For those of you who are not familiar with it, "Hot Mikado" is, as it sounds, a jazzed-up version of Gilbert & Sullivan's masterpiece The Mikado... and man does it sizzle! A party of us went down to see it when Katie and Jackie were in it in Brighton in '96, and it was amazing. Although set in a sort-of American Gangster 'wrapper' [should that be American Gangster Rapper? - Webmaster], the melodies and (most of) the words are as those dear old dudes wrote them in the 1880's - it's just the harmonies and rhythms that have been altered! The result is that the music just makes you wanna get-up and dance!!! Yes, this will be a huge dance show, hence the longer than usual rehearsal period to make sure that we get up to scratch!
We are very fortunate in securing a top team for the show. Having choreographed a number of shows for the society over the year's, Suzi Allen has agreed to be the Director. After an exceedingly hectic couple of years, we thought that our Resident MD, Peter Gacsall, might be in need of a short break from us so we've given the 'old man' a show off to recover! Many of you will have come across Andrew Sutton as he has worked with many societies in the area and I am delighted that he will be Musical Director for this show.
One of the first "alternative" versions of The Mikado apeared in the 1920's. The Jazz Mikado opened in Berlin in 1927 and featured a Nanki-Poo as the son of an American millionaire, a chorus line of "Jackson Girls and Boys" dancing the Charleston, Katisha roaring into Titipu in her automobile and Yum-Yum, on her wedding morn, bathing in the nude!
For several crazy months in the spring of 1939 there were two new and updated versions of The Mikado playing at the same time in New York. An all-black version known as The Swing Mikado played at New Yorker theatre while another all-black rival edition called The Hot Mikado played at the Broadhurst Theatre. In the Swing Mikado, the setting was relocated to a South Seas island coral reef where the Mikado strutted about like a Fiji war loard, puffing on a huge cigar and wearing a grass skirt. The three little maids traded in kimonos for sarongs and palm trees replaced pagodas. The score was faithful to the original but the text was vernacularised at will and the cast of 125 moved to the beat of a forty piece swing orchestra.
Meanwhile, The Hot Mikado down the road at the Broadhurst Theatre starred the headlining Hollywood King of tap, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. The music followed the G&S score but was set to modernised tempos and the story was kicked around a bit. The production depicted a breathtaking, spare-no-expense kaleidescope of Harlem-as-Titipu by way of the Cotton Club - a Savoy opera given a Harlem stomp. With gold lame, diamond glitter and brilliant colours abounding, the visual feast also included a 40 foot waterfall with cascading bubbles and an erupting volcano! The Hot Mikado pleased the critics with its cast of 125 jitterbugging, trucking, crooning and scatting as its star tap-danced his object all sublime.
This current adaptation of Hot Mikado received its premiere at Ford's Theatre in Washington nine years ago. As no material survives of the 1930's show, adapters Rob Bowman and David H. Bell resolved to do their own version, relocating the piece to the American jazz age era of the late 1930's and early 1940's . Giving it a jazz/swing/blues base warms up the material and makes it American - it heats up in a way you don't expect from Gilbert and Sullivan. It has been entirely re-orchestrated yet the score itself remains completely intact. Likewise with the text, although some of the lyrics have been changed, considerable effort has been made to keep as much as possible. Though some of the syntax has been changed it is surprising what has not been touched. Even with the addition of Lindy-hopping, "Three Little Maids" set to Andrews Sisters harmonies, and Katisha played like a blues singer, there has been very little re-writing.
Prior to the Brighton Theatre Group production, there had been six productions of this Hot Mikado, five in America and a West End run in 1995. The success of each is due mainly to the enduring charms of Gilbert and Sullivan's classic original.