- Year
- 2001
- When
- April 2001
- Type
- Musical
Synopsis
A jazz, gospel, blues and swing reworking of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado. The Mikado was one of 14 comic operettas written by Gilbert and Sullivan and is justifiably the most popular. In its original form it ran for 672 performances, much longer than anything else they wrote. It quickly found itself being adapted to other musical traditions. In 1927, there was a celebrated jazz version in Berlin. An all-black jazz version followed in 1938 sponsored by the US Government and set on a Pacific coral island. The Hot Mikado followed in 1939, with more than 100 African-American actors including 60 year old tap dancer Bill Bojangles Robinson in the cast. The revival by David H Bell, Artistic Director of Ford's Theatre, Washington, was staged as part of the theatre's 1986 Spring Festival. Unable to find any of the original material from the 1939 production, Bell and his collaborator Rob Bowman adapted the show themselves. It was well received in Washington, was staged successfully in other parts of the USA and moved to the UK and London's Queens Theatre on 18 May 1995.
From the company’s records
The programme carried a full list of musical numbers for both acts.
The archive does not record the venue and the production team for this production.
Who made it
Cast
- The Mikado of Japan
- John Wiley
- Nanki-Poo (his son)
- John Wetherall
- Ko-Ko (Lord High Executioner)
- Greg Yates
- Pooh-Bah (Lord High Everything Else)
- Tim Jones
- Pish-Tush (A Noble Lord)
- Luke Swatman
- Yum-Yum
- Vicki Hardy
- Pitti-Sing
- Lydia Simpkiss
- Peep-Bo
- Samantha King
- Katisha (An Elderly Lady)
- Colette Edwards
Everybody else
The rest of the names the company’s records carry for this production, on stage and off it.
Chorus32
Marina Bray, Fiona Collins, Jayne Crowther, Tami Dowen, Liz Gilbert, Clare Goodhead, Caroline Hammond, Jackie Handley, Ella Hickman, Barbara King, Ruth Lewis, Meg Moran, Kate Osborne, Nikki Rai, Jenni Rullan, Anne Stokes, Mandy Tonkinson, Kay Whistance, Janice Wolverson, Jenny Washbrook, John Arnold, Chris Dowen, Mark Friedl, Mac Hammond, Richard Howell, Colin Hunt, Trevor Law, Chris Lewis, Alf Rai, Roger Stokes, David Storey, Chris Wolverson
Were you in it?
We would like to know more about Hot Mikado.
The record for this production is thinner than the show deserves. If you were in it, or you were in the audience, you may have something the archive does not.
Programmes, photographs, cuttings from the local paper, a cast list in somebody’s handwriting: all of it helps, and we will add it here.
Get in touch