''The Swing Mikado'' is a

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

adaptation, in two acts, of

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen com ...

's 1885 comic opera, ''

The Mikado ''The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan, operatic collaborations. It opened on 14 March 1885, in London, whe ...

'', with music arranged by Gentry Warden. It featured a setting transposed from Japan to a

tropical island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

. The show was first staged by an all-black company in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, Illinois, in 1938. Later that year, it transferred to

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

. Other changes from the original work included the re-scoring of five of the musical numbers in "swing" style, the insertion of popular dance sequences including The Truck and the

Cakewalk The cakewalk was a dance developed from the "prize walks" (dance contests with a cake awarded as the prize) held in the mid-19th century, generally at get-togethers on black slave plantations before and after emancipation in the Southern Unit ...

, and the rewriting of some of the dialogue in an attempt at black dialect. Other than that, the original dialogue and score of 1885 were used.Dennis, Lucas
"Reinforcing or Debunking Racial Stereotypes? A Tale of Two Mikados"
Graduate Student Symposium,

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

, April 5, 2003

Background and productions

''The Swing Mikado'' was a production of the Chicago division of the WPA's

Federal Theatre Project The Federal Theatre Project (FTP; 1935–1939) was a theatre program established during the Great Depression as part of the New Deal to fund live artistic performances and entertainment programs in the United States. It was one of five Federal ...

. The production was conceived, staged, and directed by Harry Minturn, with swing re-orchestrations of Arthur Sullivan's music by Warden. The starring roles were performed by Maurice Cooper (Nanki-Poo), Frankye Brown (Yum-Yum) and William Franklin (Pooh-Bah). After a five-month run in Chicago, the production moved to Broadway where it had a run of 86 performances. Its success inspired producer

Mike Todd Michael Todd (born Avrom Hirsch Goldbogen; June 22, 1907 – March 22, 1958) was an American theater and film producer, celebrated for his 1956 ''Around the World in 80 Days (1956 film), Around the World in 80 Days'', which won an Academy ...

to mount a similar adaptation, '' The Hot Mikado'' (1939). There is disagreement over whether or not the production reinforced negative racial stereotypes. The opening night in New York was attended by

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt ( ; October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D ...

Harry Hopkins Harold Lloyd Hopkins (August 17, 1890 – January 29, 1946) was an American statesman, public administrator, and presidential advisor. A trusted deputy to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Hopkins directed New Deal relief programs before ser ...

and Mayor

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. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' reviewer,

Brooks Atkinson Justin Brooks Atkinson (November 28, 1894 – January 14, 1984) was an American theater critic. He worked for ''The New York Times'' from 1922 to 1960. In his obituary, the ''Times'' called him "the theater's most influential reviewer of his ...

, gave it a good, if patronizing, review, praising Cooper as "a Nanki-Poo of superior voice and articulate acting capability" but complaining that the large company of "sepia show-folk" icincluded "some that only fumble the music." Atkinson wrote that "after a slow start the show goes on a bender, the performers grin and strut and begin stamping out the hot rhythms with an animal frenzy. 'Za-zu-za-zu,' the three little maids from school say huskily, breaking down into a smoking caper. All this is something to see and hear ... the chorus includes some dusky wenches who can dance for the Savoyard jitterbugs with gleaming frenzy, tossing their heads in wild delight ... when

he company He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter ca ...

gives ''The Mikado'' a

Cotton Club The Cotton Club was a 20th-century nightclub in New York City. It was located on 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue from 1923 to 1936, then briefly in the midtown Theater District until 1940. The club operated during the United States' era of P ...

finish, they raise the body temperature considerably."Atkinson, Brooks. "Chicago Unit of the Federal Theatre Comes In Swinging the Gilbert and Sullivan ''Mikado''", ''The New York Times'', March 2, 1939, p. 18 The show was also presented at the 1939 San Francisco World's Fairbr>

Musical numbers

Act 1

* A Wandering Minstrel - Nanki-Poo and Male Chorus * Our Great Mikado - Pish-Tush and Male Chorus * Young Man Despair - Pooh-Bah, Pish-Tush and Nanki-Poo * Behold the Lord High Executioner - Ko-Ko and Male Chorus * I've Got a Little List - Ko-Ko and Male Chorus * Three Little Maids from School - Yum-Yum, Pitti-Sing, Peep-Bo and Girls Chorus * So Pardon Us - Yum-Yum, Pitti-Sing, Peep-Bo, Pooh-Bah, Pish-Tush and Girls Chorus * Were You Not to Ko-Ko Plighted - Yum-Yum and Nanki-Poo * I Am So Proud - Ko-Ko, Pooh-Bah and Pish-Tush

Act 2

* Braid the Raven Hair - Pitti-Sing and Girls Chorus * Moon Song (The Moon and I) - Yum-Yum and Quintet * Madrigal - Yum-Yum, Pitti-Sing, Nanki-Poo and Pish-Tush * Here's a How-de-do - Yum-Yum, Nanki-Poo and Ko-Ko * The Mikado - Katisha and The Mikado * I'm the Emperor of Japan - The Mikado and Chorus * The Criminal Cried - Ko-Ko, Pitti-Sing and Pooh-Bah * A Is Happy - The Mikado, Pooh-Bah, Pitti-Sing, Ko-Ko and Katisha * Flowers That Bloom in the Spring - Pitti-Sing, Ko-Ko, Katisha, Pooh-Bah, Nanki-Poo, Dancers and Quintet * Titwillow - Ko-Ko * There Is Beauty in the Bellows of the Blast - Katisha and Ko-Ko

References

External links