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Nichola McAuliffe in the Gielgud production of The Mikado |
A tale of two Mikados - Part 1
THE MIKADO
Gielgud Theatre
DESPITE Arthur Sullivan’s disdain for the operettas that made him and his lyricist WS Gilbert national treasures, even he would probably have approved of impresario Raymond Gubbay’s new approach to the “G and S” ouvre.
Gubbay doesn’t play about – why try to be existential or avant garde? – and goes for the pantomimic traditionalism for which the public seem to have an insatiable appetite. And why not?
The Carl Rosa company glory, in an additional twist, use celebrities in the main parts, even to comedienne Jo Brand as the chief of police in their production of Pirates of Penzance.
It’s touchingly reminiscent of Morecambe and Wise’s silly celebrity plays, getting a respected and sometimes quite serious famous person to ham it up and laugh at themselves at the same time – (Who can forget our own MP for Hampstead and Highgate in their immortal Cleopatra send up?).
Mike Leigh continues to have much to answer for in this very conventional production, so much like his film Topsy Turvy and played, as always, to a packed audience at the gorgeous Gielgud.
The cast do well. Nichola McAuliffe is a lovely Katisha, although her voice, which has a nice contralto tone and hits the notes accurately, can be rather weak at times. Only one or two notes are “sung out” in a surge of sudden power. McAuliffe excels, however, as an actor, delivering every line clearly alongside some witty and affecting playing.
Similarly, Alistair McGowan as the Mikado is a stronger actor than he is a singer, and all round a stronger comedian. He physically towers above the cast, with slightly John Cleese affectations: all silly dances and sardonic expressions.
The supporting cast make a high quality ensemble though it is Fenton Gray’s Nanki-Poo who steals the show. His timing is spot on and with a series of twitches and gurnings he can wring laughs from the most innocuous lines, such as the Little List song, in which all the current villains (MPs who don’t declare their expenses or employ
their family members, theatre-goers who don’t turn off their mobiles, etc) come in for a beautiful comic drubbing.
A super production.
Until February 9
020 7494 5065
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