The Mikado

The Mikado

130 mins | Drama, Comedy, Romance, Music, TV Movie | Jan. 1, 1987

Jonathan 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 Mikado

130 mins | Drama, Comedy, Romance, Music, TV Movie | Jan. 1, 1987

The Mikado
Jonathan 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.
IMDb rating 7.7
Producers Thames Television, A&E Home Entertainment, Fremantle Media Company
Original title The Mikado
Directors John Michael Phillips, Peter Robinson, Jonathan Miller
Writers W.S. Gilbert

Cast

Eric Idle

as Ko-Ko

Lesley Garrett

as Yum-Yum

Bonaventura Bottone

as Nanki-Poo

Richard Van Allan

as Pooh-Bah

Felicity Palmer

as Katisha

Richard Angas

as The Mikado of Japan

Susan Bullock

as Peep-Bo

Ethna Robinson

as Pitti-Sing

Mark Richardson

as Pish-Tush