Coliseum, London
Jonathan Miller's 1930s English hotel version of Gilbert and Sullivan's Japanese opera celebrates its 25th anniversary with this latest revival. An iconoclastic visual approach to a 100-year-old classic when it was devised back in 1986, Stefanos Lazaridis's art deco set and Sue Blane's black-and-white costumes have earned classic status in their own right. They have not dated at all. Neither has Miller's staging, with the dialogue delivered in a pacy blend of lightness and emphasis that makes the most of Gilbert's wry absurdities. The copious dance routines ? which in some revivals have thudded on to the stage with a mite more energy than exactness ? are polished and precise.
This is also a vintage cast. Sophie Bevan's Yum-Yum is pristine in tone and archly knowing in manner. Alfie Boe's graceful tenor forms the bedrock for a stylishly sung, wittily acted Nanki-Poo. Fiona Canfield's perky Peep-Bo and Claudia Huckle's creamy contralto Pitti-Sing provide articulate assistance.
Over the decades, the role of the bloodthirsty Katisha has secured some distinguished exponents, Sarah Walker and Felicity Palmer among them. Joining the royal line here is Anne-Marie Owens, who brings a Verdian grandeur to the rejected daughter-in-law-elect and mines the pathos of her solos with sentimental certainty.
No artist is more closely associated with Miller's staging than Richard Suart, whose Ko-Ko remains a masterpiece of comic invention: a crazed, abject creation vainly attempting to control proceedings even as they spiral ever more preposterously beyond his reach. His updated Little List takes swipes at several contemporary figures, from Berlusconi to coalitionists, and even the blamelessly ubiquitous Stephen Fry. Donald Maxwell's Scottish baronial Pooh-Bah is immaculate, with veteran Richard Angas once again an affably ghoulish Mikado. Conductor Peter Robinson maintains musical decorum amid the dramatic mayhem.
Brooke Burns Lena Headey Ali Larter Angelina Jolie Erica Leerhsen
No comments:
Post a Comment