The Mikado

Playing off one of the musical’s famous lyrics, the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players performance of The Mikado coming to the Au-Rene Theater at the Broward Center on March 12, 2023, has been updated to make a “production to fit the time.”

The all-new, critically acclaimed production began as a collaborative effort between the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players and the Asian-American theatrical community. Serving as an example of promoting diversity, equity and inclusive practice with classic works of art, this production welcomes performers of all backgrounds to share the magic of Gilbert & Sullivan with audiences from all backgrounds as well.

Of course, the timeless libretto, beautiful music, and all of the favorite characters remain. The New York Times raved, “A comic gem! A tightly choreographed comedy of manners - the madcap merriment takes its course!”

The history and inspiration for the writing of The Mikado is center stage as the real life characters of Gilbert, Sullivan and Victorian London’s D’Oyly Carte Opera Company are combined with the imagined setting of Titipu, influenced by the art and architecture of Japan that had recently reached England in the late 19th century.

There are the three little maids from school, a wandering minstrel, a hilariously corrupt public official, and a Lord High Executioner with a list of offenders deserving of his services, including himself – for flirting!

At the heart of this tale is a love story: a beautiful school girl loves the romantic wandering minstrel, but she is engaged to the executioner. This romantic triangle takes the usual course of thwarted love, until the arrival of a fearsome noble woman claiming the minstrel as her “perjured lover,” and later of the emperor himself, with his own list of punishments to fit the crime.

Starkly contrasting historical treatments of The Mikado in several ways, the original prologue provides the audience with a context for the work. The character representations are of a decidedly Victorian English company, with fantastical highlights and juxtapositions between an imagined Japan and anachronistic elements from 1880s London; fueled only by Gilbert’s own imagination.

This event is presented as part of the 2022/2023 Broward Center Dance and Classical Series and made possible by a grant from Funding Arts Broward, supporting innovative local visual and performing arts in Broward County.