Tuesday 10th May to Saturday 14th May.
St Albans Operatic Society presents Hot Mikado
Address: Alban Arena, Civic Centre, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 3LD
Telephone: 01727 844488
Website: www.saos.org.uk/s/book
Email: booking@saos.org.uk
Map: View here
Times: Tuesday to Saturday - 7:45pm, Saturday Matinee - 2:30pm
Tickets: £10 - £16.50
Download a loyalty card: Click here
St Albans Operatic Society is officially the best in its class! Not only do its shows get consistently positive reviews in the local press but its 2010 production of Jesus Christ Superstar (JCS) won Best Musical Award in the National Operatic and Dramatic Association’s Eastern District 3. And SAOS is preparing to do its upmost to achieve the same professional standards in its forthcoming May production of Hot Mikado.
The director is Ian Rowe, who played a flamboyant Pirate King in the society’s popular 2008 production of Pirates of Penzance. Musical director, Graham Thomson and Chris Cuming, choreographer, are working on Hot Mikado with Ian to bring the jazzed-up version of this Gilbert and Sullivan classic even more up to date. SAOS’s Hot Mikado will be set in a twenty-first century London nightclub with all the decadence and dubious nuances of the gangster underworld that entails.
Of the award-winning cast from JCS, a number are performing in Hot Mikado such as: Kerry Lee (Mary) as Pitti-Sing, part of the nightclub’s ‘Three Little Maids’ cabaret act; Julian Wathen (Judas) as Pish-Tush, lead performer of the ‘Gentleman of Japan’ cabaret troupe; and Robert Milner (Pilate) as The Mikado, a menacing yet likeable East London Mafia boss.
Mikado will also mark the return of award-winning husband and wife team Charlotte and Matthew Gregory, who delivered a formidable, darkly humorous double act in SAOS’s Sweeney Todd in 2009. Earlier that year they made sweet music together as Nellie and Emile in South Pacific, for which Matthew was awarded Best Performance in a Musical and the ensemble chorus was highly commended. In Hot Mikado, Matthew will impress as Pooh-Bah, the general manager of the nightclub and Charlotte will wow audiences with her interpretation of Katisha, a London Mafia moll.
Another returning talent is Patrick Rufey, who won the NODA ‘Best Principal’ award in SAOS’s 2008 production of 42nd Street. He is taking on the male love interest in Hot Mikado; that of Nanki-Poo, an aspiring pop star.
This fabulous show features an intoxicating mix of styles and influences, with classics such as “A Wand’ring Minstrel, I” and “Three Little Maids” transmuted into show-stopping blues, swing, hot gospel numbers and scorching torch songs. The comical plot and libretto are very much the same as Gilbert’s original, created well over a century ago. And as a testament to Sullivan’s music, his songs remain recognisable, some even virtually untouched.
SAOS’s production of Hot Mikado introduces Gilbert and Sullivan to the cutting edge of contemporary, cosmopolitan British society. We invite you to come along and feel the heat for yourself!
NOTE: Hot Mikado is a musical comedy, based on Gilbert and Sullivan's <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_and_Sullivan> - The Mikado <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mikado> , adapted by David H. Bell and Rob Bowman.
