The Mikado
So today we went to see 'The Mikado' in Brisbane! I've been looking forward to it ever since Mum and Dad mentioned it when we saw Prince Caspian ages ago. As I always expected, it was most positively awesome. :D
The reason I was so excited was because 'The Mikado' was one of the two stage-plays we were basically raised on. When we were little, we had videos of both a Sydney production of Mikado and the 'Cats' video, and we loved both of them, although at different times. We never got a chance to see it live before, even though with Cats I got to see it on my birthday once. Not that I can remember it, but I did see it live just the once. I wasn't sure what to expect in this production, although judging from the posters I've seen all over Brisbane (including one notable one I pass on the way to TAFE) it would be very similar to the video we liked, and not the second, more old-fashioned, one that Mum liked and we didn't.
Oh, and as a warning for anyone who's stumbled over this looking for a review... you'll find nothing but praise here. :D Also, having been raised on that video, I'll be doing a lot of comparing and pointing out differences, mostly for my own future referance for whenever I see that old video again. Just like with when I saw Spamalot, I want to be able to remember as much of it as possible, and listing the differances to the video helps immensely. :D
Firstly, the five of us (Brother decided he wasn't interested for some reason, and instead went off to work) arrived at the Lyric Theatre and Mum bought one of those guidebook things I forget the proper name for. Once I was finally allowed to look through it, I was greatly surprised to see one of the Umbilical Brothers was playing Ko-Ko! I didn't recognise anyone else, but then again I wasn't expecting to even recognise one! The guy playing Nanki-Poo was a newcomer to theatre, and, judging by what was written in the book, I assume he is known for dancing. I was also surprised to see that the "three maids changed to four in order to have a constant group of three" change was kept, as I had always assumed that the "Fabulettes" or whatever they're called again were just the one group of three... unless they are and I didn't recognise them. I haven't seen that old video in years, gimme a break! xD
One change they made to Nanki-Poo's costume was to remove the big white sleeves with the piano-keyboard design on them, although the design sketch including them was in the book beside the actor's page. In fact, they made a lot of changes in referance to Nanki-Poo (aka Nincumpoop and Nappy-San! xD That was a joke I was glad to see again!), including turning the piano he had in the video to a drum he dragged along and used as a platform in his introduction song. He also danced around the stage instead of sang in the encore at the end and Yum-Yum made a joke about knowing he wasn't a minstrel when she heard him sing, although I cannot for the life of me remember if that joke was also in the video or not. I'm sure I remember her making a joke around that point, but I can't remember what it was... Oh well. :)
The guy playing Pooh-Bah was also very funny. One change regarding him from the video is that instead of having a box of badges he stuck to his costume (and in the boring video, a cupboard of hats he would put on), he mimed something for every position he held. For one of them, he held up a cigar, and when Ko-Ko made the joke about 'moving over here so so-and-so can't hear us' he put it out in a 'mime-ashtray' before walking over! xD He and Ko-Ko then had a mini-conversation about it, because Ko-Ko had had a line in his song about smokers leaving their cigarette butts everywhere; It was very funny! And to top it off, at the end of the scene Ko-Ko tripped over the mime-ashtray! I'm surprised I'd forgotten how much Ko-Ko and Pooh-Bah work together as a comic team in this thing, so I'm finding it very hard keeping to Pooh-Bah here without straying to interaction points that were absolutely hilarious... oh well. xD One thing Pooh-Bah did was a long of little one-liners, most of which I've forgetton already, and one constant joke that whenever Yum-Yum was mentioned, he went 'woohoo' in this little, high-pitched voice, which always made me giggle. xD There was also the interrupting-song thing, which was used in the first act in his songs with the chorus and Nanki-Poo, when the song would suddenly stop as they'd all ask 'what?' to some word in the song and Pooh-Bah would have to explain it. xD And then there was the Mikado-gong thing that everyone has to do when the word 'Mikado' is said, which only had the one joke still the same, which was the gong interrupting a song that begins with "The Mikado..." xD Pooh-bah then walked up to the conductor in the orchestra pit and stood there, going on about 'are you going to keep doing that' and 'you do know this play is called The Mikado', and then (because the conductor would cue the drummer by pointing to him) 'Stop pointing at him!' xD He then surprised the ensemble by effortlessly replacing 'Mikado' with 'big boss' once the song started up again, instead of what he did in the video (which was pausing the song for a few seconds before saying 'The Big M' with great annoyance at the amused audience). It was still funny to see the ensemble get ready to do the bow and then stand thinking bemusedly for a few moments before returning to their poses. xD
My favourite joke in this was one of those jokes on the actors, that requires a bit of fore-knowledge to get. The guy playing Pooh-Bah was once part of a comic duo (I forget their name; it was in the book) that has (I assume) split up. Also, as I mentioned before, Ko-Ko was being played by one of the Umbilical Brothers, another duo whose comedy is heavily based on mime and sound-effects (although that is definately not all they do). If you want examples, look 'em up on YouTube; That's how I first found them. Anyway, back to the joke. Pooh-Bah explains when he introduces himself to Nanki-Poo and the audience that he 'was born with much pride' and thus 'insults himself' regularly to keep himself in line. He then quickly points out that what he means by this is that he'll accept bribes. xD He asks for a 'sufficient insult' from Ko-Ko at one point, and Ko-Ko, misunderstanding, actually gives him an insult, although I forget what it was. Later on, Ko-Ko is telling Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum of the 'bury widows alive' law when Pooh-Bah shows up and Ko-Ko decides to turn the tables, saying 'I learned from the master' and asking for an insult. Pooh-Bah thinks for a moment, and finally replies 'Sound-based comedy is overrated?'. Once the audience has calmed down, Ko-Ko replies 'At least we're still going' and the audience (including me) is in hysterics. xD Pooh-Bah says one more thing after that, 'Something about a Dead Horse?' and the conversation is quickly put back on track. I'm not sure what the dead horse comment was about... maybe an in-joke between the actors? I mean, I know what it means, but I'm not sure what he was referencing with that comment. Oh well, it was still one of the funniest jokes in the play!
I'm sure there were other jokes on the actors, although, as I only knew one beforehand, I didn't pick up on them. The lady playing Katisha had one, which Dad pointed out to us once we left. Apparently she is regarded as a National Treasure, and one of her lines was 'I'm regarded as a National Treasure!', poking fun at herself presumably. :) It was somewhere around where she makes the comment about her right elbow. xD Oh, and Nanki-Poo had one when one of the three 'little maids' said something about him and mentioned some long mash-up of various dancing show titles. Unfortunatly, I can't remember exactly what she said and where, which is annoying.
Okay, Ko-Ko's turn now. In the video, he entered through a carpet that was unrolled across the stage, which I was naively expecting to see again. Instead, when his cue came up, we hear his voice as he gets lost in the 'labyrinth under the stage', popping up in the orchestra pit (I was surprised at that, and then excited to finally see him in the costume, having skipped over the pictures in the book) before coming in on the other side and climbing up onto the stage! He then asks to start again, and when the chorus starts from the beginning, he interrupts and asks for them to 'fastforward', but they go too far and he runs on as he barely misses his cue again, asking for them to start a bit back from that, finally getting it right then. I could barely contain myself, as I had no idea what was happening next and it was hilarious! The only small visual change from the video was that the Ko-Ko in the video had a lot less hair, and thus only one (presumably fake) ponytail. Our Ko-Ko had four. xD When he was trying to make sure Nanki-Poo wanted to die, he did a little thing 'Look at the hair' and waved it in Nanki's face, saying 'don't die' over and over, and when he was done and asked if Nanki still wanted to die, Nanki replied 'Yes, even more so after that'. xD A lot of Ko-Ko's acting was different, obviously due to the different actors' comedy styles, and there were several additional jokes I wasn't expecting. Once he got on stage, Ko-Ko complained that he was late because someone in the ensemble, Chris, had parked over two spaces! After the play was over, I checked in the book and there was someone called Chris in the ensemble, so that was likely his actual name, but you probably aren't interested in that little trivia. :) He pretended (with full sound effects; he provided all his own) to chop off Chris's head as part of the song, which paused as he did a little bit with throwing it into the orchestra pit and asking for it to be thrown back and sewing and stapling it back on to the body before continuing singing. xD There were a couple of other times he picked on Chris, but I don't think they were big enough to get their own mentions really. I've kinda forgotten 'em already. o.o
Another of Ko-Ko's jokes was when he'd been forced into wooing and marrying Katisha (and the whole miming-instructions-thing Pooh-Bah and the girls were doing: 'you make me love... love-vomit?' xD), after the Tit-Willow song, where he threatened to kill himself and brandished a small prop knife, which he starting rubbing furiously against one of his wrist-bands. After a beat, he shouted "I'll give myself a life-threatening burn!" xD One returning joke that I found particularly funny was the 'Yum's bum' thing, although he used it slightly differently than the guy in the video, who said it once and pretended it was an accident, quickly switching back to Yum-Yum. Our Ko-Ko actually asked 'Oh, Yum's bum! Yum's bum, are you alright?' as Pooh-Bah carried her in, and didn't stop calling her that until she was put down!
The Mikado himself was also funny, although nothing I remember particularly stands out. The fact he's only in select places in the second act doesn't help, either. Same with Katisha, although she was also at the end of the first act. Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum don't have many, being the 'straight men' amongst a cast of idiotic characters, although they did have little jokes at their expense several times throughout the play. The three girls... I'm not sure, but despite them being my favourite characters when I was little, I didn't really care about them as much this time. I have no idea why. They also didn't have much different from the video either, and despite still changing into fancy dresses for the encore, they just did their singing and went straight off instead of the big audience-participation thing they did in the video.
Also, at the end there were little fireworks that went off from the scenery in the background. Or really, half of them went off. xD Only the two on the right of the stage went off, despite there appearing to be identical places for them on the left!
Oops, have I not mentioned by now we got seats in the second row? :D It was fantastic being so close to the stage and actors! At the end, when the cast ran out onto the path around the orchestra pit, Ko-Ko was standing right in front of us, and I spotted him making little finger-puppets to the little-tiny girl sitting a couple of seats next to us. ^.^ There were other little kids sitting in our row closer to the middle, who Pooh-Bah picked on during his song at the beginning. He asked if they were old enough to be there and then asked their names, but they didn't respond and he asked 'Do you want an easier question?' xD He then asked their mother next to them her name, and when she responded he said "Correct, good job" and made various comments about sending the kids to weekend classes, then went on with his thing! :D It was hilarious.
Okay, that's it for now. I can't be bothered to hide it all, so PUT UP WITH THE BIG BLOCK OF TEXT! xD It's not like I'm on anybody's friend list anyway!
The reason I was so excited was because 'The Mikado' was one of the two stage-plays we were basically raised on. When we were little, we had videos of both a Sydney production of Mikado and the 'Cats' video, and we loved both of them, although at different times. We never got a chance to see it live before, even though with Cats I got to see it on my birthday once. Not that I can remember it, but I did see it live just the once. I wasn't sure what to expect in this production, although judging from the posters I've seen all over Brisbane (including one notable one I pass on the way to TAFE) it would be very similar to the video we liked, and not the second, more old-fashioned, one that Mum liked and we didn't.
Oh, and as a warning for anyone who's stumbled over this looking for a review... you'll find nothing but praise here. :D Also, having been raised on that video, I'll be doing a lot of comparing and pointing out differences, mostly for my own future referance for whenever I see that old video again. Just like with when I saw Spamalot, I want to be able to remember as much of it as possible, and listing the differances to the video helps immensely. :D
Firstly, the five of us (Brother decided he wasn't interested for some reason, and instead went off to work) arrived at the Lyric Theatre and Mum bought one of those guidebook things I forget the proper name for. Once I was finally allowed to look through it, I was greatly surprised to see one of the Umbilical Brothers was playing Ko-Ko! I didn't recognise anyone else, but then again I wasn't expecting to even recognise one! The guy playing Nanki-Poo was a newcomer to theatre, and, judging by what was written in the book, I assume he is known for dancing. I was also surprised to see that the "three maids changed to four in order to have a constant group of three" change was kept, as I had always assumed that the "Fabulettes" or whatever they're called again were just the one group of three... unless they are and I didn't recognise them. I haven't seen that old video in years, gimme a break! xD
One change they made to Nanki-Poo's costume was to remove the big white sleeves with the piano-keyboard design on them, although the design sketch including them was in the book beside the actor's page. In fact, they made a lot of changes in referance to Nanki-Poo (aka Nincumpoop and Nappy-San! xD That was a joke I was glad to see again!), including turning the piano he had in the video to a drum he dragged along and used as a platform in his introduction song. He also danced around the stage instead of sang in the encore at the end and Yum-Yum made a joke about knowing he wasn't a minstrel when she heard him sing, although I cannot for the life of me remember if that joke was also in the video or not. I'm sure I remember her making a joke around that point, but I can't remember what it was... Oh well. :)
The guy playing Pooh-Bah was also very funny. One change regarding him from the video is that instead of having a box of badges he stuck to his costume (and in the boring video, a cupboard of hats he would put on), he mimed something for every position he held. For one of them, he held up a cigar, and when Ko-Ko made the joke about 'moving over here so so-and-so can't hear us' he put it out in a 'mime-ashtray' before walking over! xD He and Ko-Ko then had a mini-conversation about it, because Ko-Ko had had a line in his song about smokers leaving their cigarette butts everywhere; It was very funny! And to top it off, at the end of the scene Ko-Ko tripped over the mime-ashtray! I'm surprised I'd forgotten how much Ko-Ko and Pooh-Bah work together as a comic team in this thing, so I'm finding it very hard keeping to Pooh-Bah here without straying to interaction points that were absolutely hilarious... oh well. xD One thing Pooh-Bah did was a long of little one-liners, most of which I've forgetton already, and one constant joke that whenever Yum-Yum was mentioned, he went 'woohoo' in this little, high-pitched voice, which always made me giggle. xD There was also the interrupting-song thing, which was used in the first act in his songs with the chorus and Nanki-Poo, when the song would suddenly stop as they'd all ask 'what?' to some word in the song and Pooh-Bah would have to explain it. xD And then there was the Mikado-gong thing that everyone has to do when the word 'Mikado' is said, which only had the one joke still the same, which was the gong interrupting a song that begins with "The Mikado..." xD Pooh-bah then walked up to the conductor in the orchestra pit and stood there, going on about 'are you going to keep doing that' and 'you do know this play is called The Mikado', and then (because the conductor would cue the drummer by pointing to him) 'Stop pointing at him!' xD He then surprised the ensemble by effortlessly replacing 'Mikado' with 'big boss' once the song started up again, instead of what he did in the video (which was pausing the song for a few seconds before saying 'The Big M' with great annoyance at the amused audience). It was still funny to see the ensemble get ready to do the bow and then stand thinking bemusedly for a few moments before returning to their poses. xD
My favourite joke in this was one of those jokes on the actors, that requires a bit of fore-knowledge to get. The guy playing Pooh-Bah was once part of a comic duo (I forget their name; it was in the book) that has (I assume) split up. Also, as I mentioned before, Ko-Ko was being played by one of the Umbilical Brothers, another duo whose comedy is heavily based on mime and sound-effects (although that is definately not all they do). If you want examples, look 'em up on YouTube; That's how I first found them. Anyway, back to the joke. Pooh-Bah explains when he introduces himself to Nanki-Poo and the audience that he 'was born with much pride' and thus 'insults himself' regularly to keep himself in line. He then quickly points out that what he means by this is that he'll accept bribes. xD He asks for a 'sufficient insult' from Ko-Ko at one point, and Ko-Ko, misunderstanding, actually gives him an insult, although I forget what it was. Later on, Ko-Ko is telling Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum of the 'bury widows alive' law when Pooh-Bah shows up and Ko-Ko decides to turn the tables, saying 'I learned from the master' and asking for an insult. Pooh-Bah thinks for a moment, and finally replies 'Sound-based comedy is overrated?'. Once the audience has calmed down, Ko-Ko replies 'At least we're still going' and the audience (including me) is in hysterics. xD Pooh-Bah says one more thing after that, 'Something about a Dead Horse?' and the conversation is quickly put back on track. I'm not sure what the dead horse comment was about... maybe an in-joke between the actors? I mean, I know what it means, but I'm not sure what he was referencing with that comment. Oh well, it was still one of the funniest jokes in the play!
I'm sure there were other jokes on the actors, although, as I only knew one beforehand, I didn't pick up on them. The lady playing Katisha had one, which Dad pointed out to us once we left. Apparently she is regarded as a National Treasure, and one of her lines was 'I'm regarded as a National Treasure!', poking fun at herself presumably. :) It was somewhere around where she makes the comment about her right elbow. xD Oh, and Nanki-Poo had one when one of the three 'little maids' said something about him and mentioned some long mash-up of various dancing show titles. Unfortunatly, I can't remember exactly what she said and where, which is annoying.
Okay, Ko-Ko's turn now. In the video, he entered through a carpet that was unrolled across the stage, which I was naively expecting to see again. Instead, when his cue came up, we hear his voice as he gets lost in the 'labyrinth under the stage', popping up in the orchestra pit (I was surprised at that, and then excited to finally see him in the costume, having skipped over the pictures in the book) before coming in on the other side and climbing up onto the stage! He then asks to start again, and when the chorus starts from the beginning, he interrupts and asks for them to 'fastforward', but they go too far and he runs on as he barely misses his cue again, asking for them to start a bit back from that, finally getting it right then. I could barely contain myself, as I had no idea what was happening next and it was hilarious! The only small visual change from the video was that the Ko-Ko in the video had a lot less hair, and thus only one (presumably fake) ponytail. Our Ko-Ko had four. xD When he was trying to make sure Nanki-Poo wanted to die, he did a little thing 'Look at the hair' and waved it in Nanki's face, saying 'don't die' over and over, and when he was done and asked if Nanki still wanted to die, Nanki replied 'Yes, even more so after that'. xD A lot of Ko-Ko's acting was different, obviously due to the different actors' comedy styles, and there were several additional jokes I wasn't expecting. Once he got on stage, Ko-Ko complained that he was late because someone in the ensemble, Chris, had parked over two spaces! After the play was over, I checked in the book and there was someone called Chris in the ensemble, so that was likely his actual name, but you probably aren't interested in that little trivia. :) He pretended (with full sound effects; he provided all his own) to chop off Chris's head as part of the song, which paused as he did a little bit with throwing it into the orchestra pit and asking for it to be thrown back and sewing and stapling it back on to the body before continuing singing. xD There were a couple of other times he picked on Chris, but I don't think they were big enough to get their own mentions really. I've kinda forgotten 'em already. o.o
Another of Ko-Ko's jokes was when he'd been forced into wooing and marrying Katisha (and the whole miming-instructions-thing Pooh-Bah and the girls were doing: 'you make me love... love-vomit?' xD), after the Tit-Willow song, where he threatened to kill himself and brandished a small prop knife, which he starting rubbing furiously against one of his wrist-bands. After a beat, he shouted "I'll give myself a life-threatening burn!" xD One returning joke that I found particularly funny was the 'Yum's bum' thing, although he used it slightly differently than the guy in the video, who said it once and pretended it was an accident, quickly switching back to Yum-Yum. Our Ko-Ko actually asked 'Oh, Yum's bum! Yum's bum, are you alright?' as Pooh-Bah carried her in, and didn't stop calling her that until she was put down!
The Mikado himself was also funny, although nothing I remember particularly stands out. The fact he's only in select places in the second act doesn't help, either. Same with Katisha, although she was also at the end of the first act. Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum don't have many, being the 'straight men' amongst a cast of idiotic characters, although they did have little jokes at their expense several times throughout the play. The three girls... I'm not sure, but despite them being my favourite characters when I was little, I didn't really care about them as much this time. I have no idea why. They also didn't have much different from the video either, and despite still changing into fancy dresses for the encore, they just did their singing and went straight off instead of the big audience-participation thing they did in the video.
Also, at the end there were little fireworks that went off from the scenery in the background. Or really, half of them went off. xD Only the two on the right of the stage went off, despite there appearing to be identical places for them on the left!
Oops, have I not mentioned by now we got seats in the second row? :D It was fantastic being so close to the stage and actors! At the end, when the cast ran out onto the path around the orchestra pit, Ko-Ko was standing right in front of us, and I spotted him making little finger-puppets to the little-tiny girl sitting a couple of seats next to us. ^.^ There were other little kids sitting in our row closer to the middle, who Pooh-Bah picked on during his song at the beginning. He asked if they were old enough to be there and then asked their names, but they didn't respond and he asked 'Do you want an easier question?' xD He then asked their mother next to them her name, and when she responded he said "Correct, good job" and made various comments about sending the kids to weekend classes, then went on with his thing! :D It was hilarious.
Okay, that's it for now. I can't be bothered to hide it all, so PUT UP WITH THE BIG BLOCK OF TEXT! xD It's not like I'm on anybody's friend list anyway!