Mikado restaged for modern audiences

MORRISTOWN — An all-new restaging of The Mikado, as performed by the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players, will take the stage at Mayo Performing Arts Center on Friday, May 3 at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $29-$69.
This presentation by NYGASP is a collaboration with the Asian American theatrical community to promote diversity equity and inclusive practice with classic works of art.
The Mikado is undoubtedly the most popular piece of musical theatre of all time, when its 132-year history is taken into account. For decades, a production of G&S's satirical opera could be seen somewhere in the English speaking world every day of the year. Its libretto has found its way into our language, with expressions such as the grand Pooh-Bah and "Let the punishment fit the crime."
Recently, a great deal of controversy has arisen around The Mikado in New York and in other cities across the United States. Last year, when the Asian-American community raised concerns over representation and casting, NYGASP believed that, with the necessary time and effort, it could develop a new way to present The Mikado, one that performers and audiences from all backgrounds would enjoy while maintaining the artistic integrity of the piece.
Some life-long fans of Gilbert and Sullivan expressed concerns about losing a classic part of the G&S repertoire, or suffering changes to The Mikado that would render the comic opera unrecognizable. NYGASP has been working with Asian-American arts leaders to build an inclusive cast and creative team — all while striving to uphold The Mikado's characters, storytelling, themes and most of all its universal satire of human nature.
Instead of succumbing to this temptation, NYGASP has reached out to new colleagues from diverse backgrounds to devise a solution worthy of the challenge. Costumes, choreography and direction are completely original — unrestricted by the traditions of past performance practice. Most importantly, the representation of life on stage is no longer a depiction of Japanese people, but rather a fantastical portrait of Victorians in a dream world that is inspired by the Japanese culture that had captivated England at the time of The Mikado's creation.
The universal truth of The Mikado has endured and delighted us through the decades. There is nothing more universal than death, and in The Mikado, Gilbert's dark humor makes us laugh at this most common of all aspects of the human condition. Vanity, acting before thinking of the consequences, the artifices of social behavior, the corrupting influence of power, and many other easily identifiable foibles are all the objects of Gilbert's wit.
Are these not deliciously topical in today's socio-political environment?