Gilbert and Sullivan

[renor27]

hello all
This last weekend the Reno Opera company had a two night run of Gilbert and Sullivan's the Mikado .
It is always nice we get a chance to hear a great opera here in the wilds of Nevada.
But the opera company changed the opera they up dated it ever so slightly and changed some of the words

why I have no idea ......to make it more appealing to who I am not sure :eusa_doh: the masses or a younger generation .

Its opera 3 penny opera but opera never the less why change it?
Any one else had this happen to them?

Oh the other aspect of the evening was the looks I got for my dress.
Not that I was wearing a kilt but was in tails . I was really taken aback that some folks were in jeans at the opera.

 

[Haversack]

_The Mikado_ is the most popular and most performed of the G&S canon. As such, it has also been the most tinkered with. Back in the 1930s, there were both _The Swing Mikado_ and _The Hot Mikado_, [Both jazz versions with all-black casts. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hot_Mikado_(1939_production) ] In the late 1980s there was a version filmed with Eric Idle playing Ko-ko that was set and dressed in a 1920s beach resort hotel.

Even in traditionally staged production, (i.e. not straying far from D'oyly Carte), it has become not uncommon to modify the words of the two songs, "I've got a Little List", and "A More Humane Mikado". This is done to both reflect changes in social attitudes and to skewer personages currently in the news. For example, substituting, (no pun intended), "banjo serenader" or "blackface serenader" for the original "nigger serenader" has been done in most US productions since the 1940s. Similarly, the inclusion of "the lady novelist" on Ko-ko's list is often changed to "the girl who's never kissed" as lady novelists are no longer considered novel.

Initially, making these two songs topical was limited to just Ko-ko's list song and was done through the role's originating actor's, (George Grossmith), ability to caricature and mimic certain "politicians of a compromising kind". Because of this permitted inclusion of topicality, changes to this song's lyrics gradually became acceptable. I must admit though to still finding it jarring to hear different words to the Mikado's song. I think the crimes and punishments he describes retain their currency. Particularly, "The idiot who, in railway carriages, Scribbles on window-panes..."

Now as regards opera and dressing for same, you will still see black tie and some white tie at the San Francisco Opera. Especially on opening nights. However, I very much doubt you will ever see a production of one of Gilbert and Sullivan's operettas performed by that august body. The pecking order that Sullivan felt in 1880s London still exists in some parts of this world. Fortunately, San Francisco is blessed with the Lamplighters. (http://www.lamplighters.org/) This 55 year-old theatre company specializes in doing traditional productions of Gilbert and Sullivan with full staging and orchestra. The productions of theirs are as good and as close to those I have seen of the original D'Oyly Carte company before it folded. The chorus of the Lamplighters is particularly tight. Of course, this being the time and place it is, the dress of the Lamplighter's audience varies considerably. Their annual Champagne Gala is the most likely place to see people wearing evening clothes.

Haversack.

 

[renor27]

_

San Francisco is blessed with the Lamplighters. (http://www.lamplighters.org/) This 55 year-old theatre company specializes in doing traditional productions of Gilbert and Sullivan with full staging and orchestra. The productions of theirs are as good and as close to those I have seen of the original D'Oyly Carte company before it folded. The chorus of the Lamplighters is particularly tight. Of course, this being the time and place it is, the dress of the Lamplighter's audience varies considerably. Their annual Champagne Gala is the most likely place to see people wearing evening clothes.

Haversack.

Thanks so much had forgotten about this wonderful groupie looks to be a lot of fun and they are doing the Mikado this next season. The Champagne Gala looks to be a lot of fun might be a wonderful event to get a groupie together to enjoy black tie and all.

 

[dhermann1]

My girlfriend has played the cello in the NY Gilbert and Sullivan Players orchestra for something like 25 years. They are famous for taking liberties with the text. When John Reed, the great star of the D'Oyly Cartes Company, performed with them, he was very enthusiastic about NYGASP's approach. He felt that the hidebound traditionalism of D'Oyly Cartes contributed to its demise.
Some of the innovations that NYGASP have made were thought up by the performers while riding the bus. G&S were satirizing their own time with their work. I think it's only appropriate to do the same today, provided the innovations are really clever and on the mark.

 

[The Wolf]

I went to a production of "The Mikado" in San Franciso that stayed fairly true to the operetta but added lyrics to "I Have a Little List" that were modern satire.
Eric Idle was in a production of "the Mikado" that took place in a 1920s English seaside resort but kept the character's names and lyrics as the original.

Sincerely,
the Wolf