Gilbert & Sullivan - The Mikado / Greene, Australian Opera

Rating:
Summary: "Pooh, Bah!"
Review: It's startling that this performance was released at all on DVD without a disclaimer on the backside informing the buyer that it is frequently inaudible. I wish I had read the bulk of the ... reviews before I purchased the set, for the warnings in just about all of them are exactly on target. Voices and music veer in and out of focus or range to an alarming degree for a 1990 production. The sound puts me in mind of the hilariously amateurish miking in an early talkie such as the one parodied in "Singing In The Rain." Since the production is such a recent one, I'm left wondering whether the unacceptable sound can in fact be the work of Opera Australia and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation ...


Rating:
Summary: Here's a not-so-pretty how-de-do!
Review: There is so little to commend this production of the Mikado. While the idea of an "Alice in Wonderland" approach has some promising possibilities, the whole show was so poorly pulled off that any hope of refreshing novelty vanished like the flowers that wither in fall (apologies to WSG). The sound quality is terrible. The acting was appalling. The actors excerized absolutely no restraint in their characterizations. I'm am not a tight-laced G&S follower. However, the energy level on stage was so uncontrolled it looked like a student-directed junior high school production!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful performances
Review: This is not the best Mikado ever - but it's pretty good. The nonsense is that Japan is really England. The costumes are half and half. This idea was more fully developed in the Jonathan Miller production for the English National Opera. But what we have here is quite delightful. Much, much better than the dreadful Stratford one, which I find un-watchable. The pacing is fast, and it's good to look at. ... It's is worth getting