Mikado [Blu-ray]

Slam Dunk... No questions asked..
Oh I loved it... A wholesome evening of pure entertainment...in spite of some lyrics being added, now that the copyright is dead.. not too commendable, but acceptable.

I have never seen such flippancy on stage for a G&S. The Aussies have gone home with whatever satire it could muster and add on to, and done it in style. To begin with, they have erased the Brit Stiff Upper Lip approach to the work that is almost a norm in the British productions that I have watched on the DVD over the years.... That made certain parts of even Mikado a little tiresome. None of that here....

The male voices are clearly no match for the British productions in any way. Perhaps we may tend to feel that after being exposed to the D'Oyly stuff for decades now...
Ko-ko (Anthony Warlow) steals the show, although I cant go to the extent of calling his voice and rendering one of the 'greats' by a mile. Nanki-Poo (Kanen Breen) is not too far behind, and the clarity of the blu ray...

Silly and Medicore - Nanki-Poo as drag queen
I have no quibbles with the seller price or service. They were great. It was the disc I was very disappointed in. The tempi were leaden but the singing adequate. Apparently some genius decided that he or she was a better lyricist than Gilbert and a better composer than Sullivan. The lyrics were "improved" in a couple of songs and were so Australia specific that I had no interest in them. The overture was cut but a clumsy medly of greatest hits from the opera thrown together. I also think the orchestra was scaled back to chamber size.

Nanki-Poo was dreadful. His voice in places was rough and strainted but that paled beside his effeminate, silly and embarassing characterization. He was amateurish, always mugging for the camera, flopping his hands and cutting up like he was caging drinks before a drag show. Ko-Ko and Pooh-Bah weren't much better.

I have Pirates and Pinafore and they were great. This production just sinks under it's too cute and silly...

excellent
The Opera Australia folks sure do a great job with Gilbert and Sulivan productions. I have just finished this one and The Pirates of Penzance. Both are excellent. If you like G&S, you will like these DVDs.

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