St Anne’s “Mikado” a Triumph!
By Michael Burgess, Arts Correspondent
To–Ron–To–Ra, January, 2015
Five Stars out of five! 
“There are always rewards for those who state the obvious frequently and with conviction” claims one of the characters in Scott Westerfield’s young adult novel Touching Darkness. If this is true, then I am on course to claim my reward because I am about to state the obvious yet again – the annual Gilbert and Sullivan productions by MADS (St. Anne’s G&S Toronto, under the artistic direction of Laura Schatz) are unsurpassed by any other Gilbert and Sullivan community theatre group in the GTA. Indeed, I should be surprised if there is another non–professional company in Canada to match them for high production values, excellent musicianship, imaginative direction and choreography, and a sense of fun which communicates itself to audiences: everybody on stage gives the impression that they are thoroughly enjoying themselves.
MADS’ recent production of The Mikado exemplified all these aspects I find so appealing. It was good to look at — set, props, costumes (many of which were clearly based on the famous Charles Ricketts designs for D’Oyly Carte in 1926) — all attractively lit by Chris Humphrey.
I was captivated the moment the gentlemen of Japan took the stage after the overture. When Nanki–Poo, the handsome and talented Tonatiuh Abrego, made his first appearance (looking rather like Peter Pan, I thought) I knew that the evening was going to be very special. Tonatiuh, a professional singer who has a Salvadoran background, was very impressive. In my book, he was undoubtedly the best Nanki–Poo I have ever seen, beating out even some of the legendary D’Oyly Carte lyric tenors. He looks good, sounds good, acts well and has great charm. I loved him.
I also enjoyed his Yum–Yum, Beth Armstrong; they made an appealing couple. The other two little maids from school, Jennie Friesen Garde (Pitti–Sing) and Angela Forbes (Peep–Bo) were equally delightful, singing well and looking fresh and lovely. Jennie was also responsible for the choreography, and I was particularly impressed by her staging of “Brightly dawns our wedding day” in Act Two. Although this is written as a quartet, and can often be boringly static to watch, Jennie staged it as a sextet, allowing more movement and making the number far more interesting to watch.
The D’Oyly Carte Pooh–Bahs always wore a good deal of padding, to the extent that they moved slowly and ponderously, waddled when they walked, sat down very heavily and got up with considerable difficulty. Loris Buzdon was both slimmer and younger, more credible as “this haughty youth” but at the cost of some of the physical humour. Nothing to fault about his characterization, however, and I appreciated his fine voice.
I always think that the actor playing Pish–Tush has a difficult task. After his first song he is back on stage for the “short, sharp shock trio” (very well staged and sung, by the way) and then again for “Brightly dawns our wedding day”, but I feel that he never really gets the chance to stand out. Jay Lambie made the most of his opportunities. It seemed strange to hear him as a baritone; previously I have heard him only as a tenor.
Marc Potvin brings years of experience to his performances. To digress momentarily, a good many of MADS’ performers are highly experienced in Gilbert and Sullivan. The mind boggles at the thought of how many centuries of G&S performances they have chalked up altogether! It shows. Very rarely do any of the MADS’ performers fall into the trap of playing funny — the humour in Gilbert and Sullivan works only when the characters are played with deadly seriousness. Back to Marc: he has a much better voice than most of the principal G&S comedians I grew up with, and his rendition of “Tit Willow” was memorable. I don’t often appreciate script changes and additions, but must admit that I roared with laughter at Marc’s surprised “It’s in Japanese!” when the letter from the Mikado arrived. Very funny. Marc and Laura Schatz first played Ko–Ko and Katisha 30 years ago, and their onstage rapport is evident.
Laura’s Katisha was magisterially commanding. It goes without saying that she sang splendidly — she always does — but her acting was impressive too. Not only was her Katisha terrifying in her Gorgon–like ghastliness, but she was also touchingly vulnerable. How did the Ko–Ko/Katisha marriage turn out, I wonder? They probably got on remarkably well together. And, of course, he would be able to admire her left shoulder blade and her right elbow as often as he wanted to, not just on Tuesdays and Fridays. No visiting card necessary either!
From personal experience, I know how difficult it is to direct a show and play a part in the same production. Sometimes the direction suffers while one’s own performance gets more attention; sometimes it’s the other way round. Laura struck the perfect balance.
Constantine Meglis in the title role was splendid. Another professional singer, who was recently in the COC’s production of Don Giovanni, Constantine offered his services to MADS free of charge, simply because he wanted to play the part again. No wonder they jumped at the chance! In the D’Oyly Carte productions, the Mikado always wore platform boots, elevating him to well over 6½ feet tall. At 6’ 9”, Mr. Meglis had no need for such artificial aids! A gorgeous voice and skilful acting ensured that his performance was one to remember.
Nicholas Cotton made his mark in a small role that Gilbert didn’t write. Essentially, Nicholas fetched and carried for Ko–Ko, assisting him in his wooing of Katisha. His timing was excellent and he resisted the temptation to go too far over the top or to upstage Ko–Ko or Katisha. Young Mr. Cotton demonstrated that there are no small parts, only small actors.
I haven’t yet mentioned the chorus ladies. They sang nicely, moved well and wore the costumes beautifully. I truly don’t want to be ungallant (perish the thought!), but it was a tiny bit of a stretch to buy the idea that all of them were “eighteen and under”, as the script asks us to believe. [How many enemies have I now made, I wonder?] When the Sadler’s Wells Opera Company first presented The Mikado, back in 1962, the female chorus was divided into two — those who might more credibly be schoolgirls, and those who were their chaperones. This needed only one change, “schoolgirls we eighteen and under became schoolgirls they…” for half the chorus. As Gilbert says elsewhere, “There you are, out of your difficulty at once!”
After the performance, I heard some of the choristers, both male and female, complaining about how hard they had had to work to perfect their business with the fans. Hey, this attention to detail is one of the things that makes MADS’ productions so good. All your hard work paid off, ladies and gentlemen. The fan work was marvellous. Well done!
Stage Director Laura Schatz, Assistant Director and Choreographer Jennie Friesen Garde and Musical Director Brian Farrow obviously work well together. Since no Chorus Master was listed in the programme I assume that Brian was responsible for training the chorus too. He did a great job. Obviously, no matter how well acted, staged, directed and choreographed a musical is it doesn’t work unless the actual music part of it is also top–notch. And it was. At the performance I attended, the orchestra got off to a slightly shaky start, but quickly recovered and added greatly to my enjoyment of the production as a whole.
I am already looking forward to next year’s production of Iolanthe. I have no doubts at all that it will be every bit as entertaining as The Mikado.
Now, to return to where I began, where do I claim my reward?