sign in sign up
<<
Home , Gilbert and Sullivan, Hot Mikado, Ivanhoe (opera), Skylight Music Theatre, The Happy Land

AUDIENCE GUIDE Harlem History Glossary Synopsis 2017-2018 | Our 58th Season | Issue 1 Hot MikadoHot GilbertSullivan and IN THIS ISSUE

is fast, Ko) Ko)

-

Poo) and Poo)

-

Yum), a - foot stomping

takes place in the hat ensues is a ensues is hat tangled web Poo, Poo, is determined to turvy confusion that keepwill - - Bop and Bop . The action is - capture him the help with of the typical Gilberttypical and Sullivan - roof. The Skylight’s furious fun. And it’s smokin’ hot! of topsy you wondering what’s next. Sullivan's great music up jazzed is in style1940s by arranger Rob Bowman. On stage, Titipu our Town Band keeps jointthe jumping with a sizzling score featuresthat jazz, swing, gospel, Be nonstopan with energetic cast that missdoesn't beat a in knockout jitterbug, swing and gospel dance routines that raise the Hot Mikado Japanese town of Titipu, where a young woman, (Yum wandering trumpeter, (Nanki Lordthe High Executioner, (Ko find themselves in a preposterous love triangle. To to add the nonsense, Katisha, the older fianceé of Nanki re W Mikado. , the

skylightmusictheatre.org

top stars of Hot Mikado “I think Skylight Duke Ellington, Cab a cultural collision is David H. Bell’s 1986

like

approach to address some of the outdated dialog and stereotyping,” directorsaid Austene Van. Sullivan’s comicmasterpiece. It remains their true to wonderfulmusic and harmonies, but takesfresh a original's daffy plot and incisive political . audiences bewill thrilled by this updated version of Gilbert and Hot Mikado adaptation of ’s classic , which retains the American fashion blended with the style and culture of oldJapan. with with their dazzling tap routines. Featured fictional in our nightclub is Hot Mikado, Westbetween East and hip ‘40s with you could expect see to day,the Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers For our production of Cabot transformed is into a Harlem1940s nightclub.Back then, This available is guide online at When Got Hot

Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado started to heat up in 1938 when The Swing Mikado opened in Chicago. Part of the Federal Theatre Project, a Season Sponsors New Deal program to fund artistic programs during the Great Depression, it was one of numerous relief measures to employ artists, and theatre workers. The Swing Mikado was a swing re-orchestration of 's music thst became a huge hit. After a short, but successful run, the production moved to New York and Broadway. Flamboyant producer Mike Todd saw this success and responded with his own adaptation, Hot Mikado, which opened in 1939. It had the star power of an African-American cast that

included and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, already famous on Broadway and beloved for his dance routines with Shirley Temple in the 1935 movie The Little Colonel.

Still not ready to call it quits, The Swing Mikado moved to a theater right across the street. Todd fought back by hanging a banner blocking his rival's Research/Writing by marquee. He then pulled another ace Justine Leonard for ENLIGHTEN, from his sleeve and sold the show to ’s Education Program the 1939-40 New York World's Fair. It played through the summer – four Edited by Ray Jivoff times a day, seven days a week, at a [email protected] price of 40¢ to 90¢. The Swing Mikado Margaret Bridges just couldn’t compete. Hot Mikado [email protected] lasted for two seasons and was reportedly one of the most popular attractions at the fair. Then it quietly faded from public popularity.

In the 1980s, when David H.

Bell and musician Rob Bowman were interested in doing a revival, they couldn’t find much of the script or the

arrangements and decided to create a new adaptation. Their Hot Mikado first appeared at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. in 1986 where it received rave reviews. It has been produced around the world. We are

pleased to open our season with Hot Mikado.

158 N. Broadway IMBd biography by L. Bligh; Weiss, , WI 53202 Hedy. "David Bell revisits Hot Mikado for (414) 291-7811 Drury Lane". Chicago Sun-Times, 2010 www.skylightmusictheatre.org

AUDIENCE GUIDE | HOT MIKADO Harlem History

the center of a “spiritual coming of age” Ironically, some of the clubs had a Jim in which Locke’s “New Negro” Crow policy that allowed black transformed “social disillusionment to performers but excluded blacks as race pride.” The intent of the customers. movement was not political but aesthetic, as noted by author Langston The Cotton Club was Harlem's most Hughes who called it the “expression glamorous and star-studded club with of our individual dark-skinned selves.” performers like Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Ethel Waters, A new way of playing the piano called and other big names. the Harlem Stride style was created during the Harlem Renaissance, and There is no consensus as to the helped blur the lines between the poor precise end of the Harlem and the socially elite African Renaissance. The 1929 American Americans. A traditional jazz band was stock market crash and the onset of composed primarily of brass the Great Depression, coupled with the instruments and was considered a end of Prohibition in 1933, loosely symbol of the south, but the piano was marked the transition to post- Harlem began as a sleepy village seen as an instrument of the wealthy. Renaissance Harlem. founded by Dutch settlers in 1658 as By adding the piano, jazz music’s Nieuw Haarlem, located directly north popularity spread throughout the Harlem’s decline in the 50s and 60s of what is now Central Park in country to an all-time high. gave the neighborhood a negative Manhattan. In 1664, the English took reputation. But Harlem began to see control and anglicized the name to Harlem’s booming nightclub scene rapid gentrification in the late 1990s. Harlem. The Dutch, French and began to draw the attention of wealthy The number of housing units increased English settlers oversaw Harlem’s whites, eager to experience Harlem's 14% between 1990 and 2000 and transition from an isolated rural village excitement. Variety wrote, "Harlem's property values in Central Harlem to an upper-middle class suburb. night life now surpasses that of increased nearly 300%. Harlem is In spite of its current reputation as the Broadway itself. From midnight until once again the place to be. cultural capital of black America, after dawn it is a seething cauldron of Nubian mirth and hilarity." For white Harlem had few black residents until a wave of white flight produced its downtowners, Harlem’s nightclubs offered a glimpse and a thrill beyond Reference: The Reader’s Companion to remarkable transition at the beginning American History. Eric Foner and John A. the color line, skirting the ban of of the twentieth century. In the 1920s, Garraty, Editors. Copyright © 1991 by Harlem, became the center of a prohibition by offering liquor to white Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co. movement called the Harlem “slummers” and curiosity seekers. Renaissance. It was a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement that kindled a new black cultural identity.

Some say the Harlem Renaissance started in 1917, with the premiere of Three Plays for a Negro Theatre. Written by white playwright Ridgely Torrence, the plays rejected the stereotypes of the blackface and traditions and featured African-American actors conveying complex human emotions. Civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson in 1917 called these plays "the most important single event in the history of the Negro in the American Theater."

The essence of the movement was summed up by critic and teacher Alain Locke in 1926: “Negro life is seizing its first chances for group expression and self-determination.” Harlem became

2017-2018 | SKYLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE SYNOPSIS: ACT 1

Act I

Gentlemen of the fictitious Japanese Ko-Ko enters (Behold the Lord High Ko-Ko argues that it would be town of Titipu introduce themselves (If Executioner) and shares his list of "extremely difficult, not to say you want to know who we are). A poor people "who would not be missed" if dangerous, for someone to attempt minstrel, Nanki-Poo, arrives and they were executed (I’ve got a little their own beheading, and it would be introduces himself (A wand'ring list). Ko-Ko then discusses the plans suicide, which is a capital offence.” minstrel I). He asks about his beloved, for his wedding to Yum-Yum with Luckily, Ko-Ko discovers that Nanki- Yum-Yum, who is a ward of Ko-Ko, Pooh Bah. Poo, in despair over losing Yum-Yum, formerly a cheap tailor. One of the is preparing to commit suicide. Ko-Ko gentlemen, Pish-Tush, explains that Yum-Yum appears with Ko-Ko's other makes a bargain with him: Nanki-Poo when the Mikado decreed that flirting two wards, Peep-Bo and Pitti-Sing may marry Yum-Yum for one month if, was a crime punishable by death, the (Three little maids from school). at the end of that time, he allows Titipu authorities avoided the decree Nanki-Poo tells Ko-Ko he loves himself to be executed. Ko-Ko would by appointing Ko-Ko, a prisoner Yum-Yum. When Nanki-Poo is alone then marry the young widow. condemned to death for flirting, to the with Yum-Yum he tells her his secret: post of Lord High Executioner. he is the son of the Mikado travelling Everyone arrives to celebrate Nanki- in disguise to avoid the advances of Poo and Yum-Yum's union (Let the Katisha, an elderly lady of his father's throng our joy advance), but the As Ko-Ko was the next prisoner court. They lament that the law forbids festivities are interrupted by Katisha, scheduled to be decapitated, the town them to flirt (This is what I’ll never do). who has come to claim Nanki-Poo as authorities reasoned that he could her husband. However, all are "not cut off another's head until he cut Pish-Tush tells Ko-Ko that the Mikado sympathetic to the young couple, and his own off," and since Ko-Ko was not has just decreed that unless there is Katisha's attempts to reveal Nanki- likely to try to execute himself, no an execution in Titipu within a month, Poo's secret are drowned out by the executions could take place. However, the town will be reduced to the rank of shouting of the crowd (For he’s gonna all of the town's officials except Pooh- a village, which would bring ruin to marry Yum-Yum). Outwitted but not Bah were too proud to serve under an them all. Pooh-Bah and Pish-Tush defeated, Katisha makes it clear that ex-tailor, and they resigned. Pooh-Bah point to Ko-Ko as the obvious choice she intends to get vengeance. for beheading, since he is already now holds all their posts and collects all their salaries. Pooh-Bah tells sentenced to die (I am so proud). Nanki-Poo that Yum-Yum is scheduled to marry Ko-Ko that day (And the drums will crash).

Scenic design by Sarah Brandner

AUDIENCE GUIDE | HOT MIKADO SYNOPSIS: ACT 2

Act II come to see whether an execution Ko-Ko finds Katisha mourning her loss has been carried out and hands the (Alone, and yet alive) and throws Yum-Yum prepares for her wedding Mikado the certificate of death. The himself on her mercy. He begs for her (Braid the raven hair), after which she Mikado replies that he has come hand in marriage, and Katisha initially muses on her own beauty (The sun about a different matter; he is rebuffs him, but is soon moved by his whose rays). Pitti-Sing and Peep-Bo searching for his son who "goes by story of a bird who died of heartbreak remind her of the shortness of her the name of Nanki-Poo." Meanwhile, (Tit-willow). She agrees (There is impending marriage. Joined by Nanki- Katisha reads the death certificate and beauty in the bellow of the blast) and, Poo and Pish-Tush, they try to keep is horrified that Nanki-Poo was once the ceremony is performed, she their spirits up (Swing a merry executed. begs for the Mikado's mercy for him madrigal), but Ko-Ko and Pooh-Bah and his accomplices. inform them of a twist in the law that The Mikado, though expressing states that when a married man is understanding and sympathy, Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum then re- beheaded for flirting, his wife must be discusses the punishment "for appear, sparking Katisha's fury. The buried alive (Here's a how-de-do). compassing the death of the heir Mikado is astonished that Nanki-Poo apparent" it’s “something lingering, is alive. Ko-Ko explains that when a Yum-Yum is unwilling to marry under with boiling oil ... or melted lead." royal command for an execution is these circumstances, and so Nanki- given, the victim is, legally speaking, Poo challenges Ko-Ko to behead him With the three conspirators facing as good as dead, "and if he is dead, on the spot. It turns out, however, that painful execution, Ko-Ko pleads with why not say so?" The Mikado Ko-Ko has never executed anyone Nanki-Poo to reveal himself to his declares that "Nothing could possibly because he is too soft-hearted. Ko-Ko father. Nanki-Poo fears that Katisha be more satisfactory," and everyone instead sends Nanki-Poo and Yum- will demand his execution if she finds celebrates (For he's gone and married Yum away to be wed, promising to he is alive, but he suggests that if Yum-Yum). present false evidence of the fictitious Katisha could be persuaded to marry execution to the Mikado. Ko-Ko, then Nanki-Poo could safely "come to life again," as Katisha would The Mikado arrives and describes his have no claim on him. Ko-Ko has no Copyright © 2008 The Gilbert and Sullivan system of justice (The Mikado ). choice: either marry Katisha or face a Archive All Rights Reserved. Ko-Ko assumes that the ruler has painful death for himself, Pitti-Sing and Pooh-Bah.

Costume design by Brian Hemesath

2017-2018 | SKYLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE Gilbert and Sullivan

the most popular playwrights of the English stage in Victorian times.

Sullivan’s oratorios, odes, symphonies and hymns, including Onward Christian Soldiers, made him one of

the most honored composers of his day. Yet, Gilbert and Sullivan, it seems, had to meet in order to guarantee their immortality. William Schwenck Gilbert was born in London in 1836, the son of a naval surgeon. He made brief attempts at working in government service and law, but got out of both as fast as he could. In 1861, his caustic wit and

sarcasm led him to a job he loved, Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) W.S. Gilbert (1836-1911) contributing drawings, prose and verse to Fun, a comic journal. From there it The American and British musical was an easy jump to the theater. At age 20, he wrote an orchestral suite owes a tremendous debt to Gilbert and to Shakespeare's , which Sullivan, who introduced innovations in His Charity (1874) was concerned brought him serious attention. During content and form that directly with sexual double standards. He tried the next few years, Sullivan was an influenced the development of musical political satire in organist and a professor of music and theatre through the 20th century. (1873), which was banned by the Lord was regarded as the leading composer According to theatre writer John Bush Chamberlain, and he attacked money- of the day. Jones, Gilbert and Sullivan were “the obsessed society in Engaged (1877). Gilbert and Sullivan's first collaboration primary progenitors of the twentieth Gilbert was now the most talked-about was (1871). It was clear that century American musical in which playwright in London. soon they would be taking comic book, music and lyrics combine to form The Gilbert & Sullivan to new levels when the famous an integrated whole, and they impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte demonstrated that musicals can Thespis (1871) commissioned them to write a one-act address contemporary social and (1875) opener for one of his plays. Trial By political issues without sacrificing (1877) Jury (1875), a stinging satire on law, entertainment value.” H.M.S. Pinafore (1878) was a huge success. The composer The magic of the Gilbert and Sullivan Pirates of (1879) and the librettist had found one partnership was the creative spark (1881) another, and began a partnership that between them. Gilbert had the ability (1882) would span twenty-five years and to craft a plot with many convoluted produce fourteen comic . (1884) layers, and then sort it all out neatly in The Mikado (1885) When D'Oyly Carte formed his own the end. called comic-opera company in 1877, he it “topsy turveydom.” Sullivan crafted (1887) launched the venture with Gilbert and melodies that projected the comic The Yeoman of the Guard (1888) Sullivan's The Sorcerer. Six months intent of Gilbert’s lines. (1889) later H.M.S. Pinafore opened and Although they were artistically Utopia Limited (1893) played for over two years to packed compatible they were very different (1896) houses. In 1879, Gilbert and Sullivan men. Gilbert was over six feet tall, with went to New York to premiere The a rather grim face. Sullivan was quite Pirates of Penzance to protect their short and known as a kind, likeable Arthur Seymour Sullivan was born in copyrights, which were being violated man with no great ego while Gilbert London in 1842. His father was a flagrantly in the United States. was a very difficult man. As Gilbert bandmaster at the Royal Military Back in London, D'Oyly Carte was aged, he retained his youthful vigor. College and by the age of ten his son building his own theater, the Savoy, as Sullivan’s health was poor; he was had mastered all the wind instruments the home for Gilbert and Sullivan afflicted with a painful kidney ailment in his band. Sullivan moved quickly operettas. The theater opened in 1881 and walked with a cane while still a into his musical career, winning with Patience, a satire of author Oscar young man. numerous scholarships, the last of Wilde. Audiences loved it, and success which was in Germany where Franz Gilbert and Sullivan did have careers after success followed. The whole Liszt listened to his thesis. independent of one another. Gilbert world seemed to be whistling and wrote over 70 plays, and was one of humming Gilbert and Sullivan tunes.

AUDIENCE GUIDE | HOT MIKADO Behind the scenes, things weren't Gilbert asked Sullivan to reconsider, Sullivan's other late works done always smooth. Sullivan's work habits assuring him he wanted to find a more without Gilbert include an opera, were casual, often tending toward exotic setting than England for a new , in 1891, followed by three procrastination. But he was patient, work, which would allow him to satirize more operettas. The years toward the charming and socially successful. He British politics and institutions more end of his life were difficult. His health was comfortable hobnobbing with high freely by disguising them in another disintegrated as he continued a life of society, King Edward VII and two culture. gambling, drinking and morphine use prime ministers, Disraeli and to relieve his pain. He died in 1900, Gladstone. He smoked, drank, By 1885, European trade with Japan alone in London. gambled and lived life to the fullest. He had increased in recent decades, and Gilbert went into retirement after the spent money freely and was notorious an English craze for all things split, but wrote four plays in his last for his voracious appetites, which Japanese had grown through the fifteen years. Considered a heartless included encounters with prostitutes 1860s and 1870s. This made the time curmudgeon all his life, he was heroic and indulging in fine food and wine. ripe for an operetta set in Japan. in death. On May 29, 1911, he was Although Sullivan never married, he Gilbert soon sent Sullivan a sketch of giving swimming lessons to two young had many love affairs, the longest with the plot to The Mikado and Sullivan women when one of them called out an American, Mary Frances ("Fanny") was intrigued. for help. Gilbert died of a heart attack Ronalds, who was separated from her while attempting to rescue her. husband, but she was never divorced. Conductor Sir explained Gilbert, on the other hand, was the enduring success of the sensible and financially conservative. collaboration: “Gilbert has never had He was married to Lucy Agnes Turner, an equal for humor without coarseness whom he called "Kitty." The Gilberts or vulgarity, and for charm and grace. had no children, but they had many Sullivan’s music is perfectly pets, including some exotic ones. appropriate to the words of which it is the setting, neither is subordinate to Gilbert could also be quarrelsome, with the other and the two, while neither a habit of bringing suit against anyone predominates, are in perfect he thought maligned him. He once correspondence. This rare harmony of wrote, “I am an ill-tempered pig, and I words and music is what makes these glory in it.” With his bent for cynicism operettas entirely unique. They are the and satire, he poked fun at politics, the work not of a musician and his librettist establishment and society with his nor of a poet and one who sets his stinging lyrics. More than anything, he words to music, but of two geniuses.” was a perfectionist who insisted on complete control of the production of The Complete Gilbert and Sullivan, Diana Bell, his plays. He worked out stage 1989, Quantum Books; movement on a miniature stage with "The One World of Gilbert and Sullivan", Saturday Review, 26 October 1968, pp. 69–94 little blocks of wood. He coached the actors in gestures and inflection and Player's Cigarette card, 1925 often designed the costumes and sets. The Mikado or The Town of Sullivan also attended rehearsals and Titipu became their ninth operetta. It often, the two would cut and change, opened in 1885 at the Savoy argue and bargain, each trying to Theatre in London, and ran for 672 protect his artistic contribution and performances, which was one of the integrity. It was a collaboration in the longest runs of any show up to that fullest sense of the word, and from this time. It is the most frequently unusual and unlikely pairing came one performed Gilbert and Sullivan work. of the most creative partnerships in musical history. But their relationship grew pricklier as As the run of Princess Ida (1884) was the years went on, and exploded in ending, impresario Richard D'Oyly 1890 with a silly argument over the Carte gave Gilbert and Sullivan cost of a new carpet for the Savoy contractual notice that a new operetta Theater. In 1893, the partnership would be required within six months. reunited to collaborate on a successful Sullivan wanted to focus on more new operetta, Utopia Unlimited. Their serious music, and replied that "it is final work together was The Grand impossible for me to do another piece Duke in 1896. of the character of those already written by Gilbert and myself." Cartoon by Alfred Bryan in Judy, 1890

2017-2018 | SKYLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE Hot Mikado Glossary

Here’s a guide to some of the names, New Deal - A series of federal Happy Dispatch - A euphemism for words and expressions you’ll hear in programs, public works projects and Hara-Kiri, from hara meaning "belly" Hot Mikado. financial reforms enacted in the U.S. and kiri, meaning "cut." It refers to during the 1930s in response to the suicide by disembowelment as

Great Depression. It included support formerly practiced, with ceremony, by Billy Sunday - A popular baseball for farmers, unemployed, youth and the highest classes in Japan when in player during the 1880s, who became the elderly, as well as new constraints disgrace. The suicide's family was also a celebrated evangelist. and safeguards on the banking required to die with him unless a

industry and changes to the monetary special writ was obtained from the Reverend Ike - His ministry reached system. emperor. The practice went out in the its peak in the 1970s, when his weekly late 1800s. radio sermons were carried by J. Edgar Hoover - Longtime director hundreds of stations across the U.S. of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Nagasaki - The largest city on the He was famous for his "Blessing Plan"- (FBI). He had rabid anti-Communist island of Kyushu in Japan. It became a listeners sent him money and in return and anti-subversive views and used center of Portuguese and Dutch he blessed them. unconventional tactics to monitor their influence in the 16th through 19th

activity. centuries. Party Line - In the early days of home telephone service, and even as late as Snickersnee - A large knife. - A mystery writer the 1960s, circuits were shared by who was one of the world's top-selling multiple, often frustrated subscribers. Lord Chamberlain - The senior officer authors with works like Murder on the Garbo - The reclusive Greta Garbo of the Royal Household of the United Orient Express. Hercules Poirot and was one of the great movie stars of the Kingdom, overseeing the departments Miss Marple are Christie's best known 1920s and 30s. She was famous for which support and provide advice to detectives, featured in dozens of her film line: "I want to be alone.” the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. novels and short stories.

Bobby Sox fanatics - Named for a Her Majesty’s Exchequer - The Duke Ellington - style of ankle socks popular with government department in charge of Composer, pianist teenaged women in the 1940s who the public revenues of the United and leader of a jazz were fans of Frank Sinatra. Kingdom. orchestra from 1923 until his death in Frank Sinatra - started his career as Auditor - A person or a firm appointed 1974. He gained a “king of the bobby soxers” and became by a company to execute an audit. national profile with one of the world’s great pop singers. his appearances at Seminary - A private, residential the Cotton Club in school of higher education for girls. Harlem. Some of his most famous are It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Tutelary - Having the guardianship of Ain't Got That Swing), Mood Indigo a person or a thing. and Sophisticated Lady.

Soliloquizing - Talking to oneself; Joe Louis - reciting a monologue in a play. African-American boxer, who Obdurate - Unrepentant, stubbornly reigned as world Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt persistent in wrongdoing. heavyweight champion for a Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) - Registrar - An official keeper of record twelve (above left) President of the U.S. from records. years from 1937 1933 until his death in 1945. Often until 1949. rated by scholars as one of the three Madrigal - A song for several voices, Nicknamed the greatest U.S. Presidents, along with without instrumental accompaniment. "Brown Bomber," George Washington and Abraham his knockout of Germany's Max Lincoln. Fugue - A musical movement in which Schmeling in 1938 made him a . a definite number of parts or voices national hero. Eleanor - (above right) The politically combine to develop a single theme. active, socially conscious and often controversial wife of FDR. Heebie jeebies - A feeling of fright, Copyright © 2008 The Gilbert and Sullivan anxiety, nervousness, apprehension. Archive All Rights Reserved.

AUDIENCE GUIDE | HOT MIKADO