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“There are some splendid comic touches particularly from Fenton Gray's eyes rolling
adroit Ko Ko”
“The best singing comes from Charlotte Page's ringing and witty Yum Yum”
“(Nichola McAuliffe) is a magnificent recruit to G&S”
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“...a light-hearted study of execution and torture oriental mode...”
“...lively conductor Martin Handley, guided the company back to Gilbertian crispness and Sullivanian classical pastiche...”
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“The evening always looks a treat: the delicate-hued silks of the kimonos are set off by the beautiful cherry blossom designs...”
“Fenton Gray whose comic timing as Ko-Ko is spot-on.”
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“...the really charming thing about this show is that its strong sense of period is peppered with a contemporary knowingness...”
“...this most enjoyable evening...”
“Fenton Gray (standing in for Eric Roberts) gives ENO's Richard Suart a run for his money with a terrific, frantic study in self-preservation. There's a cracking dig at hi-tech gadgetry, culminating in the punchline: ‘To think that all this useless junk was made here in Japan!’”
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“What was truly and refreshingly authentic about the performance, however, was its scale and honesty. In a medium-sized theatre, with a proper pit orchestra, crisply conducted by Martin Handley, there was no need for any amplification, and the words came across with a refreshing directness and naturalness. If only modern musicals would follow suit.”
“...but on a grey winter's night you'd have to be a very sad, uptight person indeed not to sit back and enjoy such unpretentious old-fashioned entertainment.”
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“...it has pace, humour, ornate costumes and bright colourful settings.”
“...casting Alistair McGowan is a masterstroke and his Mikado of Japan is a joyous amalgam...”
“Director Peter Mulloy should be congratulated”
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“fascinating re-creation….costumes look great…choreography is amusingly lively…it all still adds up to a rather jolly evening.”
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It’s getting on for five years since the Carl Rosa Company last brought The Mikado to the Lyric Theatre at The Lowry, and last night’s opening showed that they have tightened and enlivened it to very good effect.
One member only of the 2001 cast is with them this time – Bruce Graham as Poo-Bah. The others are the cream of the new generation of Gilbert & Sullivan performers, a specialist group known to those who follow the tradition (and familiar faces at the Buxton G&S Festival).
They may not be household names, but give me their sheer professionalism and expertise rather than someone else just trying their hand.
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Simon Butteriss is surely the leading comic baritone of his generation. His Ko-Ko, with an obvious debt to John Reed, nonetheless takes the clowning and clever hamming a few stages further, and is a joy. Oliver White (Nanki-Poo) is a splendid romantic tenor lead, and Charlotte Page an artfully Victorian heroine as Yum-Yum. Steven Page made the Mikado’s song more convincing than any I’ve seen, and Victoria Ward puts a lot of fun into Pitti-Sing.
The Carl Rosa Production, with its replica 1885 costumes and settings in similar style, is both period-conscious and of today. It moves at a great pace musically, too, with Martin Handley conducting the tiny orchestra. The footlight microphones make for quite fierce amplification, but at least you hear every word.
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There’s little doubting the popularity of The Mikado. It has some of the best known songs in the world of popular opera, and this latest production doesn’t disappoint.
But it’s not all about the singing when it comes to Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado. You need good stage design and costumes to match, and here the Carl Rosa wins on all counts.
The costumes are outstanding and you will recognise them coming as they do from the critically-acclaimed, Oscar-winning Mike Leigh film Topsy-Turvy. But there’s a lot more to them than that, being as they are the original 1885 period designs from Gilbert’s own Savoy production.
This latest production celebrates The Mikado’s 120th anniversary, and if there are any complaints it would be that a few of the male characters’ performances are a tad disappointing, full of deep baritone voices, but sounding a little weak.
The women outshine the men but, that said, Simon Butteriss as Ko-Ko Lord High Executioner of Titipu, excels.
He has some great comic moments and delivers them effortlessly.
Ivan Sharpe as Nanki-Poo also deserves special mention.
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A highlight as ever is Three Little Maids, a show-stopping number if ever there was one.
And Bruce Graham as Pooh-Bah, the Lord High of Everything, comes to the fore early on as he takes on a handful of roles.
The Mikado may be 120 years old but this production is brought right up to date. The Lord High Chancellor has a Gordon Brown accent, great stuff, and there are references to Posh and Becks, and also the Tory party leadership race.
A Wandering Minstrel I, Behold The Lord High Executioner, On A Tree By A River, and A Little Tomtit Sang, Willow, tit-willow are just some of the well-known numbers.
The Mikado himself comes on mid-way through Act 2, dressed in a lavish costume and doesn’t take long to mark his mark.
Set in the Japanese court of Titipu, this hilarious tale of love, marriage, executions and heroics certainly does bring to life some of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most colourful and popular comic characters.
Thoroughly enjoyable.
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Carl Rosa’s stunningly beautiful production of The Mikado lit up High Wycombe’s Swan Theatre last week, marking the 120th anniversary of this ever-popular operetta. With its faithful attention to Gilbert’s directions, this is The Mikado as it should be, uniquely capturing the opera’s true spirit and setting a benchmark for all other productions. The authentic sets and costumes, recreated from the 1885 originals, are a kaleidoscope of colour, a magnificent backdrop against which the action falls seamlessly into place.
But this is not Victorian museum piece; this production is fresh and lively, driven by a cast that blends experience with exciting young talent.
The undisputed star is Simon Butteriss, whose Ko-Ko is a masterpience of comic veracity, invigorating all around him with his sheer vitality and breating new life into one of Gilbert’s most well-known characters.
Oliver White, a golden-voiced tenor with top notes to die for, is rapidly establishing himself as an outstanding exponent of the G&S canon, and here adds Nanki-Poo to his growing portfolio, imbuing the role with his customary artistic integrity – every expression, every inflexion and every nuance exactly right.
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Charlotte Page is one of the loveliest Yum-Yums I’ve seen, a perfect blend of mischief, charm and vulnerability, her singing strong and assured. Bruce Graham’s Pooh-Bah is suitably sneering and snobbish, with a wonderful appreciation of the character’s humour.
Steven Page is an authoritative Mikado, Nuala Willis manages to inject some pathos into the much-reviled Katisha, Barry Clark contributes a stylish Pish-Tush, and Victoria Ward and Lesley Cox are full of fun as Pitti-Sing and Peep-Bo. There is lively support from the chorus, and flawless accompaniment from the well-disciplined orchestra.
This is a gem of a Mikado; a glittering jewel that makes all other productions seem but cheap imitations. If you missed it in High Wycombe, try and catch it later in the tour if you can. For full details, visit the company’s website at www.carlrosaopera.co.uk.
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The touring Carl Rosa Opera Company, guided by Gilbert’s prompt book, has lovingly re-created this
comic masterpiece as closely as possible to the original. And, like a fine crystal vase, carefully
polished after removing the accumulated grime of decades, it sparkles splendidly. The women in particular,
shone. The impeccably trained chorus invariable sang with sense and style. So, too did the pert and
pretty ‘Three little maids from school’, whose seeming effortless ensemble singing belied the
painstaking rehearse needed to achieve such vocal finesse.
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Simon Butteriss was perfectly cast as this twerpish, manipulative fusspot. Making the most of every
comic opportunity while tirelessly cavorting around the stage. Butteriss had the audience in the palm
of his hand. His famous Little List song deservedly brought the house down with its references. If you
want to experience G&S at a very high level, don’t miss this production.
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It’s wonderful then to see one of their great successes, The Mikado redone in a new production that
respects its period feel and style. The staging draws on Gilbert’s original prompt books.
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The costumes, too, are based on the original designs. The movie Topsy-Turvy used the same costumes and
they won the film an Oscar.
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"...The reborn Carl Rosa Opera Company has gone back to the version its founder would have known when
the show was first presented by the Savoy Opera in 1885...why not trust Gilbert and Sullivan and go
back to the original text?
The result, on this occasion, was hugely popular…infectiously entertaining...
and you could hardly be truer to the shades of Gilbert and Sullivan than that..."
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“At last we have a professional company that can champion operetta once again... Carl Rosa has a bright
future ahead of them... Streets ahead of it’s competitors in terms of purpose and craftsmanship.”
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