ENO's Mikado introduces me to the joys of Gilbert and Sullivan

Camp 1920s comedy, 19th century light opera and the Japanese imperial court.  It seems like some bizarre, sake-fuelled mash up, but it's the English National Opera's current production of The Mikado. And it works.

Current is stretching it a bit, actually.  This is a revival of Jonathan Miller's 1986 production, so successful it's dominated how this most popular Gilbert and Sullivan show has been staged for a fifth of its performance life.  (The show debuted 125 years ago and has generally been on stage somewhere ever since.)

I wondered about the setting ... a posh European hotel in the inter-war years ... but it grabs you immediately and makes perfect sense once you're watching.  I think it's the absurdity of the plot that does the trick.  It's pure Jeeves and Wooster.  The ridiculous story, in a nutshell:  The lord high executioner of Japan isn't doing his job, and the emperor gives him a deadline to find and execute a criminal.  Meanwhile, the same official is scheming to marry his pretty ward.  A wandering minstrel, also in love with said ward, turns up hoping to marry her, because life's not worth living without her.  The minstrel strikes a deal.  A week as the girl's husband, then he'll go under the axe.  But post-execution, it turns out our wandering minstrel was actually the emperor's son.  How will the executioner get out of this mess?  Add about three layers of plot complications, the hijinks of a Marx Brothers' film, some fine music and a happy ending and you get the idea.

In fact, had it been in traditional Japanese costume I don't think it would have worked as well for me, as I would have noticed much more how ridiculous and un-Japanese it actually is.  This setting brings it into the realms of complete farce, freeing you to simply enjoy the silliness.

I'd never seen a Gilbert and Sullivan performance live and this was a perfect place to start.  The production is a delight, with music and humour that have stood the test of time.  It's helped by the fact that the tradition when staging Gilbert and Sullivan is to adapt the jokes to the modern age.  Here, the Lord High Executioner's song about making a little list of all he'll eliminate is all current political satire.  Thus though The Mikado is roughly the contemporary of great operas like Tosca and Wagner's Ring Cycle, it feels as modern as a contemporary musical.

At previous outings to the ENO I've complained about the lack of surtitles.  Just because they're singing in English doesn't mean you can grasp every word.  Operatic style often obscures comprehension.  Someone in charge figured this out, and surtitles flashed above the stage.  

Flash is no exaggeration.  I don't think I'd really appreciated what a magnificent wit W.S. Gilbert was.  He uses words with the same cutting, clever mix as his contemporary Oscar Wilde, lines delivered at a manic pace to match Sullivan's prancing tunes.  You wouldn't get half of it without the text before your eyes.  At that speed, even reading every word, I know I was only getting about half the jokes.  My brother-in-law, who saw the original production in the '80s and practically knows the libretto by heart, says he gets something new every time he sees it.  The set was fun, the music was pleasant, but it's the wordplay that has me keen for another go.

Thus a Gilbert (and Sullivan) fan is born.  I'm on the lookout for the Pirates of Penzance next.