Event

The Mikado

Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Mikado," transplanted from Japan to Milan so we can wear cool Renaissance costumes. Only the names have been changed to protect Gilbert's brilliant dialog.

"Il Mikado" or "The New Mikado" was developed by the Lamplighters Music Theater of San Francisco to show that Gilbert and Sullivan's most popular opera is not really about Japan at all, but about villagers engaged in love, graft and petty politics, like the rest of us.

The music is entirely unchanged and the main text changes are "Japan" to "Milan" and the character names. All of Gilbert's delightful dialog is unchanged.

This years shows will again be performed in Norwalk Concert Hall.

The Emperor of Milan, Il Ducato, has declared flirting illegal and punishable by beheading. A wandering minstrel, Niccolu appears in the nearby sweet little town of Tirmisu seeking Amiam whose hand he seeks in marriage. He finds that Amiam is engaged to Coco, the Lord High Executioner, but he talks Coco into letting him marry Amiam for a month first.

As celebrations begin, the terrifying Catiscia appears from the Emperor's court, claiming Niccolu under the Emperor's law as having flirted with her.

This all works out in the second act and has a delightful happy ending.

The Mikado contains some of Gilbert's cleverest dialog and Sullivan's sprightliest music. Our production includes a full 23-piece orchestra.