Julian Light Operatic Society The Mikado
Gilbert & Sullivan A modern twist on a joyous, tuneful, witty Gilbert & Sullivan favourite.
Nanki-Poo, a wandering minstrel, loves Yum-Yum but she’s engaged to the over-promoted Lord High Executioner, Ko-Ko. The blood-thirsty emperor, the Mikado, wants an execution or the town will lose its status, leading to irretrievable ruin for everyone.
Ko-Ko, as well as being the executioner, is next in line to be executed (he has been condemned to death for flirting, a capital offence) therefore he has to cut off his own head. Unless he can find a substitute. The Mikado is arriving in a month to check that his orders have been carried out.
However, Nanki-Poo has not told the truth about who he really is and that he’s betrothed to the scary Katisha. Ko-Ko and Nanki-Poo reach an arrangement so that Yum-Yum and Nanki-Poo can marry for a month and Ko-Ko has his substitute. Then Katisha turns up looking for Nanki-Poo, and tries to tell everyone who he really is.
Can an arrangement be reached so that the Mikado gets his proof that an execution has taken place? What are they going to say to the Mikado, who arrives with Katisha looking for Nanki-Poo? How do they wriggle out of a life-threatening situation, and who’s going to marry who? And, as the Mikado says, is virtue triumphant only in theatrical performances?
Tickets: £15 - £20
