(no subject)
How is it already a week since my holiday? :-/ Oh well. Today did, at least, finish on time which was looking perilously unlikely at about 3pm so small mercies?
Anyway.
Last night I went to see The Mikado with my parents. It was Jonathan Miller's production at the ENO which is now 25 years old but you wouldn't know it. It seems slightly strange to say it but this was also actually the first Gilvert & Sullivan I've seen other than the Pirates of Penzance (which I've seen at least twice *g*) though I'll be improving my numbers next month when we see Iolanthe <3
The Mikado @ ENO
So this production is set in a 1930s hotel foyer... well it said hotel foyer in the programme but it's 1930s grand house of some unspecified sort really. It is kind of weird hearing them sing about being Japanese when they clearly aren't but it worked perfectly for the plot/music/jokes really and was so gorgeous! Everything was white and black including all the costumes I they looked stunning.
The dancers were the maids/footmen and they were hilarious. I mean the dancing was brilliant but there was so much character in it and so many little details (during one of the slower songs one of the maids was tottering across the back of the stage when Ko Ko reached out from behind a door and pulled her in *g*)
And the main cast were all very good too. I know some of my flist were a little unconvinved by Alfie Boe in Les Mis but I have to say he was brilliant in this. Sort of vaguely charming as Nanki-Poo and his voice blended beautifully with Sophie Bevan's Yum-Yum.
(incidental point, not entirely sure whether I'm amused or annoyed by the fact that programmes at the ENO list everyone with titles! So Mr Alfie Boe and Miss Sophie Bevan...)
The most beautiful voice (to me) was Claudia Huckle as Pitti-Sing but then I have a weakness for a really good contralto and she really a good one. But Anne-Marie Owens as Katisha was rather stunning too (though I would say she is not remotely unattractive which made it a little bizarre the way everyone flinches away from her and the way she sings about how she's ugly)
The best thing in the production? Richard Suart as Ko-Ko. I don't have any hesitation in saying that. He was absolutely hilarious, ovedr-acting and chewing the scenery and throwing himself all over the stage. And apparently he (along with Richard Angas who plays The Mikado himself) actually write the "little list" that Ko-Ko sings and which is entirely up-to-date.
There's the Speaker of the Commons who can barely reach his seat/And his wife who has been posing all butt-naked in a sheet
It also covered RyanAir, Stephen Fry, Middle Eastern dictators, Wayne Rooney, Silvio Berlusconi... the whole thing was very funny but everyone was trying not to laugh over the next lines so as not to miss anything! Richard Suart's actually released a book called "They'd None Of Them Be Missed" about the song and the various people they've included in it over the years.
So yes, an all round triumph to my (less operatically educated) ears and eyes *g*
And in COMPLETELY different news you should all go and watch The Symphony of Bang Goes The Theory
Anyway.
Last night I went to see The Mikado with my parents. It was Jonathan Miller's production at the ENO which is now 25 years old but you wouldn't know it. It seems slightly strange to say it but this was also actually the first Gilvert & Sullivan I've seen other than the Pirates of Penzance (which I've seen at least twice *g*) though I'll be improving my numbers next month when we see Iolanthe <3
The Mikado @ ENO
So this production is set in a 1930s hotel foyer... well it said hotel foyer in the programme but it's 1930s grand house of some unspecified sort really. It is kind of weird hearing them sing about being Japanese when they clearly aren't but it worked perfectly for the plot/music/jokes really and was so gorgeous! Everything was white and black including all the costumes I they looked stunning.
The dancers were the maids/footmen and they were hilarious. I mean the dancing was brilliant but there was so much character in it and so many little details (during one of the slower songs one of the maids was tottering across the back of the stage when Ko Ko reached out from behind a door and pulled her in *g*)
And the main cast were all very good too. I know some of my flist were a little unconvinved by Alfie Boe in Les Mis but I have to say he was brilliant in this. Sort of vaguely charming as Nanki-Poo and his voice blended beautifully with Sophie Bevan's Yum-Yum.
(incidental point, not entirely sure whether I'm amused or annoyed by the fact that programmes at the ENO list everyone with titles! So Mr Alfie Boe and Miss Sophie Bevan...)
The most beautiful voice (to me) was Claudia Huckle as Pitti-Sing but then I have a weakness for a really good contralto and she really a good one. But Anne-Marie Owens as Katisha was rather stunning too (though I would say she is not remotely unattractive which made it a little bizarre the way everyone flinches away from her and the way she sings about how she's ugly)
The best thing in the production? Richard Suart as Ko-Ko. I don't have any hesitation in saying that. He was absolutely hilarious, ovedr-acting and chewing the scenery and throwing himself all over the stage. And apparently he (along with Richard Angas who plays The Mikado himself) actually write the "little list" that Ko-Ko sings and which is entirely up-to-date.
There's the Speaker of the Commons who can barely reach his seat/And his wife who has been posing all butt-naked in a sheet
It also covered RyanAir, Stephen Fry, Middle Eastern dictators, Wayne Rooney, Silvio Berlusconi... the whole thing was very funny but everyone was trying not to laugh over the next lines so as not to miss anything! Richard Suart's actually released a book called "They'd None Of Them Be Missed" about the song and the various people they've included in it over the years.
So yes, an all round triumph to my (less operatically educated) ears and eyes *g*
And in COMPLETELY different news you should all go and watch The Symphony of Bang Goes The Theory