{"id":1987,"date":"2019-02-28T15:38:19","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T20:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/?p=1987"},"modified":"2021-03-04T11:55:53","modified_gmt":"2021-03-04T16:55:53","slug":"arachnophonia-gilbert-sullivan-the-mikado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/parsons\/2019\/02\/arachnophonia-gilbert-sullivan-the-mikado\/","title":{"rendered":"Arachnophonia: Gilbert & Sullivan “The Mikado”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note:<\/strong> Arachnophonia<\/a> is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library<\/a>\u2018s collection.<\/p>\n

All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question<\/a> or to additional<\/a> relevant<\/a> information from<\/a> around the web<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s installment of Arachnophonia<\/a> is by student worker Emma R. (class of 2021) and features Gilbert & Sullivan’s 1885 operetta The Mikado<\/strong><\/a>. Thanks, Emma!<\/em><\/p>\n

Gilbert & Sullivan<\/a><\/p>\n

The Mikado<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Mikado<\/p>\n

Gilbert<\/a> and Sullivan<\/a> remain known over a hundred years after their deaths for their light comic operas which have been reproduced the world over. Of their fourteen operas, The Mikado<\/a><\/em> is one of the most often performed. The Mikado<\/em> is a love story, a political satire critiquing the British politics of the day, and like all of Gilbert and Sullivan\u2019s operas, it\u2019s a comedy. <\/p>\n

The problem? The Mikado<\/a><\/em> is set in a highly fictionalized version of Japan, a culture which at the time [Editor’s note: The Mikado<\/em> was first produced in London in 1885<\/a>]<\/strong> was not well understood by the British public. Traditional performances use costuming, makeup and stage presence in ways that today can be considered stereotyping and offensive, not to mention the fact that often, the singers performing in the opera are not of Asian descent. In the century following its original production, more and more attention fell on the problematic aspects of the opera. <\/p>\n

This year, the music department at the University of Richmond is presenting the Tucker-Boatwright Festival<\/a> in collaboration with Boatwright Library, which this year focuses on the representation of the \u201cother\u201d in music and the arts at large, titled “Beyond Exoticism<\/a>“. An advertising poster for a course tied to the festival included this photo of a production of The Mikado<\/em>, and the headline \u201cso, what do we think of this?\u201d <\/p>\n

\"\"

The photo above comes from the Seattle Times\u2019 scathing review of a local production of The Mikado<\/em> in 2014. <\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Over the years, a number of productions have attempted in different ways to approach the show in a different light to remove the problematic aspects. One New York production, for example, created a new prologue which suggests that the whole show occurs in the mind of a Victorian British person suffering the hallucinogenic effects of a head injury<\/a>. Other productions have changed the setting, for example, to Renaissance-Era Milan<\/a>, or to a 1930s-Era British hotel<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"1930s<\/p>\n

The Mikado<\/a><\/em> raises a lot of tough questions about the proper place for historical musical and artistic works which today can be viewed as highly problematic or even offensive. I couldn\u2019t possibly claim to have any of the answers. Luckily, Gilbert and Sullivan operas have a history of being open to modern interpretations, re-wordings, or re-settings, leaving the door open for future directors to present The Mikado<\/a><\/em> as they see fit. <\/p>\n

In the meantime, check out this audio recording<\/a> from the D\u2019Oyly Carte Opera Company<\/a>, the original producers of many of Gilbert and Sullivan\u2019s operas, at the Music Library, think about these hard questions, and come join this important discussion at the “Beyond Exoticism<\/a>” events this year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: Arachnophonia is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library\u2018s collection. All links included in these posts will take you to either the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61217,15223,15236],"tags":[61217,92950,92954,92956,92953,162483,92952,92947,15236,14358,92948,68407,37978,35898,92951,92949],"class_list":["post-1987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arachnophonia","category-collection","category-guest-post","tag-arachnophonia","tag-arthur-sullivan","tag-beyond-exoticism","tag-comic-opera","tag-doyly-carte-opera-company","tag-emma-r","tag-exoticism","tag-gilbert-sullivan","tag-guest-post","tag-opera","tag-operetta","tag-representation","tag-student-workers","tag-students","tag-the-mikado","tag-w-s-gilbert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1987"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2945,"href":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987\/revisions\/2945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}