Toronto Operetta Company’s season opened with a run of a “modified” version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado.  It had the by now traditional updates predictably featuring numerous references to Mango Mussolini and the odd dig at Metrolinx but the bigger change, and a sensible one I think, was to peel away the the fake japonerie that must have seemed a bit lame in 1885 and is as intolerable as a “traditional” Madama Butterfly today.

Instead we are in Burlington, Ontario and the Emperor of Japan is replaced by the Prime Minister of Canada.  I’d guess the time period is sometime between the world wars given the schoolgirl uniforms and the fact that Canadian worthies still have knighthoods but it doesn’t really matter.  The libretto works pretty well with very minor changes and Gilbert’s jokes are as funny (or not) as they ever were.

The production, directed by Guillermo Silva-Marin, is lively and is very much what one expects from this company.  There’d a lot of fairly basic choreography which the singers manage quite well.  A lot of the impact turns on how well the singers “get” the idiom and this time that’s much better than the last time TOT did The Mikado.  Greg Finney, in particular, as the Lord High Executioner marires his own individual comic style most effectively with the idiosyncracies of G&S.  Stuart Graham as the Prime Minister manages the same.  There are equally effective performances from Handaya Rusli as the Lord High Everything Else and Karen Bojti as the duchess Kati-Kat.

The romantic leads are Marcus Tranquilli as Nanki Blue and Madeline Cooper as Yum Yum.  The former’s voice is on the light side, but strong enough for this show.  His diction is excellent and he is a very appealing and sympathetic performance.  He’s well matcvhed by Ms. Cooper who has the voice and moves for an operetta lead.  There’s excellent singing too from Máiri Demings as Petit-Pois.  The small chorus manages pretty well.  The nine piece band conducted by Narmina Afandiyeva are entirely adequate for the Jane Mallet Theatre and overall it’s pretty satisfying musically.

There are two more performances on Saturday and Sunday at 3pm.

Photo credits: Gary Beechey, BDS Studios