3 people bested this!1 person is curious. |
Do you think this is the best? 
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Gilbert and Sullivan were at the peak of their creative relationship when they dreamed up this comic opera ostensibly about the Emperor of Japan - the Mikado - which has entertained audiences since it opened in 1885.
The target of their humour is actually the English - but don't spend too much time worrying about that.
With top-quality songs like A Wandering Minstrel I, Three Little Maids From School Are We, A More Humane Mikado Never Did in Japan Exist and The Flowers That Bloom in the Spring, it's a touching and melodious masterpiece - with an increasingly unlikely-looking happy ending conjured up from Gilbert's gloriously tortured logic - which could lay claim to the title Funniest Opera Ever.
And, at about one hour and twenty minutes, it's a lot shorter than Wagner.
Not to mention a great deal funnier.
An exhaustive guide (together with the reat of G & S's creative output) can be found here.
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Members that think The Mikado is the best!
Comments
But what isn't funnier than Wagner? ;)
I've only actually seen one version - TheD'Oyly Carte Opera Company's 1960s version (here). There are so many versions out there, and I've no idea how this one compares. Have you seen it performed?
I know, I've got a fund of opera stories; never mind just Wagner... Do you know this? I haven't heard it in decades, but Anna Russell was one of the funniest musicians ever. In describing Hunding's house (the stage setting for Act I) in The Valkyrie, she says "He has an ash tree in his living room."
I think the answer is no, because the film version I've seen was made in 1939 with a singer called Kenny Baker. In any case, I've not seen it in over ten years. The 1966 version you refer to is descibed in Halliwell's Film Guide as suffering from a 'frozen camers and flat lighting.' That's that, then.
Jonathan Miller's 1987 version I found much better; Pooh-Bah was played magnificently by Richard van Allan. Amazon sell it on VHS at £19.99, which seems a bit steep. Oddly, I've just found that they have a DVD of the same production at £9.87, which is... hang on, it's NTSC! Oh dear...
After trawling through Amazon.co.uk I can only recommend the Miller version above, which they don't appear to have available for a UK DVD player. I'll trawl a bit more, but if Amazon don't stock it...