April 1, 2006 to
April 1, 2006

Antioch Theatre
Yellow Springs www.antioch-college.edu/

Start Time:

Cost:
Adult Front $45.00,
Adult Rear $20.00,
Student Front $25.00,
Student Rear $10.00

The Mikado, or The Town of Titipu, is a comic Gilbert and Sullivan operetta in two acts. The music is by Sir Arthur Sullivan and the libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was first produced in March 1885, in London, where it ran at the Savoy Theatre for 672 performances. It remains the most performed Savoy Opera, especially popular with amateur school productions.

It should be noted that the versions of the culture and government of Japan in this work are based on the notions of Victorian era England on the subject, and are further altered by the satirical tone of the work. Indeed, Victorian England is the target of Gilbert's satire, thinly disguised as a strange and distant land. (The song "Mi-ya Sa-ma", however, is an actual Japanese song which Sullivan appropriated for the operetta. The same melody was also adapted by Giacomo Puccini for his opera Madama Butterfly.)

It is also worth noting that many of the names in the play are unpronounceable in standard Japanese – but perfectly understandable as English "baby-talk". The headsman is named Ko-Ko (sometimes also spelled Koko); one pretty young thing is named Pitti-Sing; and the heroine is named Yum-Yum. The pompous officials are Pooh-Bah and Pish-Tush; and our hero, Nanki-Poo (which might be baby-talk for "handkerchief") is fleeing from the awful Katisha (sometimes also spelled Kati-sha).

Gilbert and Sullivan were considered to be in a bit of a slump at the time they wrote The Mikado. In search of new ideas, Gilbert visited an exhibition of Japanese culture that was in London's Knightsbridge. According to the story, he bought a Japanese samurai sword, which he mounted over a doorway. Later, while he was working, the sword's mount broke, and it fell to the ground. Gilbert always claimed that the falling sword inspired him to write The Mikado, a charming comedy about a Japanese tailor who becomes an executioner. The creation of The Mikado is dramatized in the 1999 film, Topsy-Turvy.

The Japanese themselves were ambivalent toward this operetta for many years, not knowing for certain if it was making fun of them (it wasn't) or of the English (it was). In recent years, however, some have apparently come to terms with The Mikado, and have been able to discern quite a bit of satire that unintentionally struck close to home. As a matter of fact, the town of Chichibu, Japan, regularly performs it, having decided that "Titipu" was Gilbert's code name for "Chichibu" (it wasn't, but let that pass). This belief was further cemented by the fact that a 1938 film of The Mikado (Pinewood Studios) added a prologue featuring a nighttime event, surprisingly similar to the annual Night Festival of Chichibu.