Mikado, The, is a famous comic opera by the popular British composing team of Sir William S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur S. Sullivan. Gilbert wrote the dialogue, and Sullivan wrote the music. The full name of the comic opera is The Mikado, or, The Town of Titipu. The show opened at the Savoy Theatre in London on March 14, 1885, and quickly became a success.
Gilbert and Sullivan set their show in an imaginary Japan. The Mikado of the title is the traditional name for the Japanese emperor. The story centers on a romance between a schoolgirl named Yum-Yum and Nanki-Poo, the son of the Mikado. Yum-Yum is unwillingly engaged to Ko-Ko, the lord high executioner of Titipu. Nanki-Poo has fled his father’s court disguised as a wandering musician to avoid a forced marriage to the ferocious Katisha. Nanki-Poo arrives in Titipu, seeking Yum-Yum. They had met a year earlier and fallen in love. Other major characters in The Mikado include Pooh-Bah, a greedy nobleman; and Pitti-Sing, one of Yum-Yum’s sisters and classmates.
Well-known songs from the show include “Three Little Maids,” “A Wandering Minstrel I,” “The Flowers That Bloom,” and “Willow, Titwillow.” A highlight of the show is Ko-Ko singing the tongue twister (called a patter song) titled “I’ve Got a Little List.” The song presents in rapid succession a list of nuisances. Among the nuisances on Ko-Ko’s list of those who “never would be missed” are “the people who eat peppermint and puff it in your face.” The song can be revised during the run of the show to reflect events of the day. A song sung by the Mikado includes the famous line “let the punishment fit the crime.”
See also D’Oyly Carte, Richard; Gilbert, Sir William Schwenck; Gilbert and Sullivan; Sullivan, Sir Arthur Seymour.
