Rating: 
Summary: A Delightful Production
Review: This "Mikado" is a delight. I have seen several DVD versions of this show. This production from the Stratford Festival is by far the best. The costumes are colorful, the makeup is beautifully done, and the choreography is as precise as it is fascinating. The stage that has been designed for this show, which is a marvel to behold, is most appropriate for this Gilbert and Sullivan production. Every performance is a strong one. The beauty of this DVD is in the clearness of sound and picture.
Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING
Review: This is a wonderful Mikado from all counts. This production was a great success and it's easy to see why.The only drawback is the "Little List" Canadian update but this is minor. Everyone shines, especially Katisha and Pooh-Bah. What a wonderful way to kill two hours amd what a happy feeling when it is finished.
Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING
Review: This is a wonderful Mikado from all counts. This production was a great success and it's easy to see why.The only drawback is the "Little List" Canadian update but this is minor. Everyone shines, especially Katisha and Pooh-Bah. What a wonderful way to kill two hours amd what a happy feeling when it is finished.
Rating:
Summary: The Mikado (Stratford, ONT version)
Review: This is, beyond doubt, the finest Mikado there could ever be. The few small glitches in the taped performance (iffy harmonizing on "Madrigal", the complete omission of "See How The Fates" - darn!)detract but little from the overwhelming joy one gets from watching this wonderful cast go through their paces with evident verve and passion. This Mikado defines the role forever. Richard McMillan turns in a can't-take-your-eyes-off-him performance as Pooh-Bah. And Marie Baron, as Yum-Yum - well, what can I say? I'm her slave. Forever. (And so is the rest of my family) But beyond the individual performances, is the wonderful recreated-Japan set, the sterling support work of the talented cast (which obviously includes a few professional tumblers!), and several extremely witty choices of "business" by the director. This - THIS is the Mikado by which all others should be measured, for the next hundred years.
Rating:
Summary: a great production
Review: This production of The Mikado is the best I've seen. The chorus is very strong and dances around the stage instead of standing at the back like a prop; and the lead singers are great. Ko-Ko steals the show, he is funny and "patters" perfectly, Pooh-Bah looks like he WAS born smirking, and Marie Baron fits the role of Yum-Yum perfectly, with a wonderful voice too. The Mikado, as others have said, was a little over-the-top with his elongated pronounciation, but Katisha was very good and Nanki-Poo had an excellent voice if he was a little wooden. The best in her part I thought was Pitti-Sing, who was cute and spirited and perfect. Buy it!
Rating: 
Summary: A very good, funny production!
Review: This was a wonderful production from the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, Canada.The cast is very strong, and benefits from being actors, as opposed to singers. The weakest link in the cast (and I think any one will agree with me) is Henry Ingram as Nanki-Poo, who is not an actor, just a singer. He's not the young, handsome type that one would like to see in the role, nor is he even all that funny. Marie Baron as Yum-Yum is high spirited, bubbly, and funny. Also exceedinly comical is Richard McMillan's Pooh-Bah, who steals the show. Eric Donkin is a perfect Ko-Ko, of the D'Oyly Care breed. Pish-Tush (Allen Stewart-Coates) is generally a non-descript, but is of strong voice and personality here, and is left to be fairly memorable. Karen Wood is PERFECT for the adorable Pitti-Sing, and is cute and charming to boot! My least favorite presence in the cast, though, is Gidon Saks as The Mikado of Japan himself. Now, I love over the top performances, as you can tell from my praise of McMillan, but this one crosses the lines of what's bearable. I feel that a strong Mikado, next to being highly comical, should at least be somewhat intimidating. Saks just plays the Mikado as a big goofy man, that strikes fear into no one (except for the cast, for some strange reason). The production was brilliantly and swiftly staged by Brian MacDonald, who keeps everything comical and at a swift pace. (Incedentally, I did THE MIKADO myself this summer with the local G&S Society, a first-rate Summer Stock company. A Canadian tenor played Nanki-Poo, and he told me HORROR STORIES of what it was like for friends of his who have worked with Mr. MacDonald.) This is the best out of the Stratford G&S series, since it's the beginning, and it was before MacDonald and musical director Carriere got too self-indulgent in what they thought they could do to Gilbert & Sullivan's work. The two CBC documentaries included on the DVD are very informative. And I seriously doubt that it was really filmed live. The laughter and applause sounds canned, and you never ONCE see the audience. And from the way the camera moves, I think it was filmed in an empty theatre with the audience added later. But this is still a first-rate production. Mnimalist and fast-paced, it is theatrically refershing, and a great introduction to G&S for any one!
Rating:
Summary: Stratford gives a fun-filled and energetic MIKADO
Review: While some Gilbert & Sullivan devotees may quibble with this Canadian version of their masterpiece, THE MIKADO, there's no denying this version's infectious energy and fun. This production by the Stratford Festival is awash with high-jinks antics, solid acting and a boldness rarely seen since the Kevin Kline/Linda Ronstadt version of THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE. Director Brian Macdonald directs this production with a sure hand and a fine sense of humor. Eric Donkin makes for a solid and delightfully uptight Ko-Ko, while the tall and very lanky Richard McMillan steals the show as the self important Pooh-Bah. Marie Baron's Yum-Yum is a pure delight, and Karen Wood is a delightful Pitti-Sing. Gidon Saks makes for a rather hammy, but delightfully fierce, Mikado. Henry Ingram seems a little old for the youthful Nanki-Poo, but he definitely gets into the spirit of this wonderfully broad production. Some fans may not appreciate the "modern" Canadian references nor the very slight liberties in the score, but this is probably the one production that doesn't treat the immortal work like a museum piece. This is definitely the best version on DVD to date and one that I would definitely recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Stratford gives a fun-filled and energetic MIKADO
Review: While some Gilbert & Sullivan devotees may quibble with this Canadian version of their masterpiece, THE MIKADO, there's no denying this version's infectious energy and fun. This production by the Stratford Festival is awash with high-jinks antics, solid acting and a boldness rarely seen since the Kevin Kline/Linda Ronstadt version of THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE. Director Brian Macdonald directs this production with a sure hand and a fine sense of humor. Eric Donkin makes for a solid and delightfully uptight Ko-Ko, while the tall and very lanky Richard McMillan steals the show as the self important Pooh-Bah. Marie Baron's Yum-Yum is a pure delight, and Karen Wood is a delightful Pitti-Sing. Gidon Saks makes for a rather hammy, but delightfully fierce, Mikado. Henry Ingram seems a little old for the youthful Nanki-Poo, but he definitely gets into the spirit of this wonderfully broad production. Some fans may not appreciate the "modern" Canadian references nor the very slight liberties in the score, but this is probably the one production that doesn't treat the immortal work like a museum piece. This is definitely the best version on DVD to date and one that I would definitely recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Stratford gives a fun-filled and energetic MIKADO
Review: While some Gilbert & Sullivan devotees may quibble with this Canadian version of their masterpiece, THE MIKADO, there's no denying this version's infectious energy and fun. This production by the Stratford Festival is awash with high-jinks antics, solid acting and a boldness rarely seen since the Kevin Kline/Linda Ronstadt version of THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE. Director Brian Macdonald directs this production with a sure hand and a fine sense of humor. Eric Donkin makes for a solid and delightfully uptight Ko-Ko, while the tall and very lanky Richard McMillan steals the show as the self important Pooh-Bah. Marie Baron's Yum-Yum is a pure delight, and Karen Wood is a delightful Pitti-Sing. Gidon Saks makes for a rather hammy, but delightfully fierce, Mikado. Henry Ingram seems a little old for the youthful Nanki-Poo, but he definitely gets into the spirit of this wonderfully broad production. Some fans may not appreciate the "modern" Canadian references nor the very slight liberties in the score, but this is probably the one production that doesn't treat the immortal work like a museum piece. This is definitely the best version on DVD to date and one that I would definitely recommend.
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