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Ian Caddy as Pooh-Bah and Sarah Tynan as Yum-Yum |
Mikado on high
MIKADO
English National Opera
MOST concertgoers either love Gilbert and Sullivan or hate
them. I used to belong to the don’t know category until
my partner dragged me to my first show and from then, however,
unfortunately late in life it was, I was hooked by this odd
Victorian couple whose operettas continue to pack theatres decade
after decade.
I have now seen dozens of their productions but this one is
different from anything I have enjoyed before.
You would expect this considering it has been devised by Jonathan
Miller who has thrown caution to the wind.
He has turfed out the traditional exotic Japanese set and replaced
it with a dazzling white set portraying a 30s English hotel
thus allowing him to lampoon targets close to home. In one aria,
the lyrics have been changed to poke fun at the current scandals
in the Lib Dem leadership. Then he has added a powerful mix
of Busby-Berkeley style numbers with funny dance sequences by
a male chorus line mimicking Woody Allen gestures, and not too
far away you can’t escape from the influence of the Marx
Brothers’ films.
But Miller has kept enough of the tempo and the rich satirical
imagination and wit of the original songs to ensure the theatre
stays packed until the end of the run.
Plaudits must go to everyone connected with the show but, perhaps
unfairly, I can’t help but mention Sarah Tynan as Yum-Yum,
whose haunting rendition of the song – ‘The Sun whose
rays’ – placed it, in my opinion, among the great
arias of opera, serious or light. As for the pivotal role of
the High Executioner, it was played riotously by Keith Jameson.
The Mikado is now 120 years old and its melodies will be sung
in another 100 years time when most of those that pad out today’s
musicals will be forgotten.
EG
Until March 3
0870 145 0200 |
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