{"id":5666,"date":"2019-11-10T08:31:42","date_gmt":"2019-11-10T08:31:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larkreviews.co.uk\/?p=5666"},"modified":"2019-11-10T08:33:31","modified_gmt":"2019-11-10T08:33:31","slug":"eno-the-mikado-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/?p=5666","title":{"rendered":"ENO: The Mikado"},"content":{"rendered":"

London Coliseum, 9 November 2019<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

For a production that has been around since the mid-1980s Jonathan Miller\u2019s Mikado <\/em>is vibrant, fresh and fun. Elaine Tyler-Hall has clearly made an accomplished job of reviving it.<\/p>\n

So what distinguishes it? The traditional trappings have gone and we\u2019re in a 1930s hotel although the material is so strong it really doesn\u2019t matter where you set it. It\u2019s a visual feast of black and white and it is a feat of directorial genius to have a troop of twelve dancers in addition to the singing chorus because it enables all sorts of sparky choreography with the tap dancing in both finales being a real tour de force.<\/p>\n

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Interestingly though, Gilbert\u2019s libretto is almost intact with only very minor adjustments such as the substitution of a \u201cslow suburban\u201d train for the now meaningless parliamentary one. In general it\u2019s still as funny as it ever was and it\u2019s good to see that respected. It\u2019s also pleasing to hear people, who presumably aren\u2019t particularly familiar with the piece, laughing not just at performers doing clever things but at Gilbert\u2019s wit.<\/p>\n

Richard Suart is back in harness writing a new \u201cLittle List\u201d for every performance and of course it\u2019s a show stopper. He knows how to squeeze every ounce of humour from every nuanced word of the rest of his part too and looks suitably absurd with that floppy back wig centrally parted. John Tomlinson looks suitably tyrannical in a colonial white suit and Panama hat, his enormous stature dwarfing everyone on stage. His gravelly bass voice is just the job too.<\/p>\n

There are no weak links among the principals \u2013 this is ENO after all \u2013 but I think it\u2019s the quality of the choral singing which really makes this production stand out. Every note of the harmony is gloriously incisive and resonant.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a joy to hear Sullivan played by such a large and competent pit band (Conductor: Chris Hopkins) which brings out the musical jokes as well as playing the whole score beautifully. I was also delighted to be allowed to listen to the overture properly too, without the visual trappings most directors seem to clutter it up with too.<\/p>\n

As a production, the performance I saw was hugely enjoyable but not flawless. Because Richard Suart has to read his List \u2013 or at least consult his notes \u2013 presumably because he hasn\u2019t had time to learn it, he and the orchestra were seriously out of sync. There were timing problems in The Mikado\u2019s song too and in one or two other places. These are very minor gripes though. It\u2019s a magnificent show.<\/p>\n

Susan Elkin<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

London Coliseum, 9 November 2019 For a production that has been around since the mid-1980s Jonathan Miller\u2019s Mikado is vibrant, fresh and fun. Elaine Tyler-Hall has clearly made an accomplished job of reviving it. So what distinguishes it? The traditional … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5666"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5666"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5670,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5666\/revisions\/5670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}