The Mikado (2005)

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

Feb. 11, 12, 18 & 19, 2005 at 8pm
Feb. 13 & 20, 2005 at 2pm

Directed by Alicia Oliver
Music Directed by Joseph Sorge

Cast

The Mikado of Japan - Michael Galizia
Nanki-Poo, his son - Philip Bender
Pooh-Bah, Lord High Everything Else - Bob Ashby
Ko-Ko, Lord High Executioner - Gary Sullivan
Pish-Tush - Matt Williams
Katisha, a Lady of the Mikado's Court - Andrea Schewe
Yum-Yum - Shaina Virginia Vatz
Pitti-Sing - Jennifer Spitulnik
Peep-Bo - Kiersten Drumm

Chorus
Alexandra Dilley, Rick Dupuy, Tom Goode, Tara Hockensmith, Deborah Jacobson, Ralph Johnson, Amber Kavanagh,
Marianna Martindale, Don Mitchell, Sherry Mitchell, Tom Pondolftno, Amy Rauch, David Roethel, Donna Saady, Julie Stevens, Rusty Suter, Howard Weinstein, Clyde Wright

Orchestra

Violin I - Steve Natrella*, Bonnie Barrows, Carolyn Larson,
Peter Mignerey
Violin II - Rachel Jayson, Edwin Schneider, Martin Brown
Viola - Amanda Laudwein, Victor Ontiveros
Cello - Sheryl Friedlander, David Dubov, Andrew Schneider
Bass - Pete Gallanis
Flute - Louise Hill, Jackie Miller
Oboe - Lori Guess
Clarinet - James Bensinger, Laura Langbein, Laura Bornhoeft
Bassoon - Sean Gumin
Horn - Kristen Zempolich, Loren Krusberg, James Kocsis
Trumpet - Bernie Rappaport, Curt Anstine
Trombone - Steve Ward, Frank Eliot, Alan Potter
Percussion - George Huttlin

*Concertmaster

Production Staff

Producer - Lisa Freese
Choreographer - Alicia Oliver
Assistant Music Director - Jenny Craley Bland
Artistic Director - Rosalie Santilhano
Assistant Director & Stage Manager - Peter Krueger
Lighting Designer - Ayun Fedorcha
Set Designer - Peter Krueger
Scenic Artist - B. Keith Ryder
Dance Captains - Rick DuPuy, Deborah Jacobson
Costume Designer - Andrea Schewe
Costume Construction - Deborah Jacobson, Sheny Mitchell, Marianna Martindale, Debra Mobley, Debbie Peetz, Robin Ray, Donna Saady Andrea Schewe, Birdie Stegmeier, Clyde Wright, Denise Young
Master Carpenter - William Kolodrubetz
Set Construction & Painting - Phil Bender, Ed Byrdy, Kiersten Drumm, Rick DuPuy, Tony Dywer, Lisa Freese, Tara Hockensmith, Dave Kaysen, Pete Krueger, Vernon Krueger, Ralph Johnson, Don Mitchell, Sherry Mitchell, Tom Pondolfino, Amy Rauch, Donna Saady, Todd Whitehead, Matt Williams
Technical Director (Rockville Civic Center) - Kim Haug
Running Crew - Tony Dwyer, Dave Kaysen
Rehearsal Pianist - Jenny Craley Bland
Make-Up & Hair Designer - Renee Silverstone
Make-Up & Hair Assistants - Helene Sugarman, Stan Sustersic
Program - Leta Hall
Publicity - Sandy Rovner
Properties - Alicia Oliver, Julie Stevens
House Management - Merle Haber
Set Storage - Rockville Civic Center & City of Gaithersburg
Printing - Quick Printing, Inc., Wheaton, Maryland

Director's Note

Every Gilbert and Sullivan opera presents the director with a unique set of riddles to solve. Such ponderables abound in The Mikado, or the Town of Titipu. Given Japan's strict social order, how has Titipu gotten away with its harebrained scheme for so long? Why are the girls coming home from school en masse? Who the heck is Pish-Tush, and why is he always on hand at just the right moment?

Slowly, a picture of life in Titipu began to take shape to me. Our Titipu is an isolated little burg tucked away in the north of Japan. It's a town of fishers and their families, a few merchants and a handful of elders. They don't see many visitors; it's a far journey from Edo and there's little to make the trip worthwhile. To the sophisticated eye, Titipu falls somewhere between Mayberry and Dogpatch.

We visit Titipu in August, when everyone in Japan travels home for o-bon, the festival of the dead (in much the same way that Americans travel home for Thanksgiving). It's the end of a long, hot workday, and proud parents are waiting for the town beauties to come from school for the summer holiday. What better place to wait than the local pub?

Which brings us to Pish-Tush. He's an enigmatic character; he knows everything and everybody, but keeps his own counsel. He's always there to lend an ear, or a shoulder to cry on, and he tells great stories. So who is Pish-Tush? Why, he's the world's best publican! Welcome to PishTush's Noodle House! Run with the help of his family, including his daughter Peep-Bo, the Noodle House is the hub of the town. It's where people gather to gossip, drink, and carouse.

And where they sing! Generations of Japanese people have enjoyed singing together and hearing others sing their favorite songs. Titiputians revel in this tradition, whether they're singing their favorite drinking song, "We are Gentlemen of Japan," or having a little sing-a-long to cheer themselves up.

This production draws heavily from my own Japanese cultural heritage and childhood memories of life in Japan. There are knick-knacks collected by my mother; visual images inspired by my father's art collection; a much-mended patchwork pouch once carried by my grandfather; even the beanbag jacks I played with as a little girl.

It also draws upon my eclectic western sensibilities, and those of our wonderful company. Together, we've built a town that combines our many perspectives and quirks to create a vibrant, living landscape of personalities. Welcome to Titipu! We hope you enjoy your stay.

~Alicia Oliver

Synopsis

A year ago, Nanki-Poo fled from the court of his father, the Mikado of Japan, to escape marriage with Katisha. Assuming the disguise of a musician, he fell in love with Yum-Yum, but was prevented from marrying her by her guardian, Ko-Ko, who wished to marry her himself. Ko-Ko, however, has since been condemned to death for flirting. As Act 1 opens, Nanki-Poo is hastening to Titpu to find out whether Yum-Yum is now free to marry him. From PoohBah (a corrupt and proud public official) and Pish-Tush (the owner of the local noodle house), Nanki-Poo learns that Ko-Ko has, instead, become Lord High Executioner, thus preventing the sentence of decapitation from being carried out. Ko-Ko is, in fact, going to marry Yum-Yum that very day. Suddenly a letter comes from the Mikado ordering him to execute somebody or else lose his position of Lord High -Executioner. Ko-Ko is in a quandary to find someone to execute, when Nanki-Poo appears, bent upon suicide because he cannot marry Yum-Yum. The two strike a deal: Nanki-Poo will marry marry Yum-Yum for a month, and then will be the subject for the public execution when that month is up. There is general rejoicing in the apparent solution to the problem, marred only by Katisha's arrival, seeking Nanki-Poo. She is driven away and threatens to take the matter to the Mikado.

Act II opens with Yum-Yum's bridal tea. As all are singing a "mercy madrigal," Ko-Ko announces that he has 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 throws Ko-Ko into a quandary to find someone to execute (especially as he has heard that the Mikado is on his way to Titipu). Nanki-Poo nobly 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 Nanki-Poo has been executed, and bids Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum to leave the country.

When the Mikado arrives, Ko-Ko thinks that he is there to verify that an execution has taken place, so he produces the affidavit and describes the execution with great gusto. But the Mikado has actually come at the prompting of Katisha in search of his lost son. When it is learned 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 their executions. Ko-Ko solves the problem by offering his hand to Katisha; and, after he sings her a touching ballad, she accepts him. The end of the opera comes with Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum's joyful return to town.

Musical Numbers

Overture
Act I

If you want to know who we are (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 (Women)
Three little maids from school are we (Yum-Yum, Peep-Bo, Pitti-Sing, and Women)
So please you, sir, we much regret (Yum-Yum, Peep-Bo, Pitti-Sing, Pooh-Bah, and Women)
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 & Women)
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)

Gilbert & Sullivan'sThe Mikadoor, The Town of TitipuFeb. 11, 12, 18 & 19, 2005 at 8pmFeb. 13 & 20, 2005 at 2pm