The Theater: Old Operetta on Tour

The Mikado, thanks to a coast-to-coast tour of the Fujiwara Opera Co., can now be heard with an all-Japanese cast. Although a Japanese Mikado, like a Danish Hamlet, is less ideal than it may sound-for the genius of both works is profoundly English-the Fujiwara production has its points. To be sure, it could drive those exalted Shintoists, the Savoyards, to harakiri. There may merely be something piquant in what sounds like “Three little meds from skoo are we” or “The fathers that bloom in the spring, twa-la.” But such sacred songs as “I’ve got a little list” have been brutally cut, and such profanities as “teenagers” and “Hollywood” have been barbarously added. The Ko-Ko is almost unintelligible, and the Katisha positively has charm.

But if often amateurish and quite un-Gilbertian, this small-scale Mikado has at times a certain toylike appeal. Sullivan’s score is lightly played and prettily sung, and if the satire in the lyrics has all but vanished, the sweetness in much of the music is decidedly enhanced.