THE MIKADO REVISITED - REVIEW OF 2025 TORONTO OPERETTA THEATRE PRODUCTION

 Reviewed by James Karas

                                     If you want to know who we are,  
                                    We are gentlemen of Burlington

What civilized lady or gentleman would not recognize the lilting melody and the opening lines of the Chorus of Nobles in The Mikado? Oh, you noticed that the last word is not Japan but Burlington. Not Burlington, Vermont but Burlington, Ontario. And those nobles did not make a wrong turn on Highway 401 from Gilbert and Sullivan’s libretto and landed in Canada but did it at the behest of Guillermo Silva-Marin, the General Director of Toronto Operetta Theatre.

The Mikado is all about Victorian England and it satirizes English society and politics in the 1880’s. It is a sheer delight as written and it allows for interpolation and comments on current events wherever it is produced. Silva-Marin has transported it to Canada while staying faithful to the original music and makes some changes of names and giving it a modern-dress (sort of) production.

I will give Silva-Marin’s names for the characters and their original names. We meet Nanki Blue (Marcus Tranquilli), a nice Canadian boy who used to be called Nanki-Poo. He is  traveling minstrel madly in love with  Yum-Yum (Madeline Cooper) whose name tells you everything and it cannot be improved upon. Unfortunately, she is engaged to Sir Arthur Boborian (the inimitable Gregory Finney) also known as Ko-ko who was a poor tailor but was promoted to the post of Lord High Executioner of Burlington.

Ranking above Borborian is Lord Arthur Blimp (Handaya Rusli) who is Lord High Everything Else formerly known as Pooh-Bah. The chief honcho of the the place, make that the Prime Minister is Sir Arthur Blarney ( Stuart Graham) formerly known as The Mikado. You also need to keep in mind Katty Kat (Karen Bojti), a Dowager Duchess betrothed to Nanki and formerly known as Katisha. 

A Canadian scene from The Mikado Revisited. 

Toronto Operetta Theatre

There are some peculiar laws in Burlington. If you are caught flirting without being married, you will be condemned to death. If you are condemned to death, the lady with whom you committed the crime, will be buried alive with you.

Part of the fun of The Mikado is the opportunity to poke fun at current personalities. Silva-Marin takes advantage of that with references to current famous people. having set the opera in Canada I was hoping for more but what he included worked.

The production has the virtues of enthusiasm, energy and vigor. It is obvious that Silva-Marin stages the production on a financial shoestring. The singing is at least decent and some of the vocals are good. The orchestra of nine instrumentalists plus conductor Narmina Afandiyeva do their best. There are five strings, an oboe, clarinet, trumpet and percussion. The trumpet was played on a stentorian level at times.

Setting the operetta in Canada is laudable and including more satire and names on the list, as the song says, would have been delightful. Silva-Marin explains in the program that he did it because of the challenge of the arts through the issues of cultural appropriation, and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policies recommended by government agencies and foundations. There is truth in that and a laudable goal to be achieved. But in a production of The Mikado? Whom are we including? Canada, Burlington, Japan, 19^th century London? Are we afraid that the Japanese may complain that  the TOT has fallen astray in Equity. Diversity and Inclusion in a production of an operetta that pokes fun at English society and everything that a director can add to it? Has anyone complained about it or is this simply bending the knee to imagined or imaginary political correctness?

If we go that road, would anyone dare produce any play from Ancient Greece, to Shakespeare, to almost anything. Are we going to move Oedipus to Hamilton because what he does is so offensive to the Greeks? And what about the position of women, the gods and the treatment of non-Greeks?

Once again, I salute Silva-Marin for keeping operetta alive in Toronto. Sometimes it looks almost miraculous that he is able to keep productions coming. From December 30, 2025, to January 4, 2026, TOT is producing The Czardas Princess by Emmerich Kalman.

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The Mikado Revisited  by Arthur Sullivan and W. S. Gilbert was performed on October 24, 25 and 26, 2025 at the Jane Mallett Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front Street East, Toronto, Ontario. Tel:  (416) 922-2912. www.torontooperetta.com

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture, of The Greek Press, Toronto