Plot
In Japan, Nanki-Poo, a young and apparently poor "wand'ring minstrel", arrives at the seaside town of Titipu in search of a schoolgirl named Yum-Yum, to profess his love for her after hearing that her ward, a cheap tailor named Ko-Ko, was to be executed for an act of flirting. The aristocratic mayor of Titipu, Pooh-Bah, and his deputy, Pish-Tush, tell Nanki-Poo that the charges against Ko-Ko were dropped at the last moment, as he was made "Lord High Executioner" to protect others in town accused of the same crime.
Yum-Yum and her sisters, Pitti-Sing and Peep-Bo, return home from school. Nanki-Poo wants to meet Yum-Yum in person, but Ko-Ko sends him away. Pooh-Bah does not find Yum-Yum and her classmates respectful enough. Later, Nanki-Poo, reveals to Yum-Yum that he is the son of the Mikado, the Emperor of Japan, and also that the Mikado has ordered Nanki-Poo to marry an elderly court lady named Katisha, or "perish ignominiously on the scaffold", and so he fled his home disguised as a minstrel. Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum lament that capital punishment is the penalty for flirting.
Ko-Ko receives a letter from the Mikado containing a decree that unless an execution is carried out in Titipu within a month, the town will be reduced to the rank of a village, which would bring "irretrievable ruin". After a discussion with Pooh-Bah and Pish-Tush, Ko-Ko finds Nanki-Poo planning to commit suicide by hanging himself due to losing Yum-Yum. Ko-Ko persuades him, instead, to be executed for the good of the town and agrees that during the ensuing month, Nanki-Poo may marry Yum-Yum. Before the wedding, a furious Katisha storms into Titipu to expose Nanki-Poo's true identity. Pitti-Sing, Yum-Yum and the townspeople thwart Katisha, who leaves vowing to return with the Mikado.
As Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum prepare for their wedding, Ko-Ko informs them of a twist in the law that states that when a married man is beheaded, his widow must be buried alive. Ko-Ko urges them to leave Titipu immediately before the Mikado arrives, while he makes a false affidavit in evidence of their fictitious execution; Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum prepare to leave, to be secretly married by Pooh-Bah.
The Mikado arrives with Katisha in search of Nanki-Poo. The Mikado reads in the affidavit that Nanki-Poo has been executed for flirting. Katisha insists that Ko-Ko, along with Pitti-Sing and Pooh-Bah, should be executed for killing the Mikado's heir apparent, but the Mikado suggests they should wait until after lunch before executing the three.
Nanki-Poo points out that if Ko-Ko can persuade Katisha to marry Ko-Ko, she will no longer have any claim on Nanki Poo. In that case, Nanki Poo can reveal to his father that he is still alive, and all will end well. Ko-Ko tells Katisha a story about a bird who died of heartbreak, and Katisha is so moved that she accepts his hand in marriage. Katisha pleads for the Mikado to spare the lives of her new husband, Ko-Ko, and his two friends. Nanki-Poo then reveals himself and his new wife to his father, much to Katisha's disgrace. Ko-Ko argues that since the Mikado had ordered that an execution take place in Titipu, it was "as good as done ... and why not say so?" The Mikado finds great humour in this and pardons everyone, amid much rejoicing.
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations. It opened on 14 March 1885, in London, where it ran at the Savoy Theatre for 672 performances, the second-longest run for any work of musical theatre and one of the longest runs of any theatre piece up to that time. By the end of 1885, it was estimated that, in Europe and America, at least 150 companies were producing the opera.
Topsy-Turvy is a 1999 British musical period drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh, starring Allan Corduner as Sir Arthur Sullivan and Jim Broadbent as W. S. Gilbert, along with Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville and Ron Cook. The story concerns the 15-month period in 1884 and 1885 leading up to the premiere of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado. The film focuses on the creative conflict between playwright and composer, and their decision to continue their partnership, which led to their creation of several more Savoy operas.
The Swing Mikado is a musical theatre adaptation, in two acts, of Gilbert and Sullivan's 1885 comic opera, The Mikado, with music arranged by Gentry Warden. It featured a setting transposed from Japan to a tropical island. The show was first staged by an all-black company in Chicago, Illinois, in 1938. Later that year, it transferred to Broadway. Other changes from the original work included the re-scoring of five of the musical numbers in "swing" style, the insertion of popular dance sequences including The Truck and the Cakewalk, and the rewriting of some of the dialogue in an attempt at black dialect. Other than that, the original dialogue and score of 1885 were used.
The Hot Mikado was a musical theatre adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan's 1885 comic opera The Mikado with an African-American cast. It was first produced by Mike Todd on Broadway in 1939. It starred Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in the title role, with musical arrangements by Charles L. Cooke and direction by Hassard Short.
Hot Mikado is a musical comedy, based on Gilbert and Sullivan's 1885 comic opera The Mikado, adapted by David H. Bell and Rob Bowman. After researching the 1939 Broadway musical, The Hot Mikado, and being disappointed at the amount of surviving material that they could find, Bell and Bowman created a new adaptation, Hot Mikado. "Not much remains, however, of the 1939 show’s African-American emphasis, save the cool hipster style which even then was beginning to be eagerly pre-empted by Americans of every ethnicity."
Philip White Potter was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the principal tenor roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1961 to 1971. Potter recorded several of his roles with D'Oyly Carte, and his performance as Nanki-Poo is preserved in the company's 1966 film of The Mikado.
Sydney Granville was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Geraldine Ulmar was an American singer and actress, best known for her performances in soprano roles of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Leo Sheffield, born Arthur Leo Wilson, was an English singer and actor best known for his performances in baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Richard Walker, was an English opera singer and actor, best known for his performances in the baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Between 1932 and 1939 Walker was married to D'Oyly Carte chorister Ena Martin. He married the company's principal soprano Helen Roberts in 1944.
George Tyrell Thorne was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the comic baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, especially on tour and in the original New York City productions. He married D'Oyly Carte chorister Geraldine Thompson.
Fred Billington was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. His career with the company began in 1879 and continued with brief interruptions until his death in 1917.
Leslie Rands was an English opera singer and actor, best known for his performances in baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. He married D'Oyly Carte soprano Marjorie Eyre in 1926.
Charles Eric Goulding was a British operatic tenor and actor best known for his performances with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in the Gilbert and Sullivan repertory.
The Girl Said No is a 1937 American musical comedy film produced by Andrew L. Stone and Edward L. Alperson for Grand National Pictures and directed by Andrew L. Stone. The screenplay was written by Betty Laidlaw, Robert Lively and Andrew L. Stone. The film stars Robert Armstrong, Irene Hervey and Paula Stone. It uses musical numbers from Gilbert and Sullivan operas, and the story is about a shady bookie who is in love with a greedy dance hall girl and schemes to get her back after she rejects him. Along the way, he revives a failing Gilbert and Sullivan troupe.
The Black Mikado is a musical comedy, based on Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado, adapted by Janos Bajtala, George Larnyoh and Eddie Quansah from W. S. Gilbert's original 1885 libretto and Arthur Sullivan's score. The show premiered on 24 April 1975 at the Cambridge Theatre in London, where it ran for 472 performances before going on a national tour. A 1976 production was mounted in Soweto, South Africa, where it played at the Diepkloof Hall. After this, the musical was not revived.
The Mikado is a 1939 British musical comedy film based on Gilbert and Sullivan's 1885 comic opera The Mikado. Shot in Technicolor, the film stars Martyn Green as Ko-Ko, Sydney Granville as Pooh-Bah, the American singer Kenny Baker as Nanki-Poo and Jean Colin as Yum-Yum. Many of the other leads and choristers were or had been members of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Frederick Bovill was an operatic baritone of the late Victorian era. In his short career, he created the roles of Pish-Tush in Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera hit The Mikado (1885) and the Squire in Sullivan's romantic opera Ivanhoe (1891). From 1887 to 1889 Bovill toured the British provinces with J. W. Turner's English Opera Company
Christene M. Palmer is a retired Australian singer and actress, known for her performances in the contralto roles of Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company during the 1960s. Her performance as Katisha in The Mikado is preserved in the D'Oyly Carte 1967 film version of that opera.
"Three Little Maids from School Are We", sometimes listed as "Three Little Maids", is a song from Act I of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera The Mikado.
