Gilbert & Sullivan's
The Mikado
or, The Town of Titipu

Feb. 9. 10, 16, 17, 22, 23 & 24, 2001 at 8pm
Feb. 11 & 18, 2001 at 2pm

Directed by Daniel Lyons
Music Directed by Joseph Sorge
Conducted by Webster Rogers, Jr.

Cast

The Mikado of Japan - Blair Eig
Nanki-Poo, his son, disguised as a wandering minstrel - Joe Peck
Ko-Ko, Lord High Executioner of Titipu - John Perine
Pooh-Bah, Lord High Everything Else - David Williams
Pish-Tush, a Noble Lord - Shawn Perry
Yum-Yum, Ko-Ko's ward - Denise Young
Pitti-Sing, Yum-Yum's sister - Alicia Oliver
Peep-Bo, Yum-Yum's sister - Lisa Freese
Katisha, an elderly lady of the Mikado's court -
                Rosalie Santilhano (Feb. 8 (preview), 10, 16, 18, and 23)
                Shirley Santilhano Friedman (Feb. 9, 11, 17, 22, and 24)

Chorus of Townspeople and Schoolgirls - Jason Barnes, Edward Byrdy, Fran Fleming, Gaye Freese, Lauren Friedman, Virginia Garber, Jennifer Gavin Richard Gorbutt, Lyle Jaffe, Bob Jacobson, Deborah Jacobson Lawrence Lee, Gina Nowacki, Debbie Peetz, Nancy Shneiderman, Sarah Stricklin, Rusty Suter

Orchestra

Violin I - Steve Natrella*, Bonnie Barrows, Bonnie Resnick, 
               David Friedlander, Otto Willem, Marcia Rucker
Violin II - Carolyn Larson, Peter Mignerey, Martin Brown, Alana Liskov, Dennis Murphy
Viola - Amanda Laudwein, Sylvia Kneil, Rich Albert
Cello - Thurston Griggs, Diane Harris-Cline, Charles Finney, 
             Sheryl Friedlander, Edwina Moldover
Bass - David Ross, Bill Bentgen, Alice Mignerey, Nancy Sitton
Flute/Piccolo - Jackie Miller, Louise Hill
Oboe - Gwen Earl, Emily Bentgen
Clarinet - James Bensinger, Laura Bornhoeft, Laura Langbein,
                  Alisha Coleman
Bassoon - Brett Lewis, Jim Caron
French Horn - Loren Krusberg, Nancy Bell-Utley
Trumpet - Paul Weiss, Bernard Rappaport, Curtis Anstine
Trombone - Franklin Rusco, Alan D. Potter, Gordon Bowie, Will Fraize
Percussion/Tympani - George Huttlin

* Concertmaster

Production Staff

Producer - Mollie Toms
Choreographer - Donna Saady
Artistic Director - Rosalie Santilhano
Stage Managers - Ira Haber, Mollie Toms
Lighting Design - Ayun Fedorcha
Set Concept - Daniel Lyons
Master Carpenter - Les Elkins
Costumers - Gaye Freese, Lisa Freese, Denise Young
Light Board Operator - Kerry Freese
Technical Director (Rockville Civic Center) - Kim Haug
Technical Crew - Tony Dwyer, William Kolodrubetz, Bill Rippey
Rehearsal Pianists - Jenny Bland, Deborah Jacobson
Make-Up - Renee Silverstone
Tickets and Box Office - Merle Haber
Program - Leta Hall
Publicity - Ira Haber, Bill Rippey
Set Construction/Painting - Tony Dwyer, Richard Gorbutt, 
                                                   Lisa Freese,  Leta Hall, Lyle Jaffe, 
                                                   William Kolodrubetz, Bill Rippey, 
                                                   Maureen Roult, Denise Young
Properties - The Company
Photography - Joel Hoffman
House Management - Donna Jaffe, Caroline Hummel, Kent Woods
Costume Storage - Lisa & Kerry Freese, Gaye Freese, Donna & Lyle Jaffe, Denise Young
Set Storage - Maureen Roult, City of Gaithersburg, Rockville Civic Center
Printing - Quick Printing, Inc.

Dedication

VLOC would like to dedicate this production of The Mikado to the memory of Barry Morley, who passed away last year. Barry was an enthusiastic and long-time member of the company who directed, music directed, and conducted many shows for the company in the 1980s and 1990s. His love of Gilbert and Sullivan was well-known to this company as well as to his students at the Sandy Spring Friends School and the Harvard G&S Society, which be helped to found. Barry approached everything he did with great good humor, intelligence, and passion. Many members of this company performed in their first shows under his direction and remember the way he would welcome every cast member and make each person feel like an important part of any show he did. He is greatly missed.

G&S Trivia

The Mikado was first performed at the Savoy Theater in London on March 14, 1885 and was conducted by Arthur Sullivan himself. It ran for 672 performances and it's sprightly music and witty words have been performed all over the world ever since. It has long been considered to be one of the finest pieces in the Gilbert & Sullivan canon. Many words and phrases in our everyday language come from The Mikado- words like "Pooh-Bah" and phrases like "let the punishment fit the crime" were first found on that Savoy stage. People who would say that they've never heard any G&S, can sing along with "Three little maids from school" or "The flowers that bloom in the spring." Along with The Pirates of Penzance and HMS Pinafore, The Mikado is one of the mainstays of many G&S companies. Mike Leigh set his 1999 movie"Topsy-Turvy"during the creation and premiere of the show.

Synopsis

Act I, The courtyard of Ko-Ko's official residence
To escape marriage with Katisha, an elderly lady, Nanki-Poo has fled the court of his father, the Mikado of Japan, disguised as a musician. He has also fallen in love with a fair maiden, Yum-Yum; bu he has been prevented from marrying her by her guardian, Ko-Ko, who wishes to marry her himself. Ko-Ko, however, has been condemned to death for flirting; and when Act I opens, Nanki-Poo is hastening to the court of Ko-Ko in Titipu to find out whether Yum-Yum is now free to marry him. Nanki-Poo learns that Ko-Ko, instead, has become Lord High Executioner, thus preventing the sentence of decapitation from being carried out. In fact, Ko-Ko is going to marry Yum-Yum that very afternoon. Everything seems to be going well for Ko-Ko, but suddenly a letter comes from the Mikado ordering him to execute somebody or lose his position of Lord High Executioner. He is in a quandary to find someone to execute, when Nanki-Poo appears bent upon suicide because he cannot marry Yum-Yum. By conceding to him the right to marry Yum-Yum for a month, Ko-Ko persuades Nanki-Poo to b the subject for the public execution when that month is up. There is general rejoicing in this apparent solution to the problem, marred only by the unexpected appearance of Katisha, in pursuit of Nanki-Poo. She is driven away, but threatens to go to the Mikado about the matter.

Act II, The garden of Ko-Ko's official residence
Act II opens with Yum-Yum preparing for her marriage to Nanki-Poo. Ko-Ko then comes in with the news that he has just discovered a law stating that when a married man is executed his wife must be buried alive. To save Yum-Yum from that fate, Nanki-Poo decides to kill himself at once. But this again forces Ko-Ko to find someone to execute (especially as he has heard that the Mikado is at that moment on his way to Titipu). Nanki-Poo magnanimously offers himself for immediate decapitation, but Ko-Ko is unable to perform the act without some practice. Another way out of the difficulty presents itself: Ko-Ko has Pooh-Bah make a false affidavit that Na.nki -Poo has been executed, and bids Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum leave the country. The Mikado soon appears. Ko-Ko thinks that the object of this visit is to see whether the execution has taken place. He accordingly produces the affidavit and describes the execution. But the Mikado has actually come at the prompting of Katisha in search of his lost son. When the Mikado learns that the person whom Ko-Ko has supposedly executed is really the Mikado's son, Ko-Ko and his accomplices are declared guilty of ~compassing the death of the Heir Apparent." The only hope for them is to admit the falsehood of the affidavit and produce Nanki-Poo alive. But, as Nanki-Poo has already married Yum-Yum and so cannot marry Katisha, Katisha will surely insist on the execution of Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum. Ko-Ko solves the problem by offering his hand to Katisha; and, after he sings her the touching ballad of "Willow, tit-willow," she accepts him. The end of the opera comes with Nanki-Poo's revealing himself as the son of the Mikado.

Musical Numbers

Overture

Act I
  • If you want to know who we are (Nanki Poo & Men)
  • A wand'ring minstrel, I (Nanki-Poo & Men)
  • Our great Mikado, virtuous man (Pish-Tush & Men)
  • Young man, despair (Pooh-Bah, Nanki-Poo, & Pish-Tush)
  • And I have journeyed for a month (Nanki Poo & Pooh-Bah)
  • Behold the Lord High Executioner (Ko-Ko & Men)
  • As some day it may happen (Ko-Ko & Men)
  • Comes a train of little ladies (Girls)
  • Three little maids from school are we (Yum-Yum, Peep-Bo, Pitti-Sing, and Girls)
  • So please you, sir, we much regret (Yum-Yum, Peep-Bo, Pitti-Sing, Pooh-Bah, and Girls)
  • Were you not to Ko-Ko plighted (Yum-Yum & Nanki-Poo)
  • I am so proud (Pooh-Bah, Ko-Ko, & Pish-Tush)
  • With aspect stern and gloomy stride (Ensemble)
Act II
  • Braid the raven hair (Pitti-Sing & Girls)
  • The sun whose rays are all ablaze (Yum-Yum)
  • Brightly dawns our wedding day (Yum-Yum, Pitti-Sing, Nanki-Poo & Pish-Tush)
  • Here's a How-De-Do! (Yum-Yum, Nanki-Poo, & Ko-Ko)
  • Mi-Ya-Sa-Ma (Mikado, Katisha, & Chorus)
  • A more humane Mikado (Mikado & Chorus)
  • The criminal cried as he dropped him down (Ko-Ko, Pitti-Sing, Pooh-Bah, & Chorus)
  • See how the fates their gifts allot (Mikado, Pitti-Sing, Pooh-Bah, Ko-Ko, & Katisha)
  • The flowers that bloom in the spring (Nanki-Poo, Ko-Ko, Yum-Yum, Pitti-Sing, & Pooh-Bah)
  • Along, and yet alive! (Katisha)
  • Willow, tit-willow (Ko-Ko)
  • There is beauty in the bellow of the blast (Katisha & Ko-Ko)
  • For he's gone and married Yum-Yum (Ensemble)