I even laughed a little so far.
Love ENO!!!!! LIKE THIS VERSION BETTER THAN THE LATER ONE..
I like the Groucho Marx version of "Here's a Pretty Howdy-Do!", as well😄
The New Mikado is set in Italy and is just as enjoyable as this and the original set in Japan.
If only these musical plays were produced today.
Absolutly agree. They don't make them like this anymore.
Yes They do still.
Terrific
Pretty good looking Katisha
I know the lady who is in the chorus of girls singing in the back row at 1.34 into the clip. She is still a member of the ENO. Wasn't this version produced by Jonathan Miller, who sadly passed away only a few days ago?
As Dame Ethel Smythe replied to Sullivan when he said that his opera Ivanhoe was the best of him, NO Sir Arthur the Mikado is the best of you I must agree
I just saw the production two days ago :)
Yeah you can make the mikado musical in different versions and humors
34:18 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Richard Angas reprises his Mikado role in this production after he first performed it for TV for the BBC 14 years prior. I bet it must've been boiling wearing the suit.
Who else thinks Nanki-Poo is the master manipulator?
He'll make a good mikado.
He's a Young man, His Dad is the Emperor of Japan.
Almost all of Gilbert's characters are ultimately out for themselves, however much they conceal their self-centeredness under social politeness. That's one of the things that makes Gilbert such a ferociously fine satirist!
The fact that the mikado in this version is made to be fat cracked me up. I the production i was in the guy playing the mikado was tiny and short.
+Tyler Miller The first Mikado I saw was played by William Conrad, who quite a heft himself. You should see Richard Angas, though. Tall, fierce, freaky looking!!
+Tyler Miller o_O The Mikado in this was Richard Angas as well ! Okay, it must have been make-up in the other one, then.
+Spacewarp Photography the first mikado I saw the mikado was Christopher Lee.
As I noted above, the actor was channeling the late character actor Robert Morley, right down to the heavy eyebrows.
Traditionally, it's Pooh-Bah who's made to look fat.
Bene Factum!
What is that that Ko-Ko is carrying in his left arm?
It's a loofah, a kind of elongated bath sponge, useful for scrubbing the back.
Who is singing Katisha?
Felicity Palmer
I don't understand why they chose to do it as aristocratic British rather than the original libretto's Japanese style, I mean the names and references don't match, it's as though it's mocking it?
That opera was meant to mock the British to begin with. So why not make the characters English? I think it was a creative interpratation of that play. I rather liked Poo-Bah as a stuffy english aristocrat.
Absolutely wonderful on many levels, not least in that it solves the problem of yellow face that currently makes this show problematic. It was a satire of English attitudes, so why not do it in absurd 1920s English costumes? (The naysayers here sound an awful like the pompous prigs being mocked in the show.)
The "problem of yellow face" is nonsense. The choice of Japan as a very thin disguise for a satire on English society (which never fooled anyone for an instant) has to do with both cultures have a rigid class structure, as well as a certain societal separation of women and men. Racism/racialism has never entered into it. If some modern productions have chosen to use "yellow face," there is certainly nothing in the script or the history of the D'Oyly Carte company to support such a choice. The piece works wonderfully well in this "Englished" version by director Jonathan Miller, and equally well in the excellent Japan-set 1973 BBC studio production conducted by David Lloyd-Jones (with a terrific cast), which can be found elsewhere on RUclips.
I think the tempi may be too fast
THANK YOU!!!!!
+Andrew Warner
I'm not sure about tempi outright, but I think maybe there is a video production problem. The audio seems out of sync.
Shame, Someone cut out the 2017 one.
I just think it doesn't work when they sing about Lord high executioner and the emperor of Japan whilst being very English and wearing 20's attire. They just seem a contradiction.
+Marian Ellison At a first glace it is true, but the Mikado was written as a satire to the Victorian society in England, disguised behind feudal Japan. That means that there is a wonderful irony on beeing very English, as the true intention of the play is to portray the English society.
+MateusVIII Yes! And in a way, it's not difficult to imagine the 'Japanese'-isms being almost a kind of slang that that certain strata of posh society would adopt in their odd isolated outpost (it's very much like a British embassy somewhere).
It's like Jonathan Miller's uncostumed production of "Alice in Wonderland" -- Show the characters as what they're satirizing, not as how they (usually) are physically described.
Which is kind of the point.
@@DaveLH Ooh... I must see that. I wonder if it has been recorded.
I don't find the acting here very appropriate to be quite honest. They are all a little too posh with everything and a bit too poetic with the whole text. It needs a little bit of a different, more dramatic treatment.
I rather like the concept although I was disappointed to hear Miller made the cast watch Brief Encounter for the accents. Lesley somewhat worryingly though Celia Johnson sounded "Terribly bright and well terribly, terribly bright" which misses the whole concept of Johnson's performance. But as I say this works quite well on it's own terms - and both the traditional Mikado and indeed Brief Encounter are still there.
Sorry, am I the only one who hates this version. How can you have the Emperor of Japan, dressed in English 1920's attire, why couldn't they leave it as Japanese. the words don't make sense with them all dressed like that. I like the traditional costumes better. The music and singing is glorious but the 1920's costumes look wrong.
+Marian Ellison It's a lot of fun and you should not take the words too seriously, as witty as they are! Having seen the traditional version so many times, I find this updated production still perfectly true to the spirit and of course the antics of Eric Idle are too precious -- he is such a fine singer, as well!
+Marian Ellison The Mikado was actually a commentary on Victorian England, not Japanese culture. It was only set in Japan to keep it from being extremely obvious that it was criticizing the problems in 19th century England. It seems a natural progression, then, to have the characters wear British attire when being performed some 90 years later.
+Marian Ellison the joke is; this an operetta about England in the 1880s set in medieval Japan. The director then sets it in the future, the 1930s, which is now the past. Now that is Topsy Turvy.
The funny thing is the jokes still hold today.
+Marian Ellison I think the contradiction is what makes it funny.
Sorry, this whole production is just too stilted - no wonder there's hardly any laughs from the audience. Eric is the only one in this cast with any liveliness at all.
Doesn't work. Disappointed.
Fundraiser
Works for me.
Only for you it doesn’t work. Don’t speak for us all , thank you.
This version of Mikado is very poor compared to the Stratford Festival production - in fact just plain lousy poorly produced and acted - not worth watching - a minus 10 rating
I’m sorry but this version’s singing blows Stratford Festival’s away. Also gotta give them credit for keeping it unique in the adaptation department
Probably the worst Mikado I have ever seen.
The Mikado looks different in this version.
lip sync is so bad it almost looks like it was dubbed...