Set in a Japanese internment camp where any form of flirting is punishable by death, Gilbert and Sullivan's light, comic opera "The Mikado" pokes fun at absurd government laws with the English duo's signature topsy-turvy style and patter songs. This political critique seems to transcend time and place - the original Gilbert and Sullivan production has been interpreted as a spoof of Victorian-era British government disguised by a Japanese setting.
Accordingly, Brown University Gilbert and Sullivan's production of "Mikado," which opens tonight in Alumnae Hall and will run through Sunday, contemporizes the opera by setting it in a 1945 Japanese internment camp. In doing so, the directors manage to "work in some interesting dramatic elements" and add depth to the more simple characters, said Nick Leiserson '09, a cast member who is also president - or "Lord Chancellor" - of the BUGS executive board.
According to the group's Web site, the original operetta tells the story of Nanki-Poo, son of the Japanese emperor Mikado, who has fled the court to escape an arranged marriage and is traveling disguised as a musician. During his travels, Nanki-Poo visits the town of Titipu, where he falls in love with a young woman, Yum-Yum, who is already betrothed to a tailor named Ko-Ko.
Divided into two acts, the opera opens with Nanki-Poo returning to Titipu to find his beloved Yum-Yum after receiving the news that the tailor has been sentenced to execution for flirting. He is disappointed upon his arrival when he learns that Ko-Ko has actually been made Lord High Executioner and must cut off his own head before the executions can continue, an act that he is naturally disinclined to undertake. The conundrum is further complicated when the Mikado demands that somebody be executed in Titipu within a month because of the dearth of executions.
The plot continues to take the bizarre twists for which Gilbert and Sullivan productions are famous, accompanied by humorous lyrics - the most popular song is about "a little list of society offenders who might well be underground, and who never would be missed," including among them people with flabby hands and a lady that dresses like a man.
In the BUGS show, the prisoners of a Japanese internment camp are putting on a production of "Mikado" to "spoof their American oppressors and the ill-conceived notions of their culture by American society," said chorus member Jeremy Kuhn '10, the communications chair of the board, or "Duke Plazatoro."
This play-within-the-play device adds a profundity that Gilbert and Sullivan productions are often thought to be lacking, Leiserson said. "Because we have the duality of the character existing in the internment camp and existing in the show, the more simplistic characters need to have a little more depth to them," he said, citing Yum-Yum as an example.
A self-proclaimed "Gilbert and Sullivan purist," Leiserson said that it was nonetheless "nice to have a fresh take on (the Mikado)." However, none of the original dialogue of the play was changed, Kuhn said. "They wanted to stay true to the original play."
One of the directors, Finn Yarbrough '09, had the idea of changing the setting and worked out the details with the other two directors, Katie Meyers '10 and community member Steve Schwartz, before proposing it to the BUGS board, Yarbrough said.
"It wasn't as tough a pitch as I thought it would be because it has never been done before," he said. The directors chose the setting of the internment camp because "the themes - bureaucratic interference in everyday life and political oppression - resonated with the time period," he said. To set the scene, the set includes a 12-foot-tall tower and barbed wire fencing.
The production of "Mikado" was a challenge to the directors because of its racist portrayals, Kuhn said. Since the original play was written when the British had just been exposed to Japan, it had elements of Orientalism , he said.
The original "is supposed to be a bunch of white people painting their eyes and acting Japanese, which is offensive," Yarbrough said. "None of us in the cast or directing team are of Japanese descent ... so we researched very heavily what happened and what it meant. We thought it was the best way to deal with some of the problems." Many of the original play's racial references had already been changed in past productions of the Mikado, he added.
For those who like their performances a little bit less family friendly, Sunday's "gag show" frees the actors from directorial constraints. The actors will be able to include improvised, risque jokes that may or may not be related to Gilbert and Sullivan.
"It's not necessarily for the plot driven," Yarbrough said.
Show times are Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Admission is free and tickets reservations can be made on the BUGS Web site.
