KING'S THEATRE.

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 120, 24 May 1939, Page 6

KING'S THEATRE.

"The Mikado."

For over 60 years the biting wit of Sir William Gilbert and the lilting music of Sir Arthur Sullivan have captivated the world, and the popularity with which the screen version of one of their most famous operas, "The Mikado," has been received everywhere proves that the art of Gilbert and Sullivan loses nothing by being transferred to a new medium. Rather has it gained. The stage version was limited in setting, and while the film preserves;: that piquant artificiality which tradition has made a feature of this opera, many beautiful scenes are introduced/as backgrounds. Thus the picture contains scenes such as the Mikado's throne room with its twelve lofty-gold pillars and throne composed of tongues of burnished flame. Terraces surrounding his palace provide a vista of trees foaming with apple and cherry blossoms. The courtyard of Ko-Ko's palace, with its fountains and water-lily studded pools, and the tea garden on the shore of Titipu beach, with its myriad lanterns, its tea-sip-ping pleasure seekers, and a military band playing by the moonlit waters, present perfect pictures of Oriental charm. A feature is the great procession when the Mikado enters the town of Titipu. Photographed in beautiful living technicolour, the sight of the cheering citizens parting to allow the entry of gaily-uniformed heralds, followed by the Emperor's guards, with a vast canopy borne by twenty slaves, carrying the Mikado himself, is one of the most vivid and inspiring spectacles yet seen in any picture. An American radio singer. Kenny Baker, has the role of Nanki-Poo, son1 of the Mikado, who falls in love with YumYum (Jean Colin). John Barclay plays the Mikado, Martyn Green Ko-Ko, the Lord-High-Executioner, and Sydney Granville Pooh-Bah. Lord-High-Every-thing-Else. "The Mikado" commences on Friday at the King's Theatre.