Put it on your list, just like the Mikado character Ko-Ko, and book now at trybooking.com incase it sells out!
Sessions are June 15 and 16, from 2pm to 5pm, at Maleny Community Centre.
You could go just to see the authentic costumes, sent from Japan especially for this performance, or the simple red and black, elegant Japanese design set. However, this is also one of the best productions under the baton of director Margaret Taylor.
The Mikado is the most internationally successful of all the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas and has been delighting audiences since its first performance in 1885.
Arthur Sullivan’s melodies are familiar and tuneful, and it is worthwhile listening to librettist WS Gilbert’s words.
Fortunately, the diction of this cast is reasonably good because it is important to catch much of Gilbert’s quintessentially clever wit.
Although set in Japan, Gilbert wrote the story as a lampoon of the British political system.
Think also of some of the more extreme antics of current politics! The plot, as usual in the Savoy operettas, is complicated and hilariously absurd.
The Mikado’s son, Nanki-Poo, disguised as a ‘wandering minstrel’ (or maybe a ‘second trombone’), has absconded from the palace, fleeing from an unwanted betrothal to Katisha, and searching for his true love, who happens to be engaged to Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner of the town of Titipu.
Gilbert’s extraordinary talent is at his quirky best in The Mikado. Ko-Ko has been condemned to death for flirting, but as he is the Lord High Executioner, he can’t behead himself.
Nevertheless, he’s got a little list of all the people he would like to behead if he got the chance, giving the actor who plays this part the chance to add contemporary ‘society offenders’ to the mix.
It is a Gilbertian twist that in this production the ‘three little maids’ are all tall. They provide some of the most delightful performances in Margaret Taylor’s production. All with excellently trained voices, Tanya Alison (Yum-Yum), Viera Keogh (Pitti-Sing), and Jenny Scriven (Peep-Bo) giggle delightfully and charm their way throughout. The hero, Nanki-Poo, is played by the well-known stalwart of the company, tenor Colin Dunn. The reliable Ian McMaster lends his considerable bass to an archetypal and pompous Pooh Bah; and Ian Rix makes the most of his comic opportunities as Ko-Ko. Ruth Rix, whose excellent makeup creates a credible ‘caricature of a face’, develops her challenging part, imperious to her blood-red long fingernails; and James Flatt makes sure we can understand most of the nasty futures he plans for miscreants.
They are ably supported by Matthew Gray as the character Pish-Tush.
All in stunning authentic kimonos, the ladies with typical Japanese parasols, they provide a well-balanced, colourful, and harmonious background, enhancing, but never overpowering, the action. They are supported by the members of the Maleny Performing Arts Orchestra.
Maleny Singers would not exist without the doyen of directors and conductors, the talented and professional Margaret Taylor.
Since 2003, this former star of the D’Oyly Carte company and lead singer with the English National Opera has enchanted her Maleny audiences with productions well ‘above the station’ of a small rural community. She has surpassed herself with The Mikado.
