The miracle of Gilbert & Sullivan’s best-loved piece “The Mikado” is that, despite its politically incorrect portrayal of nineteenth-century Japan for the amusement of Victorian-era British snobbery, the piece endures. For all of its social naïveté, its charms remain largely because, as Floyd the Barber would tell Opie and whoever would listen on the old “Andy Griffith” show, “It’s beautiful.” Floyd would then go on to talk about how nephew once performed in it, that the place had a standing-room-only crowd and then would launch into an impromptu version of “The Wandering Minstrel,” which come to think of it, used to be sung by Van Johnson when he would play the arch-criminal the Minstrel on the “Batman” television serial. Here is a rare chance to see a fully staged professional production of the iconic operetta done by a company who loves this stuff and will do it up right with all of the trimmings. The show will feature 2006 Grand Prize Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Awards Paul Corona in the title role and 2006 Jeff Award Winner Jeff Kuhl as Ko-Ko. (Dennis Polkow)
Light Opera Works’ production of the “The Mikado” runs at Northwestern University’s Cahn Auditorium, 600 Emerson, Evanston, ( 847)869-6300, through December 31.
