By Michael H. Margolin
The Michigan Opera Theatre opens its 40th season with "The Mikado." Photo: MOT
Saturday night was the opening of Michigan Opera Theatre's 40th season, and while David DiChiera took five minutes on stage to laud MOT's achievements, he must have felt a pang: an anniversary year and the season is still confined to four productions due to economic factors in the city. And though generous Ford Motor Company is still a sponsor, the hoped for return of DiChiera's wonderful "Cyrano" in MOT's anniversary year is not to be.
Still, there were pleasures and differences in the opener, Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Mikado" from its last outing in 1991. Surtitles, for one, so that W. S. Gilbert's audacious lyrics are viewable for all to fully appreciate. To quote from a song in "Kismet," "rhymes have I, fine rhymes have I…"
Set to Arthur Sullivan's score containing tunes of shapely beauty such as "A wandering minstrel I" or "I have a little list," Gilbert gives us rhymes such as "etiquette…marionette," "hallowed joys…no equipoise" and almost everybody's favorite: "My object all sublime, I shall achieve in time – , To let the punishment fit the crime – , The punishment fit the crime." As is traditional two of the patter arias are given to lines for current events and personalities, some of them really quite good, though the writer is uncredited, it may well be Roberto Mauro, he of the surtitles management.
In this production, punishment and crime are, as usual, made funny as they have been rendered silly by the text. Briefly, a wandering minstrel, the tenor, Nanki-Poo is in love with Yum Yum, the soprano, in the town of Titipu, but he is really the Mikado's son, and his fiance is an outrageous mezzo named Katisha; so Ko-Ko, her guardian, now appointed the Lord High Executioner, sets it aright by claiming to have killed the tenor who is then free to marry and, well, by Act II when the big M arrives, all is resolved and there are married couples and happy choristers and everyone goes to the seashore – oops, wrong show. Happy ending, anyway.
David Curry makes a splendid Nanki-Poo with a clear, focused tenor voice and real stage presence; his soprano pairing is Andriana Churchman who has two of the three big high notes in the show and nails them with aplomb while looking beautiful throughout.
Michael Wanko – a name out of G & S if there ever was one – is a droll, small actor, like a Danny DeVito with polish, and his first entrance is a delightful bit of business with an poleaxe or halberd – I don't know which, but I do know it was much bigger than he. His henchman, the man who occupies all of the offices in his administration, is Pooh-Bah, the Lord-of Everything-Else, performed with panache by Andrew Gray; the Mikado, who comes on in Act II, has the "Punishment fit the crime" song, and Jamie Offenbach makes every line count.
As Katisha, Melissa Parks is comically monstrous, tall and forbidding with long red nails and a lovely mezzo.
In other key roles: Jacqueline King and Monica Sciaky play Yum-Yum's giggling girlfriends with silvery voices; Edward Hanlon as Pish-Tush and Kurt Frank as A Noble, do fine.
The production is blessed by Thierry Bosquet's elegant and effective set design and costumes that border on caricature, but stay close to good design; choreographer Dan Knechtges provides simple, charming dance moves which do not tax the talents of chorus members or leads and look effortless. Director Michael Scarola corrals all this into a seamless pastiche of fun, frolic and good humor without resorting to the slapstick balance which often mars the delicate balance of the satire in other productions.
If the orchestra sounded just right, Mark Flint's conducting seemed a bit on the slow side and the show ran long. But, then, can you have too much of a good thing?
REVIEW:
'The Mikado'
Michigan Opera Theatre at The Detroit Opera House, 1526 Broadway, Detroit. Oct. 20, 22-24. $29-$121. 313-237-7464. http://www.michiganopera.org
