AN UP-TO-DATE "MIKADO."

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 208, 3 September 1927, Page 8

AN UP-TO-DATE "MIKADO."

Long before the war the Gilbert and Sullivan operas -were popular in Germany, and "The Mikado" in particular "was a great favourite with Berlin audiences. The trend of modern taste is shown in the adaptation of this famous opera described in our cable news to-day: Those responsible for this distressing travesty of Gilbert and Sullivan's work have converted "The Mikado" into a sort of American music-hall - revue or vaudeville show, with jazz, acrobats, and Charleston complete. We presume that if there were not large numbers of people who find that sort of thing amusing, the so-called "musical comedy" would never be played, and we need not waste time in moralising over that aspect of the question. But all true devotees of Gilbert and Sullivan will be pained to know that the wonderfully delicate and beautiful work of these two great masters of light opera is being degraded to the level of vaudeville.

It is a sacred tradition of the British stage that neither the words nor the music of these delightful productions shall be altered from the original text. Gilbert, as is well known, had a strong and well-founded conviction that no ordinary actor could improve upon his words, and he set his face sternly against "gagging"; while Sullivan's masterly but graceful and lovely music has been hitherto its own defence against the impertinent ingenuity of irresponsible amateurs. We can hardly expect the Germans to share our patriotic devotion to the operas in their original form. But whatever they may do with Gilbert and Sullivan in Berlin, it is to be hoped that throughout the Englishspeaking world audiences and critics will continue to insist that when these beautiful productions are advertised and staged we van depend upon renewing acquaintance with them in the old familiar guise.