The Mikado

Gilbert and Sullivan's famous 1885 comic operetta is rambunctiously performed by the Australian Opera in this 2011 production. The star is undoubtedly the bespectacled Mitchell Butel, who portrays Ko-Ko, the cowardly Lord High Executioner of Titipu, whose betrothal to the lovely Yum-Yum (Taryn Fiebig) is endangered by the arrival of wandering minstrel Nanki-Poo (Kanen Breen), the runaway son of the ferociously legalistic Mikado of Japan (Richard Alexander). Butel bounds about like a slapstick clown, but sings well, as do the remainder of the cast, including Jacqueline Dark as Katisha, who desires Nanki-Poo for herself, and Warwick Fyfe as the extravagantly officious Pooh-Bah. But director Stuart Maunder opts too often for obvious sight gags—when Alexander sings about billiard balls in his big aria, you know exactly where his hands are going to gravitate—and the local references in Ko-Ko's rewritten patter song (to Australian Idol, for instance) and much of the spoken dialogue won't have nearly as much appeal for American viewers as they did for the Aussie audience. On the other hand, the sets and costumes are attractive, the orchestral playing under Brian Castles-Onion is crisp, and the sound—DTS 5.1 (DTS-HD 5.1 on the Blu-ray release) and LPCM stereo—is clear. Extras include a featurette on Dark's makeup, and a cast gallery. Decidedly provincial but still evoking the genius of the original, this is a strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)