TheLittleSongbird The Mikado ties with Pirates of Penzance as my personal favourite of Gilbert and Sullivan's operettas. Its story is exceedingly charming and clean family fun, while the music is some of Sullivan's most beautiful(especially The Sun Whose Rays). And if you love The Mikado as much as I do, you'll love this D'Oyly Carte performance in their Golden Age. It is deserving of a better DVD in the future, with clearer audio and a sharper image, but this is the DVD we're talking about not the performance(the latter of which being the one under review). And this performance is absolutely wonderful, tying with the 80s Stratford production as the best Mikado available on DVD(the Eric Idle one I also am fond of). It is a very beautiful-looking and authentic-in-detail traditional performance, I genuinely felt that I'd been transported to exotic Japan, a feeling that not many of the other DVD productions have done. The performance is also complete, with all the dialogue and lyrics intact. Furthermore, the dialogue and lyrics are still hilarious. The orchestra play the music as if they also know that it is one of Sullivan's most beautiful overall scores, in a very stylish and sumptuous reading. The chorus sing vibrantly and are equally enthusiastic in their acting, and there was nothing questionable about the conducting either. The staging is as charming and witty as the operetta itself, the bit where Pooh-Bah talks to Pish-Tush just for the camera is a tad contrived but is not enough to bring the performance down. And we also have the pleasure of having a dream cast in the lead roles. John Reed- though Martyn Green in the 1939 film plays with a little more subtlety- is hilarious as Ko-Ko, clearly enjoying every minute he's on stage(the little list song is deliciously funny without ever feeling crude) and he has a fine voice, making the not-easy music seem easy. Valerie Masterson's Yum-Yum is youthful, beautiful and charm personified, with one of the most gorgeously-sung and heartfelt renditions of The Sun Whose Rays I've heard anywhere. Christine Palmer has a rich voice, and is commanding regardless of whether the role of Katisha calls for venom or pathos, both of which Palmer meets splendidly. Phillip Potter is marvellous, his tenor voice is unstrained and nuanced with a strong touch of youthfulness and he doesn't come across as bland(like a lot of Nanki-Poos) as an actor either. I've not heard a better Pooh-Bah or Mikado than those of Kenneth Sandford- droll yet instantly appealing with a lovely creamy baritone voice- and Donald Adams, who dominates from minute one of his appearance with a regal presence but that doesn't restrain him from a couple of endearingly silly moments too. In conclusion, a wonderful performance, if you want a good example of the Golden Age of D'Oyly Carte this Mikado more than fits the bill. 10/10 Bethany Cox

FloatingOpera7 The Mikado (1967): Starring Phillip Potter, Valerie Masterson, John Reed, Donald Adams, Christine Palmer, Kenneth Sandford, Peggy Ann Jones, Thomas Lawlor, Pauline Wales, George Cook...Director Stuar Burge From 1967, this Mikado appeared on British television. It hit American television shortly afterward. The production values are not high, but the singing is outstanding and this little beauty of an operetta has garnered a cult classic fan base. The singers are in superb shape, especially Donald Adams as the pompous Mikado, Christene Palmer as a bitchy and temperamental but funny Katisha, the gorgeous Valerie Masterson is a charming and super feminine Yum-Yum, and Phillip Potter a matinée idol Prince Nanki-Poo. Truthfully, they live their roles and become the characters that Gilbert and Sullivan envisioned so perfectly, encompassing every nuance. The only quibble and or flaw is that perhaps they were acting them as if they were 60's British characters. Still, There is no greater cast.The release of the 1966 D'Oyly Carte Opera production of The Mikado on DVD in 2003-2004 was a capital idea. Gilbert and Sullivan fans have been waiting years for the classic film to appear on DVD. VAI (Video Artists International) offers many fine and rare operas on film. Gilbert and Sullivans' light operas were the signature of the D'Oyly Carte Opera and in the 60's this cast was the leading performers of the genre. Tenor Phillip Potter portrays Nanki Poo, the son of the Mikado disguised as a wondering minstrel. His performance is top-notch and Valerie Masterson, the soprano singing the part of Yum-Yum is his perfect counterpart. Together, they make beautiful music as in their duets. The comic actor John Reed sings Ko-Ko the Lord High Executioner. A short, playful and silly man, he's far from the expected strong and fearsome image of a Lord High Executioner. Christene Palmer is Katisha. Her commanding presence, dramatic mezzo soprano voice and imperious nature make her the perfect Katisha. She's got some powerful scenes, such as the Act I Finale in which she interrupts the Wedding of Yum Yum and Nanki Poo and threatens to reveal his true identity, operatically dramatic in her cries "My Wrongs With Vengeance Shall Be Crowned !". Donald Adams plays The Mikado Emperor. He's at his silliest in the aria "My Object All Sublime" in which he lets out a high pitched shriek as he describes his fascination for torture and execution. The authenticity of the mood and setting, a Japan of fable and art, is gloriously manifested in the scenery, which gives off a Japanese "Floating World" look and the props, bridges, lakes, tea houses, aesthetically classical in space and shape. And those costumes ! Exquisite and very Oriental with colorful patterns on the silk. And the use of fans was almost over-the-top, the characters closing and opening their fans in Japanese poses, but still it works effectively. All the great numbers that made this opera famous are here- "Three Little Maids from School" and Ko-Ko's List Song. Coincidentally, this was the same production that inspired the crazed Zodiac Serial Killer who was fond of twisting the Lord High Executioner's image. He even re-wrote the lyrics to Ko-Ko's List Song. This is the best version of The Mikado ever made. It's worth the price and has value because of its camp classic appeal.

rfwhite-1 I wandered into a theater sometime in the late '60s and watched The Mikado because I didn't have anything else to do that afternoon. I can't be sure that it was this production; it seems to me that it was performed by the D'Oyly Carte company, which I recall because it is such an unlikely -- therefore unforgettable -- name.Anyway, it was almost a magical experience. I was for a couple of hours transported into an imaginary world which I had not known existed. The music was pretty, if not particularly memorable (one doesn't walk down the street whistling tunes from the Mikado). The dialog was OK, but the lyrics were hilarious. I have rented and borrowed various productions of The Mikado in an effort to find the one I saw forty years ago, but most are not entertaining; the lyrics are either inaudible or garbled beyond comprehension, etc. The one I saw was very well done and enchanting.I have since seen the VHS version of Wilford Leach's production of Pirates of Penzance, with Kevin Kline, Angela Lansbury, etc., and am even more a G&S fan. It, too, has great lyrics and music, though you don't see people whistling its tunes either.

LedZeppelin1114 While musicals are not meant to be thought-provoking or cerebral, the ridiculous nature of "The Mikado" was more than I could handle. There was very little in this film I enjoyed: the music was stale and uninteresting, the acting was rather bland, and the humor missed it's mark. It's a shame too; the plot had so much potential. However, it was completely squandered, as was the quality of this miserable film.