Rating: 
Summary: Fun and well done
Review: A FUN production with lots of energy and impressive costumes. The sets are good stage sets and very clever, particularly in the Mikado. The real joy is that the songs are clearly enunciated and I can hear what the words are. These performances got raves from our kids and some older friends because they could HEAR THE WORDS. Even on our plain old TV. The dubbing mentioned is not a problem and the modern targets of derision are refreshing. Perhaps it is worth the effort to keep track of the Prime Minister and major sports figures associated with our largest trading partner. Anyone who who likes Canada jokes should get Canadian Bacon and enjoy that as well. I think the actors in this performance love Gilbert and Sullivan and they share it very well.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful¿ô
Review: Great!!This operetta was very very cheerful. I was deeply impressed by Eric Donkin's performance, and my sister was delighted at the performer as Pooh-Bah! Some satire was good,too.
Rating:
Summary: Pure Fun and Frolic
Review: Having participated in community and semi-professional theatre groups the past 25 years, I must say that this rendition of Mikado pulls all the stops out and is truly a "feel good" production. I have seen some of the BBC renditions of Gilbert & Sullivan and feel they fall short as their particular humor can only be appreciated on the stage. The actors in Mikado are vibrant, funny and talented. I would recommend this DVD as the perfect introduction to the Gilbert & Sullivan genre.
Rating:
Summary: Pure Fun and Frolic
Review: Having participated in community and semi-professional theatre groups the past 25 years, I must say that this rendition of Mikado pulls all the stops out and is truly a "feel good" production. I have seen some of the BBC renditions of Gilbert & Sullivan and feel they fall short as their particular humor can only be appreciated on the stage. The actors in Mikado are vibrant, funny and talented. I would recommend this DVD as the perfect introduction to the Gilbert & Sullivan genre.
Rating:
Summary: Non-standard but great fun
Review: I have just received this DVD set and watched the Mikado (and sections of Pirates and Iolanthe). Purists will be a bit shocked by the flexible treatment of the score (lots of repeats, and extra sections added to the orchestra to assist scene transformations) The overwhelming impression in the Mikado (and the other bit I have watched) is a wonderfully humerous and inventive approach to the production. The Director is a dancer and it shows from the opening of the overture. The players play for all they are worth milking every bit of humour from the libretto (and as is the tradition adding and changing bits to make the humour relevant to a 2oth Century audience - albeit a Canadian audience ... I still got the jokes in the UK!) If you like the D'Oyly Carte productions give it a miss but if you enjoy the over the top humour of G&S I woud heartily recommend this set. On a technical note, the sound is good (even though mono). It is not encoded region 1 (it plays quite happily on my region 2 player). The only niggle I have is that some of the singing was obviously overdubbed during the production of the DVD and, whilst the singing quality is not affected, the synchronisation of sound and picture is not always perfect.
Rating: 
Summary: Pirates of Pansies
Review: I just watched this version of Pirates of Penzance and I think it awful! I love the musical itself and I like the movie, and I was looking forward to seeing it on the stage. But this was terrible. This cast killed the show. The Pirate King, while a good actor, could not sing and couldn't hold a note longer than his finger. Frederic was so homosexual and it clearly showed in the performance. His tone was so nasally I wanted him to blow his nose or something. And his acting [was bad]. He killed the performance. Mabel was okay but her vibrato was so annoying sometimes-it was so forced. The Major General was quite gay too and his dancing just ruined the whole thing. I could go on but I won't. Don't waste your time on this video like I did.
Rating: 
Summary: A big disappointment
Review: I was very disappointed when, after waiting many weeks for this set to be issed, I found that the audio is NOT in stereo as indicated - but is in MONO! At the time these three recordings were made ie; 1983/4/5 stereo was the accepted norm for opera and musical items. To issue this in plain mono is unacceptable! The picture quality is also rather dull and lacks sparkle. I recently watched a BBC TV documentary here in South Africa about Gilbert and Sullivan, and the picture quality was superb in spite of the sound being in mono. I'm keeping these disks simply because I don't have anything else by G&S on DVD - NOT because they are a valuable addition to my collection. I really do wonder when the recording industry is going to produce high quality Opera and Classical music on DVD in Dolby 5.1 or even in Dolby Pro-Logic for that matter. Yes, I DO know there are some productions like this - but there are SO few at the moment and I can't see any reasonable excuse for this except to get some extra mileage from out of date productions.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible sparkle, zest and vibrant energy
Review: I wouldn't want a single thing changed in any of these wonderful Stratford Festival operettas(other than subtitles and stereo sound). These amazing productions all have an incredible sparkle, zest and vibrant energy. All of the performers are superb. These DVD's are the crown jewels of my DVD collection. I never grow tired of watching them. Before long, I will have reduced my purchase cost to under fifty cents per hour of truly magical pleasure.
Rating: 
Summary: Music Lover
Review: It is not really fair to write a review in comparison with the movie version with Kevin Klein and Linda Ronstadt. This version is really well done but since it's a stage version it cannot, to me, compare with the movie version. I kept waiting for little things that I saw in the movie that weren't in the stage version. All in all, it is well done.
Rating:
Summary: Music Lover
Review: It is not really fair to write a review in comparison with the movie version with Kevin Klein and Linda Ronstadt. This version is really well done but since it's a stage version it cannot, to me, compare with the movie version. I kept waiting for little things that I saw in the movie that weren't in the stage version. All in all, it is well done.
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