Students to perform classic Gilbert and Sullivan opera
The School of Music will put on a performance of W.S Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan’s satirical opera “The Mikado” featuring the Central Michigan University Symphony Orchestra in Staples Family Concert Hall this weekend.
“The Mikado” is a political romantic comedy mocking Victorian England’s political climate and bureaucracy through a story involving arranged marriages and executions.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. March 16-17 and 2 p.m. March 18.
Tickets are $10 for the general public and $7 for students and seniors. Tickets can be purchased at the Central Box Office or by calling (989) 774-3045.
“The Mikado” has memorable music and a clever script, said director Jeffrey Springer.
CMU Symphony Conductor José-Luis Maúrtua called it an “approachable opera.”
“The music is very appealing (and) very understandable for most audiences,” Maúrtua said.
“The Mikado” has breaks between musical numbers instead of the continuous music most operas have, Maúrtua said.
“The Mikado” has a history of racial controversy. Instead of the original Japanese setting, the School of Music’s version will take place in 1950s America.
Some people have read the original work as mocking Japanese culture, but other readings suggest it was “satirizing or making fun of British society but disguised as Japanese characters,” Maúrtua said.
“Gilbert and Sullivan set ‘The Mikado’ in Japan to poke fun at that fad and put a mirror up to elitist society,” Springer said. “Gilbert and Sullivan were controversial in their day for lampooning the establishment and making fun of prejudice and closed-mindedness.”
