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The Mikado

Published Wednesday 24 September 2008 at 16:40 by Pat Ashworth

This revival has some delicious moments, many of them arising from Fenton Gray’s effete and dotty Ko-Ko. He capers absurdly round the stage and revels in a Little List of candidates for execution that would ideally include Simon Cowell’s boy band, designers of flat-pack furniture and miscreants on their mobile phones.

The cast wear brilliant Japanese plumage, which was the original costume from Mike Leigh’s film Topsy Turvy. Not so happy, though, on the first night at Birmingham, was a design defect in the courtyard set which made the line of chorus members waiting to make their entrance distractingly visible from the dress circle.

The Chorus of Men has a full-bodied sound that thrills. Jonathan Ansell as Nanki-Poo is inexperienced as an actor but makes an excellent job of the singing and is well paired with Gillian Ramm as a perky Yum-Yum. The comic timing of their madrigal with Pitti-Sing (Victoria Ward) and Pish-Tush (Michael Kerry) makes it very playful.

Sylvester McCoy as the Mikado delivers the songs like speeches, in stentorian tones. Convincing performances come too from Gareth Jones as an impeccably aristocratic Pooh-Bah and from Nicola McAuliffe, who grows into the role of Katisha. She is as awkward and apologetic as a Joyce Grenfell creation, and the real affection that develops between her and Ko-Ko is endearing.

Such well-known music strikes a happy chord. It just needs the company to gel together a little more and work not as individuals but as an ensemble.

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