DVD : Gilbert & Sullivan - The Mikado / Eric Idle, Lesley Garrett, Richard Van Allan, Felicity Palmer, Richard Angas, Bonaventura Bottone, Susan Bullock, English National Opera
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780767086325
Format: Color, NTSC
ISBN: 0767086325
Label: A&E Home Video
Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: A&E Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: December 26, 2005
Running Time: 130 minutes
Sales Rank: 14243
Studio: A&E Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1987
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Editorial Review:
Description:
The irrepressible Eric Idle (Monty Python’s Flying Circus) teams up with the English National Opera in this hilarious performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s beloved comic opera, THE MIKADO. This rollicking version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most popular tale relocates the action from ancient Japan to a 1920s English seaside resort. Here the rule of the Mikado is absolute--and often prone to whimsy. Ko-Ko (Eric Idle) is sentenced to death for the crime of flirting, but in a strange turn of events is instead named "Lord High Executioner." A delightful farce ensues as Ko-Ko can’t behead anyone without first cutting off his own head. But by the second act, the Mikado demands an execution and Ko-Ko must delicately sing and dance his way around a messy situation involving the Mikado’s son and his secret love Yum Yum. One of the best loved gems in all of opera, this charming production of THE MIKADO adds a unique twist to the timeless music--especially with the madcap talent of Eric Idle in his opera debut! DVD Features: A Source of Innocent Merriment: The Making of The Mikado; Downloadable Libretto; Cast Biographies; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection
Amazon.com:
Jonathan Miller set his well-known production of The Mikado, staged for the English National Opera, in a British seaside resort of the 1920s. The result, complete with a chorus of gentlemen of Japan as cartoon-like British peers, emphatically underscores the Englishness of the satire. The occasional non sequiturs, like a bunch of gentry dressed for Ascot and singing in Japanese, are loonily fun, and no more absurd than the fantasyland Japan that Gilbert and Sullivan invented. The time frame, though, seems little more than an excuse for a smart black-and-white production design.
The show's main calling card is Eric Idle as Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner. Unfortunately, his star turn of a performance, like the production as a whole, is not as funny as it should be. There are loads of comic ideas, some of them effective (bellboys parading through the hotel lobby with "No flirting" signs), some dubious (Ko-Ko delivering a 1980s-updated "little list" song at a press conference), some worked beyond their shelf life (insanely posh accents). This video recording of a 1987 performance could have been better made; the chorus, badly miked, sounds as if it is far off-stage. The actors' heavy makeup and heavy mugging are reminders that the production wasn't originally created for the camera. Such staginess may take some getting used to, but it fits in nicely with the aggressive fakery characteristic of G&S. This revisionist Mikado is probably best after you've experienced more straightforward approaches. --David Olivenbaum
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
Poor Gilbert! He must have turned over in his grave every day since this monstrosity was created.
Removing the opera from Japan and dressing the characters in British 1920s formal attire takes Mikado out of context, and renders it humorless and senseless.
Gilbert was a genius. The creator of this perversion is not!
Rating:  -
I'm always leery of "new and improved" productions of the works of Gilbert & Sullivan. The originals are hard to beat. To my amazement, this version of The Mikado is actually very watchable and enjoyable! The producers stayed true, for the most part, to both the original story line and libretti (other than the fact they "moved" the story from Japan to England, and made a few very minor changes to the dialog). The performance of the musical score is outstanding - Sullivan would be proud. ... Read More
Rating: -
"The Mikado" is arguably the most-performed of all the G&S operas. The current stage director of the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin and renowned G&S scholar Ralph MacPhail said that not a day goes without the Mikado being performed somewhere in the world. I don't know if that's true, but "Mikado" is without question a very popular and frequently-performed comic opera. In addition, there are many different takes on it. There's Red Mikado, Hot Mikado, Swing Mikado, and recently the Mikado ... Read More
Rating:  -
Director Jonathan Miller is normally an intelligent and resourceful stage director, as some of his witty comments even here on the making of this largely blighted production suggest. In the present case, sadly, he has fallen victim to a widespread delusion among contemporary opera and theater directors about the nature of how to please their audiences. He remarks that since we've by now ALL seen various productions of "The Mikado" set in the original Japan, the times cry out for a version that's radically ... Read More
Rating: -
An absolutely brilliant "modern" version of the Mikardo - sung very well and an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours.
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