The Mikado (1967 film)

• John Reed as Ko-Ko
• Kenneth Sandford as Pooh-Bah
• Donald Adams as the Mikado
• Valerie Masterson as Yum-Yum
• Philip Potter as Nanki-Poo
• Christene Palmer as Katisha
• Peggy Ann Jones as Pitti-Sing
• Thomas Lawlor as Pish-Tush
• Pauline Wales as Peep-Bo
• George Cook as Go-To

Source: British Film Institute.[1]

The 1966 production of The Mikado by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was adapted by the director Stuart Burge, who had previously adapted films based on such theatre productions as Uncle Vanya (1963) and Laurence Olivier's National Theatre version of Othello (1965). The direction of the film closely reflects the D'Oyly Carte staging of the time by Anthony Besch, although there are some cuts.[2]

The Mikado was filmed at the Golders Green Hippodrome on enlarged stage sets in the same way that Burge had filmed Othello. It starred John Reed, Kenneth Sandford, Valerie Masterson, Philip Potter, Donald Adams, Christene Palmer and Peggy Ann Jones in their usual roles with D'Oyly Carte, and used the D'Oyly Carte chorus. The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra was conducted by D'Oyly Carte's longstanding conductor, Isidore Godfrey. Set design and decoration were by Disley Jones and Peter Howitt.[1] With one exception the costumes were by Charles Ricketts, first seen in D'Oyly Carte stage productions in 1926 and retained by subsequent D'Oyly Carte designers.[3] The first of Nanki-Poo's two costumes was by Jones.[4]

The Mikado was released in the United States on 15 March 1967.[5] The British premiere was at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, on 17 July 1967.[6] The film has been released on DVD in Britain and the US.[7]

In The Illustrated London News Alan Dent commented that the film confirmed his growing view that opera – particularly comic opera – could not be satisfactorily filmed: "I miss the theatre, the laughter … the interruptions of applause, even the encores".[8] The New York Times criticised the filming technique and the orchestra and noted, "Knowing how fine this cast can be in its proper medium, one regrets the impression this Mikado will make on those not fortunate enough to have watched the company in the flesh. The cameras have captured everything about the company's acting except its magic."[9] A reviewer of the video commented in 2009, "the performance is extremely flat. One senses that the cast, lacking a live audience to interact with, are merely going through the motions."[2] In 2017 the BBC's reviewer in a comparative survey of all available recordings of The Mikado chose the DVD of the 1966 film in preference to all other recordings except for Sir Charles Mackerras's 1992 CD version, calling the D'Oyly Carte set "a tribute to a fine theatrical tradition caught at its most appealing".[10]

• List of British films of 1967

• Bettany, Clemence (1975). The D'Oyly Carte Centenary Book. London: D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. OCLC 910206945.
• Bradley, Ian (2005). Oh Joy! Oh Rapture! The Enduring Phenomenon of Gilbert and Sullivan. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-516700-9.

• The Mikado at IMDb