Gilbert & Sullivan - The Mikado / Eric Idle, Lesley Garrett, Richard Van Allan, Felicity Palmer, Richard Angas, Bonaventura Bottone, Susan Bullock, English National Opera
by John Michael Phillips
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bonaventura Bottone, Eric Idle, Felicity Palmer, Lesley Garrett, Richard Van AllanDirector: John Michael Phillips
Brand: A&E
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Color, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 130 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-12-26
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: A&E Home Video
Movie Reviews of Gilbert & Sullivan - The Mikado / Eric Idle, Lesley Garrett, Richard Van Allan, Felicity Palmer, Richard Angas, Bonaventura Bottone, Susan Bullock, English National Opera
Movie Review: Purchase of G & S Mikado VHS tape
Summary: 5 Stars
I was really looking forward to reciving and watching this tape of the Mikado. It is a very special,even exceptional version of it. Unfortunately it arrived in a damaged state via the mail service. The packaging was clearly inadequate. In fighting my way around the Amazon site I eventually found out what to do if an article arrives in a damaged condition (it's not clear or intuitive - I think I had to use the Help function, surely the test of inadequte site design).
The site advised that I had to deal with the supplier, not Amazon. So I did, only to get the wrong 'standard' reply relating to the date of delivery (rather then the problem I had signalled). So back I respond but I received no further response from the supplier for about a week so chased them again. Eventually I received good responses from both Amazon saying I would get a refund (in full) and from the supplier apologising and saying that there were no more tapes of the Mikado in stock (poo).
An unsatisfactory experience overall and in particular in the way in which the Amazon site attempts to deal with purchases damaged in transit and the way the suppier responded to my complaint and the time taken to sort out a relatively minor issue.
Arnold Hart
More Gilbert & Sullivan - The Mikado / Eric Idle, Lesley Garrett, Richard Van Allan, Felicity Palmer, Richard Angas, Bonaventura Bottone, Susan Bullock, English National Opera reviews:
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Summary of Gilbert & Sullivan - The Mikado / Eric Idle, Lesley Garrett, Richard Van Allan, Felicity Palmer, Richard Angas, Bonaventura Bottone, Susan Bullock, English National Opera
The irrepressible Eric Idle (Monty Python's Flying Circus) teams up with the English National Opera in this hilarious performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's beloved comic opera, THE MIKADO. This rollicking version of Gilbert and Sullivan's most popular tale relocates the action from ancient Japan to a 1920s English seaside resort. Here the rule of the Mikado is absolute--and often prone to whimsy. Ko-Ko (Eric Idle) is sentenced to death for the crime of flirting, but in a strange turn of events is instead named "Lord High Executioner." A delightful farce ensues as Ko-Ko can't behead anyone without first cutting off his own head. But by the second act, the Mikado demands an execution and Ko-Ko must delicately sing and dance his way around a messy situation involving the Mikado's son and his secret love Yum Yum. One of the best loved gems in all of opera, this charming production of THE MIKADO adds a unique twist to the timeless music--especially with the madcap talent of Eric Idle in his opera debut! DVD Features: A Source of Innocent Merriment: The Making of The Mikado; Downloadable Libretto; Cast Biographies; Interactive Menus; Scene SelectionJonathan Miller set his well-known production of The Mikado, staged for the English National Opera, in a British seaside resort of the 1920s. The result, complete with a chorus of gentlemen of Japan as cartoon-like British peers, emphatically underscores the Englishness of the satire. The occasional non sequiturs, like a bunch of gentry dressed for Ascot and singing in Japanese, are loonily fun, and no more absurd than the fantasyland Japan that Gilbert and Sullivan invented. The time frame, though, seems little more than an excuse for a smart black-and-white production design.
The show's main calling card is Eric Idle as Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner. Unfortunately, his star turn of a performance, like the production as a whole, is not as funny as it should be. There are loads of comic ideas, some of them effective (bellboys parading through the hotel lobby with "No flirting" signs), some dubious (Ko-Ko delivering a 1980s-updated "little list" song at a press conference), some worked beyond their shelf life (insanely posh accents). This video recording of a 1987 performance could have been better made; the chorus, badly miked, sounds as if it is far off-stage. The actors' heavy makeup and heavy mugging are reminders that the production wasn't originally created for the camera. Such staginess may take some getting used to, but it fits in nicely with the aggressive fakery characteristic of G&S. This revisionist Mikado is probably best after you've experienced more straightforward approaches. --David Olivenbaum
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