Japanese love story on stage with Opera Theater's 'Mikado'

Summer fun is often associated with baking in the sun and eating barbecue by the ton, but community members are invited to dress their best for a night of Gilbert and Sullivan opera.\nIU Opera Theater is showcasing Arthur Gilbert and W.S. Sullivan's Japanese-themed "The Mikado," acclaimed as one of the most popular musical masterpieces ever written, at 8 p.m. July 28-29 and Aug. 4-5 at the IU Musical Arts Center. "The Mikado," which opened internationally March 14, 1885 at the Savoy Theatre in London and nationally August 19, 1885 at the New York Fifth Avenue Theatre, tells the "timeless" tale of two young lovers who strive for romance despite a windfall of family and cultural obstacles. \nOne of the lovers, a wandering minstrel named Nanki-Poo, falls in love with another woman, Yum-Yum, even though both he and she are prearranged to marry others. \n"He's the romantic character of the show -- one of two lovers. The plot centers around the fact that he is the son of the Mikado, and he's supposed to marry Katisha, a woman of nobility, but she is hideous," said IU graduate student and tenor Joshua Whitener, who plays Nanki-Poo. "He decides to play the second trombone in the military band so he's basically in the lower class, and he can't marry the girl he loves ... It's either life with Yum-Yum or death."\nIU graduate student Jennifer Feinstein, who plays Katisha, said her role in "The Mikado" is that of the villain, and her character is a "larger-than-life person" who acts "over the top." She said her rehearsal process included sitting in front of a mirror to see how big she could make her facial expressions.\n"Gilbert and Sullivan is above all a comedy and parody of Victorian England -- the strange social situations people got put into, the bureaucracy, all these archaic laws. I am playing my character for laughs even though I am a villain," Feinstein said. "One of the great things about being an actor and a singer is getting to collaborate with the director and the conductor: The conductor will tell you musically 'you can do these things,' you get with the director and he will tell you that 'you can do these things' and then you get with the cast and you figure out what can work." \nAfter bargaining with Yum-Yum's fiancé Ko-Ko, a former tailor and Lord High Executioner of the city Titipu, Nanki-Poo, who is the son of the Japanese Emperor named Mikado and heir to the throne, agrees to marry Yum-Yum for one month if Ko-Ko can execute him after that time. Before the marriage, Nanki-Poo and Ko-Ko learn of a law that requires the wife of an executed man to be buried alive. In the end Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum's former marriage partners' unite in blissful love, and as for the lead characters -- well, you will have to wait and see the show.\n"The Mikado" is brought to the Bloomington community by guest conductor Raymond Harvey, stage director Vincent Liotta, lighting designer Mike Schwandt, director of costumes Parwin Farzad and director of props Tim Stebbins, among other crew members. The Orlando Opera Company has provided the lavish Japanese-themed sets, designed by mastermind Peter Dean Beck, one of the foremost set and lighting designers in the world, for the 1991 New York summer festival Chautauqua Opera.\n"The set is innovative work -- it has a traditional Japanese in-style, it's got several beautifully painted backdrops, Japanese screens, falling cherry blossoms, all the bells and whistles," said Frank McClain, production manager for the Orlando Opera Company. "The set is very inspirational because it's taken off of Japanese designs: traditional soft cherry-blossom rose, pink and light blue colors. It should give a wonderful playing space without stealing the focus away from the performers or the work itself. From the minute you walk in there is a show curtain that should start enhancing the mood before the curtain even rises."\nIU graduate student Gregory Brookes performs the role of "The Mikado of Japan," IU graduate student Megan Radder performs the role of "Yum-Yum," IU graduate student Jacob Sentgeorge performs the role of "Ko-Ko," IU junior Erin Houghton performs the role of "Pitti-Sing," IU graduate student Rachel Copeland performs the role of "Peep-Bo" and IU graduate student Alan Dunbar rounds out the cast as "Pish-Tush."\nFeinstein said "The Mikado" is the perfect summer opera for community members to attend because the show is considered an "operetta," which means it includes no dancing, plenty of dialogue plus song and the action is of a comedic nature instead of the usual drama associated with more intense Italian operas. She also said students and others unfamiliar with opera as an art form should attend the show because the dialogue and singing is in English, and the show does not contain "super-titles" projected above the action on stage.\n"The British accents have definitely been a huge challenge to make sure American audiences can still understand from anywhere in the opera house. 'The Mikado' is a perfect first opera for people because it's a comedy, and Gilbert and Sullivan are so much lighter," Feinstein said. "It's a great segue into the classical Italian stuff -- you can do this show in someone's backyard if you wanted to. The way it played (during Wednesday's technical rehearsal), the audience had a great time."\nTickets for "The Mikado" can be purchased 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday by visiting the Musical Arts Center box office on Jordan Avenue or by calling Ticketmaster at 333-9955.