PLAZA THEATRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 142, 19 June 1939, Page 9

PLAZA THEATRE

“THE MIKADO” Ever since the films were given a ' voice 10 years ago people have wondered when Gilbert and Sullivan operas would be brought to the world on the screen. Now at last it has been done, and it is fitting that the first to be produced as a film is “The Mikado,” the most popular of them all. This British film, produced in colour by Geoffrey Toye, the famous Covent Garden musical director of the d'Oyley Carte and Gilbert and Sullivan opera companies, is enjoying “capacity” business at the Plaza Theatre. The film of “The Mikado” is a notable achievement as a spectacle as well as musically. Without colour, it could have given only a pale imitation of the Gilbert and Sullivan atmosphere, but the technicolour process enables the splendid costumes and decorative settings to achieve their full effect. But the spectacle is only part of such a show. The music is everything, and here the film is triumphant. The melodies are sung by an assembly of singers such as has never before been got together for a film. The leading players, all with years of Gilbert and Sullivan tradition behind them ,sing the famous songs in a way that brings to life memories of famous performances of the past. They are backed by a chorus, every member of which is a highly skilled singer with the quality of voice that is insisted on in all Gilbert and Sullivan productions. “The Mikado” as a film reaches its greatest moments when these old-time players join in such a scene as the description to the Mikado of the imaginary execution of Nank ; 'Poo.