Gilbert & Sullivan- the Mikado

Alex Ew eachk American Musical Theater history Writing Assignment 1 gigabit & Sullivan The tenno 2/7/13 Most would agree to say that both(prenominal) is better than one. William gibibyte and Arthur Sullivan are by any means no ejection to this. gigabit, a run intowright, and Sullivan, a composer, combined their talents to produce the dream team of musical theatre. unitedly they have made some of the sterling(prenominal) and sophisticated musicals the world go out invariably see. The best of their line of battles are still existence performed today, one of which is their famous musical, The tenno.The tenno is a amusing musical which poked delight at a few aspects of Englands finishing at the time. It quickly became hot among both the British and Americans. It lastly became popular in objet darty other countries, which was an extraordinary exploit at the time. gilbert and Sullivan have an fire history before coming together to collapse their expectant casts such as The Mikado. Before William gigabit started writing, he was an attorney. On the side he would redeem poems which led to a series of his illustrated comical poems getting published by a few popular British magazines.This reddentu altogethery opened the door to his career as a playwright. During the time Gilbert was kickoff his writing career, Arthur Sullivan was already making waves as a serious composer. He knew this was what he wanted to do with his life and for near rea watchword. He was a great composer who could make a song to fit any mood. Sullivan was already making a great deal of capital with his works and felt very comfortable, but both he and Gilbert could never have foreseen what was adjoining to come. In the 1860s John Hillingshead, the possessor of the Gaiety Theatre hired Gilbert to write and Sullivan to compose their first work together titled Thepsis.In the crowd at the showing of Thepsis was aspiring producer Richard DOyly card and saw something in t he work of Gilbert and Sullivan. He eventually contacts them to write a curtain raiser which turned stunned to be very profitable. afterwards the money started coming in, GS were hooked. From thus on, their career together officially started. The detain is history. One of Gilbert and Sullivans virtually famous work was a frivolity called The Migato. The synopsis of this amusing musical is as follows. Before the story begins, Nanki-Poo, the Mikados son, fled from his fathers palace to evasion being forced to tie Katisha, an of age(p) lady of the court.Nanki-Poo has become a travelling performer who falls in cope with Yum-Yum, however he cant espouse her because Ko-Ko, her guardian, has decided to marry her himself. Nanki-Poo learns that Ko-Ko has been sentenced to wipeout for violating the Mikados law against flirting. Nanki-Poo arrives in Titipu to determine if Ko-Ko has been executed, and therefore, if Yum-Yum is free to marry him. He encounters Pooh-Bah, a corrupt pub lic official, and Pish-Tush, a noble, who informs him that Ko-Ko was carry outd at the last instant by a set of events, and therefore raised to the high rank of overlord High Executioner.Nanki-Poo loses hope when he learns that Ko-Ko plans to marry Yum-Yum immediately. There have been no transaction of instruments in Titipu since Ko-Ko became Lord High Executioner. Ko-Ko receives a earn from The Mikado ordering him to execute soul or else lose his position as Lord High Executioner. As Ko-Ko ponders his dilemma of trying to image someone to execute, Nanki-Poo appears, byword that hes going to open suicide because he cant marry Yum-Yum, the women he loves. Ko-Ko offers to allow Nanki-Poo to marry Yum-Yum for one month, after which, he will become his execution victim.Suddenly, Katisha appears and discovers Nanki-Poo, her lost love. After she is driven away, she rushes to inform the Mikado that his son has been found. As it goes into Act II, Yum-Yum is preparing for her one -month coupling to Nanki-Poo. Ko-Ko arrives with the solemn revelation that he has discovered a law decreeing that when a hook up with man is executed, his widow must be interred alive. Because of this the marriage between Yum-Yum and Nanki-Poo is canceled. Nevertheless, Ko-Ko must find a substitute for execution or he will be kill by The Mikado. Nanki-Poo contrives a solution to save Ko-Kos life.A false ignore collateral his own execution, but in exchange, he must be allowed to marry Yum-Yum and return the country forever. Ko-Ko agrees. The Mikado finally arrives in Titipu. Ko-Ko believes that the purpose of his visit is to confirm that an execution has taken place so he produces the contract and proceeds to describe the execution with gusto. However, The Mikado has real come to Titipu in search of his lost son and learns from the contract that Ko-Ko and his ministers executed his son. He declares them guilty of compose the death of the Heir Apparent.Their merely hope to avoid execution is to show Nanki-Poos alive. Nanki-Poo hesitates to reveal himself, fearing that if Katisha learns that he has married Yum-Yum she will have him executed. The dilemma is inflexible by Ko-Ko, who, at Nanki-Poos suggestion, woos, wins, and weds Katisha. In the terminal, all conflicts are put to an end as they celebrate Nanki-Poos marriage to Yum-Yum and Ko-Kos marriage to Katisha. This show quickly became extremely popular in England overdue to how it related to them but was also popular in the U. S. because of how funny, amusing, and ingenious it was.During the time The Mikado was created, the British were going through an all things Japanese craze. They were in a palpate obsessed with the Japanese culture and usage for some reason. So in a sense, Gilbert was poking fun at this obsession while writing this play which centers on Japan in a humorous fashion. Let it be understood that he wasnt making fun of Japan, but playing with the fact that deal were trying t o mimic the Japanese ways. As The Mikado got introduced to the U. S. , Americans actually started to adopt this thin of all things Japanese. Mikado-Mania was the name given to the American craze.A funny fact about The Mikado is that its one of the few musicals that both caused a diplomatic argument. When the prince of Japan visited England in 1907, the work was temporarily banned from being performed. This ban in turn backfired because the prince actually was hoping to see the play during his visit. This fact completely shows how widespread talk of The Mikado was. Gilbert and Sullivan will go down in history as one of the superlative stage musical teams of all time, if non the greatest. With works like The Mikado, how could they not be one of the greatest?Their plays have even been performed in other languages such as French, German, and Yiddish. After 120 years The Mikado is still one of the most much produced musicals of all time and fully deserves to be. Bibliography Ainger , Michael. Gilbert and Sullivan A Dual Biography. N. p. Oxford UP, 2002. Print. Kenrick, John. Gilbert & Sullivan 101. Musicals101. com. N. p. , 2000. Web. 1 Feb. 2013. http//www. musicals101. com/gs101. htm. Plot Summary. Gilbert and Sullivan Archive. N. p. , n. d. Web. 06 Feb. 2013. http//math. boisestate. edu/ flub/mikado/html/summary. html.