The Sadler's Wells Mikado (1962)

Cast The Mikado John Holmes Nanki-Poo John Wakefield Ko-Ko Clive Revill Pooh-Bah Denis Dowling Pish-Tush John Heddle Nash Yum-Yum Marion Studholme Pitti-Sing Patricia Kern Peep-Bo Dorothy Nash Katisha Jean Allister Sadler's Wells Chorus and Orchestra Conductor: Alexander Faris

EMI Classics for Pleasure CD-4730

In 1961, the fiftieth anniversary year of W. S. Gilbert's death, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company lost its performing monopoly on the Gilbert & Sullivan Operas. The operas were now free to anyone who wanted them, and one of the first to take advantage was the Sadler's Wells Opera (known today as the English National Opera), which mounted new productions of The Mikado and Iolanthe. Many G&S traditionalists feared that the D'Oyly Carte would be crowded out of existence, but this did not happen. The two Sadler's Wells productions quietly faded away after a few short years of life, while the D'Oyly Carte marched on.

This recording, which was made contemporaneously to the Sadler's Wells production, is certainly a capable one, but in a market crowded with Mikado recordings, there is little to distinguish it. Its biggest surprise is an original overture (credited to "Dodgson") which is a potpourri in the manner of Pineapple Poll. While improving on the original is not difficult, it is not as good as Sullivan would have done. (The Mikado overture is not by Sullivan, but by Sullivan assistant Hamilton Clarke. It is generally not considered one of the stronger Savoy overtures. Sullivan evidently considered replacing it for one of the revivals in the 1890s, but alas he never got around to it.)

Perhaps this recording's most compelling virtue is price: the CD re-issue comes in an EMI "two-fer" jewel box that also includes the Sadler's Wells Iolanthe.