The Mikado

Gilbert and Sullivan has once more come to Cambridge, this time in a delightful production of the one sure-fire hit of them all, The Mikado. Enlivened by the sparkling choreography of Adele Hugo, the Winthrop House Musical Society has presented a lively and original interpretation of the fantasy of love and intrigue in Titipu. Best of all, it has managed to compress on the tiny stage of the Winthrop Junior Common Room a great deal more activity than is usually seen in amateur Gilbert and Sullivan productions.

The most marked change from the traditional Mikado--besides the increased importance of the onstage chorus--is the rather unusual interpretation of two of the principals, Ko-Ko and Pooh-Bah. Ko-Ko is, and always has been, a shy, introverted fellow, but Allan Miller a bit overdoes his meekness, with the result that we miss the slight hamming which ordinarily characterizes the Lord High Executioner. Barry Pennington's Pooh-Bah, however, is also a dead-pan job, but is so superbly done that it at times steals the stage from Ko-Ko.

Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary Bartlett, and Barry Morley are all outstanding in the principal singing roles. Miss Hubbard, as Katisha, is particularly excellent, her fine contralto voice and knack for slapstick evoking enthusiastic audience approval in the patter song, "There Is Beauty in the Bellows of the Blast." The whole production was helped greatly by the crisp singing of the on-and off-stage chorus, a tribute to Musical Director Norman Shapiro.