The Mikado: Finale 1995

Featuring Jon English, Derek Metzger, Drew Forsythe, Bev Shean, The Fabulous Singlettes, David Gould, Terri Crouch, Jason Barry-Smith, Michael Bayly, Christophe Broadway, Robrt Dale, Les Dwight, Tristan Glendinning, Gary Jones, Paul Lewis, Glenn Mayo, Aidan McBride-Stewart, John Pemberton, Marcus Pointon and Lachlan Youngberg in the Gilbert & Sullivan classic The Mikado.

[@bahma810]

Oh gosh, Nanki-Poo was the Major-General in Essgee's The Pirates of Penzance. What a difference. I couldn't believe the transformation.

[@trajan231]

As was Koko for the New Zealand run of Pirates

[@cheebe]

This is how a curtain call is done!

[@Reinate]

I remember going to go see this in Wellington back in 95 i was only young then but i loved it. I remember going to see all 3 shows This HMS and Pirates I really wish they would come back as i just today showed a friend from Aussie this and she was really getting into it.

[@GeorgeTSLC]

The "Additional Lyrics" credit is at 8:31, for anyone who wants to know.

[@ladysquier]

Well some people are closedminded. I liked it a lot, and I am just this huge fan of the orchestral versions. It made it catchier and made it appeal to a wider audience, y'know? or maybe that's because I listen to 80s music too...

[@bigbear134]

This a this is Curtain call !!!!!! ..

[@Manric0]

I have had the honor to play Koko in two productions done very traditionally. Hence, I am a fuddy-duddy. Nonetheless, THIS IS GREAT. The energy is overwhelming. I think it proves the genius of G & S. In any context, their words and music are wonderful. And it gets a whole new generation infected with G&S-itis. Bravo!

[@ijustcommenthere817]

U still alive?

[@ChioGaru]

I like this version more than the strict traditional...they are actually being creative rather than doing what everyone else has already done. At the very least you should appreciate the effort.

[@user-ub2ww1gn3r]

Oh... I want the original version that Simon Gallaher as Nanki-Poo and Helen Donaldson as Yum-Yum, I couldn't find it anywhere. ( ; _;)

[@borzoix4]

yes - thank you! I found it and bought it. It took 3 weeks to get here but I loved it!

[@ninjacat1ify]

Lucky you ….I have tried to find it but no luck in the UK!

[@lifesavid]

Those that are jumping up and down about this Australian version are missing the humour and the point. It's supposed to be tacky. That's what the producers strived for.

[@borzoix4]

How do I purchase a DVD of this production? I loved it!

[@banjotails]

this show was a huge sell out back in 95. It is about to tour again opening in Brisbane Australia on the 5th Aug 2008. I have my tickets front row center. The updated version pulls in a differant crowd then all you fuddy duddys who cant stand change. Well done essgee and look forward to the show when i see it in Aug

[@billybob62]

Did you ever find out how to buy the dvd, that is? Thanks

[@KymTheLocalSA]

i LOOOOOVE these guys (david gould, and jon english *drool) anyway where was i lol.. really guys, if you dont like watching it.. change channels :P I like the originals as well, but these shows were the best nights entertainment id had out ever!!

[@JoshFreilich]

What are the lyrics Jon English is singing: "Here's a slippery slope"?

[@lomax343]

@poirot63 No - I think Sullivan would've had apoplexy. Gilbert would've understood, though.

[@kraftykayaker]

Is this available on DVD?

[@poirot63]

Superb choreography and vocals in a risk-taking production! I'm sure Gilbert & Sullivan would have gotten a big kick out of this. Well... Sullivan, anyway!

[@oboewizard]

Well on the whole I found this production very entertaining and fun. I would have enjoyed seeing it live. It was not really G & S. Katisha and Yum-Yum and Nanki-Poo were terrific. I loved the Mikado - though I found his Japanese accent gratuitous (it is about England afterall and not Japan). His song (My Object) was the high point for me. The low point was the lack of a women's chorus and the trio which replaced Pitti-Sing. G & S a la Lloyd Weber's "Jospeh." It was fun, thanks for posting

[@trajan231]

In this production? I thought the Mikado spent the entire play thinking that he was Elvis.

[@daisybtoes]

I am a purist at heart, but that doesn't mean I don't like having fun with it, too. Is there a DVD available?

[@billybob62]

Did you ever find out?

[@Dhbrydon]

Womderful, Queen Victoria asked for a command perfformance of Sir Arthur Sullivans Masterpiece, Sullivan considered Ivanhoe to be that masterpiece and arranged to play it as the command performance, just prior to the opening Queen Victoria was speaking to him and said" Sir Arthur, I have always loved your masterpiece, The Mikado" which must have shot Sullivan down somewhat.

[@MrCuddlyable3]

The saddest part of this production is when Bev Shean who plays an otherwise excellent Katisha is dragged into this ghastly up-tempo circus.

[@tmarkgrundy]

OMG! What have they done to it?

[@margondine]

I'm agreeing with maxfagin here. Personally I love G&S pure, as I think it stil stands alone, but I see nothing wrong with new interpretations of classics. If nothing else it introduces younger audiences to the lovely melodies of Sir Arthur Sullivan. ps - May I recommend the excellent film about the first production of The Mikado, 'Topsy-Turvy'? It's not my cuppa, but at the same time I don't feel it's a bad thing to re-interpret the classics.

[@londonbangkok]

available on line and then by post from australia look up essgee on your google (simon Gallagher ) - should get to th e order page then

[@ChioGaru]

Dave Gould is the BEST ^^

[@MaxFagin]

Here's a slippery slope, if you both elope. Chippy-Chop or tomb that's clammy, either way it's a double whamy, couldn't really cope etc.

[@martel732]

Agreed. Unless you're one of the Bee Gees, why try to disco up a classic?

[@Steinwaygrande]

I can remember taking part in this and the Pirates of Penzance in 1961 and 1962 at boarding school. At that time the D`Oly Carte had the exclusive right to all Gilbert and Sullivan until the contract expired around the 1980s - I think. This is nowhere near the same as the original and has been ruined by this up beat and unnecessary performance which has ruined the entire original score..

[@MaxFagin]

I also have to stick up for this show. I like my G&S pure, but it can be modernized. I wouldn't recomend this to someone as their first exposure to 'The Mikado,' but if you're looking for a fresh angle on the opereta, I think this would be a good example.

[@pedro18741922]

D'Oyly Carte production in 1992 is much better in my opinion

[@singspieler]

This is indeed about as tacky as tacky could be! What is with the synthesizer?

[@cquence23]

Having done musical theatre for 25 years, I am quite familiar with what an encore is, and it has nothing to do with my earlier comment, as I was commenting on the overall style of this production as a whole. I think that spandex, sequin, and glitter, used to such an extreme, make ANY show look tacky. I've never seen the Eric Idle version, but I doubt it could be tackier. Also, I never said the purist version is traditional japanese.

[@BeKaFiEdX]

@vulpecula999 Thank god someone agree's :( i hate it, i looked it up for research and thought i'd came accross some pokémon musical becuase i hardly even noticed it was the same words as usual only . . . ''different'' :L

[@PenguinSlime]

Really? They couldn't let English sing an actual Pooh-Bah song?

[@cquence23]

I'm all for re-interpretation and think that contemporary recontextualization of The Mikado can work, but Mikado or not this show is an example of the kind of exessive and tacky glitz and glitter that makes figure-skating so awful. Go back to Bedazzling your bargain store sweatshirts with the kittens on them to wear to the bingo parlour. I was expecting David Hasslehoff, Morgan Fairchild, and Richard Simmons to make cameos.

[@cquence23]

I don't know where to begin. While I am no G&S purist I find this whole thing embarrasingly tacky. The fact that it was done in the mid 90s shows that the costume and set designers were about 10 years behind in their sense of "current" style, the canned drum beats are tedious, and the "fake japanese" sing-a-long was simply horrifying.

[@justice139]

Disgusting. It's like the Pokemon version of The Mikado, which is - in case anyone's forgotten - AN OPERETTA. Not a Saturday morning cartoon.