The Mikado

Last night I had the dubious priviledge of attending the WA Opera's performance of "The Mikado" for the City of Perth's Opera in the Park. If this hadn't been a free concert I would probably have been seeking a refund as for a semi professional outfit the performance was poor to say the least. I had the feeling that the so called opera singers felt that lowly G&S was beneath them and there was a sense of disinterest that permeated the pereformance. I had the great pleasure of seeing the Aus Opera perform the same piece in Sydney last September and it was one of the best nights I have ever spent in the theatre, this was true professionalism that the WA group should see and aspire to! Whilst the WASO was in fine form I felt that the pace set by the conductor was too varied, generally on the slow side at times bordering in being "dirgy" The provision of sub titles on the big screens can be useful for those not familiar with the story it is also fraught with danger should the singers sing the wrong words as was all too frequently the case last night. Roberto Abate as Nanki-Poo may be a promising talent but he has a lot to learn about stage presence. Comic Opera is not High Opera and as a result the portrayal should be aimed at the genre and not turned into an attempt at Italianate style as tended to be the case. Andrew Foote as Pish-Tush was in fine form and showed his grasp of G&S no doubt the result of his many performances in his formative years as a singer spent with the local G&S Society. Jennifer Barrington as Yum-Yum sang sweetly enough but again lacked a believable stage characterisation. Robert Hofmann as Ko-Ko did not possess the quality of diction in either song or spoken word to make the most of one of the best comic roles in G&S. Sarah Dougiamas was acceptable vocally but whoever told her that a "mad" hairdo was enough to establish the character of Katisha was sadly amiss. The charactisationand some of the choreography was more suited to "Mad Margaret" from Ruddigore! Finally surely the City of Perth could have arranged for the ridiculous ferris wheel to have dimmed its lights for a couple of hours rather than have it distracting the eye from the stage! It was a beautiful Perth Autumn night and the venue is excellent. Many family groups enjoyed a pleasant picnic, it was a pity the performance was not of the same standard as the venue, weather and sense of community that was on display.