The Mikado Premieres: Gilbert & Sullivan's Satire Hits London
Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado opened at the Savoy Theatre in London on March 14, 1885, and ran for 672 consecutive performances, their longest initial run. The operetta was set in a fictional Japan but satirized British institutions, using the exotic setting as a transparent disguise for jokes about the House of Lords, capital punishment, and government bureaucracy. Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner, maintained a 'little list' of 'society offenders who might well be underground,' a song that is traditionally updated with topical references in each new production. The Mikado has been performed more frequently than any other Gilbert and Sullivan work, but productions in the twenty-first century have faced increasing criticism for racial stereotyping, leading some companies to set the work in other locations or reimagine the Japanese elements. Sullivan's score contains some of the most recognizable melodies in the English-language musical theater repertoire.
March 14, 1885
141 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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