Mikado of Japan.
Nanki-Poo, his son, disguised as a minstrel, in love with Yum-Yum.
Ko-Ko, Lord High Executioner of Titipu.
Pooh-Bah, Lord High Everything Else.
Pish-Tush, a noble lord.
Yum-Yum, }
Pitti-Sing, }
Peep-Bo, } three sisters, wards of Ko-Ko.
Katisha, an elderly lady, in love with Nanki-Poo.
[School girls, nobles, guards, and coolies.]
The scene is laid in Japan; time, the present.
That the "Princess Ida," ineffective as it is in some respects, did not
indicate that the resources of Gilbert and Sullivan were exhausted, is
shown by the great success of both in "The Mikado," which immediately
followed it. This charming travesty of Japan, with the exception perhaps
of "Pinafore," has proved to be the most popular of the Sullivan operas,
and has even made an impression in Germany. It has been an equal success
for both the musician and the librettist, and still retains its freshness
and vivacity after seventeen years of performance.
The story of "The Mikado" is so well known that it need not be given with
much fulness of detail. Nanki-Poo, the Mikado's son, is in love with
Yum-Yum, the ward of the tailor Ko-Ko, who is also Lord High Executioner,
and to whom she is betrothed, as Nanki-Poo is informed by Pooh-Bah, when
he comes to Titipu in quest of her. Pooh-Bah, who accepted all the
offices of the Ministers of State after their resignations when Ko-Ko was
made Lord High Executioner, is also "the retailer of state secrets at a
low figure," and furnishes much of the delightful comedy of the opera.
Nanki-Poo nevertheless manages to secure an interview with Yum-Yum,
confesses to her he is the Mikado's son, and that he is in disguise to
escape punishment for not marrying the elderly Katisha. Ko-Ko's
matrimonial arrangements are interfered with by a message from the
Mikado, that unless some one is beheaded in Titipu within a month he will
be degraded. Nanki-Poo consents to be beheaded if he is allowed to marry
Yum-Yum and live with her for the month. This being satisfactory, the
arrangements for the nuptials are made.
The second act opens with Yum-Yum's preparations for her marriage. A
_tête-à-tête_ with Nanki-Poo is interrupted by Ko-Ko, who announces that
by the law when a married man is beheaded his wife must be burned alive.
This cools Yum-Yum's passion, and to save her Nanki-Poo threatens to
perform the Happy Despatch that day. As this would endanger Ko-Ko, he
arranges to swear to a false statement of Nanki-Poo's execution. Suddenly
the Mikado arrives. Ko-Ko gives him the statement, but a great danger is
imminent when the Mikado informs him he has killed the heir apparent and
must suffer some horrible punishment. In the dénouement Nanki-Poo
reappears, and Ko-Ko gets out of trouble by marrying the ancient Katisha,
leaving Yum-Yum to Nanki-Poo.
The opera abounds in charming lyrics, though with a single exception, a
march chorus in the second act, "Miya sama, miya sama," there is no local
color to the music, as might have been expected in an opera entirely
Japanese in its subject and dramatic treatment. Its lyrics are none the
less delightful on that account. The most popular numbers in the first
act are Ko-Ko's song, with its choral response, "You may put 'em on the
List and they never will be missed"; the fascinating trio for Yum-Yum,
Peep-Bo, and Pitti-Sing, "Three Little Maids from School are we";
Nanki-Poo's song, "A Wandering Minstrel"; and the trio for Ko-Ko,
Pooh-Bah, and Pish-Tush, "My Brain, it teems." The leading numbers of the
second act are Yum-Yum's song, "The Sun, whose Rays"; the quartette,
"Brightly dawns our Wedding-Day"; the Mikado's song, "A more Humane
Mikado never"; Ko-Ko's romantic ballad, "On a Tree by a River a little
Tomtit," which is in the genuine old English manner, and the well-known
duet for Nanki-Poo and Ko-Ko, "The Flowers that bloom in the Spring, tra
la."
Ruddygore; or, The Witch's Curse.
[Comic opera, in two acts; text by Gilbert. First produced at the Savoy
Theatre, London, January 22, 1887.]