SULLIVAN : THE MIKADO

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 4th of September 2011 at 3.03 - 6.05 pm 

SULLIVAN: The Mikado, an operetta in two acts
The Mikado.................. James Morris
Nanki-Poo.................... Toby Spence
Ko-Ko......................... Neal Davies
Pooh-Bah..................... Andrew Shore
Pish-Tush...................... Phillip Kraus
Yum-Yum..................... Andriana Chuchman
Pitti-Sing....................... Katharine Goeldner
Peep-Bo....................... Emily Fons
Katisha......................... Stephanie Blythe
Lyric Opera Chorus & Orch/Andrew Davis  
(recorded at the Lyric Opera, Chicago by WFMT)

INTRODUCTION
ARCHIVE
PREVIEW 
REVIEW 
REVIEW


Sullivan's Ivanhoe is the only one of his works to appear on this website so far, but it gives me great pleasure to add The Mikado, the most operatic of his operettas. In 1884 (after Thespis [never heard of it?], Trial by Jury, Sorcerer, Pinafore, Pirates, Patience, Iolanthe, Princess Ida) Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) had reached a point in his relationship with his wonderful witty librettist, W. S. Gilbert (1836-1911), where he wanted to produce more serious musical compositions. He baulked at the idea of a magic lozenge that makes people fall in love (similar to The Sorcerer, and Donizetti's Elixir of Love), and Gilbert came up with a satire on Japan, which (as ever) had reference to English society and the British Empire.

This is the 9th of the collaborative works (fourteen comic operas, thoughthe first, Thespis, is not in my book of librettos) by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, and it almost did not happen. Sullivan rejected the idea of a magic lozenge for lovers, and Gilbert had to find a new subject rapidly. Did the Japanese ceremonial sword fall from the wall or not at all? Anyway, the composer was happy with a play set in Japan but satirising Imperial Britain. The names are not Nipponese but Chinese, and I am wondering whether this was intentional or not.

This is a performance from the Chicago LyricOpera house. It is conducted by the genial Andrew Davis, who has obviously not put all the nonsense of the Last Night of the Proms behind him yet.

The unsmiling Mikado (letting the punishment fit the crime) is the demoted from divinity Wotan named James Morris; and Katisha his fearsome daughter-in-law elect (who actually loses the election to Yum-Yum, and gets the lowly Lord High Executioner Ko-Ko as her partner in life, instead of the
prince Nanki-Poo) is the sublime Stephanie Blythe. We know both of them fromthe NY Metropera.

Stephanie Blythe is a marvel; her body fills quite a bit of space on a stage, but her voice and the personas she projects into the theatre are glorious and moving (Orpheus, Fricka).

Above we have a set of study guides that give us all we need. The Wiki article covers everything, and provides access to each item in the show, one by one: example, "The sun whose rays are all ablaze".

The attribution "Gilbert and Sullivan" is right; it started the American way in crediting the creators of musical plays (Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe). Gilbert saw their relationship as "master and master", not "slave and master".