The Mikado

The first fully staged show by the New London Opera Group (newLOG) was a vibrant new production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s ever popular masterpiece, The Mikado or The Town of Titipu, given by the group at the Riverhead Theatre, Louth, Lincolnshire on 18th and 19th June 2004.

The production, directed by Chris Cann and MDd by Tom Carradine was a great artistic and financial success, with the two evenings completely sold out and a two-thirds capacity audience for the matinée. It built on the success of the University of London Opera Group tour of Iolanthe in 2003 and the spring concert of G&S to establish newLOG as a firm favourite fixture in the Riverhead Theatre season.

The show was of a consistently high standard throughout, and at no time did energy flag, even on the opening night after having already run the show twice that day and at the quiet matinee. Several audience members remarked on the high energy level of the cast, and it is one of the great pleasures in directing a young cast that this sort of momentum can be generated.

The chorus did very well in the performances. The male chorus was very strong in the opening scene and the entrance of the ladies and the following trio and quartet were amongst the most charming I've seen. When together for the big ensembles, the Chorus rose to the occasion with superb performances in the finales and especially the entry of the Mikado scene.

The principals reflected this high standard. Megan Currier and Sam Savant made a charming pair of lovers and their duet “Were you not to Ko-Ko plighted” was played with great delicacy and charm. Sam made a very good "Wandering Minstrel" and Megan's "The sun whose rays" was a joy. She was also a great sport by appearing apparently naked in her pre-nuptial bath during “Braid the raven hair”, which excited considerable interest from the gentlemen in the audience! Ashley Mercer was a fine Ko-Ko who resisted the urge to overplay and successfully conveyed the pathos and comedy of the character in equal measure, especially in his reluctant wooing of Katisha. Ashley filled in so much detail of the character, and this was one of those rare productions in which the audience was reminded that Ko-Ko is actually a tailor. Sue Foister clearly reveled in the role of Katisha, with a suitably belligerent presence, without ever descending into Panto. She also brilliantly caught the pathos of Katisha's situation in Act II and "Alone and yet alive" was genuinely moving. Sally Hewitt's Pitti-Sing was outstanding – undoubtedly her best role to date: mischievious in Act I, and in Act II she the perfect comic foil for Jerry Pinel's lugubrious Pooh-Bah. The dialogue following “See how the fates” where the three condemned plotters found themselves chained together was pure magic. Jerry Pinel's Pooh-Bah almost stole the whole show with a bravura study of corruption and pomposity; the different Pish-Tush, characterisations of all the "High Officers of State" were very well done. Graham Rogers’ dual role as the Mikado and WS Gilbert was a real tour de force – his impersonation of Gilbert, coached by Bob Vaughan, was so detailed that there were times when one felt that one could have been watching the real thing! The rest of the cast all gave strong support, be it Tony Bannister's weasly and ever-camper Pish-Tush, Stuart Pinel's bumbling policeman Go-To and Leonie Barron's acerbic Peep-Bo.

Visually, the production was based on blue and white “willow pattern” porcelain. The set was built and designed, by Steve Greenwood, to resemble a giant tea tray, including an enormous steaming teapot that, in the Act I finale, revolved to reveal Katisha on the reverse. Also on stage was a sugar bowl, the large sugar lumps being put to many versatile uses throughout the show, as seats, tables and plinths. There was also a giant teacup which appeared in various guises throughout the opera, including Yum-Yum's pre-nuptial bath tub and the vat of boiling oil! The butter knife was also used as Ko-Ko's executioner’s sword! The concept was also extended to the costumes (by Eirian Walsh-Atkins) and Kabuki-style make-up (by Phil Hollman). This uniformity meant that the contrast with the “outsiders” (the Mikado in black and gold and Katisha in scarlet and gold) was all the more pronounced.