Raleigh Little Theatre Review
By Robert W. McDowell
August 14, 2008

“Hot Mikado” is a real scorcher, with spectacular sets and costumes

Raleigh Little Theatre’s riotous rendition of Hot Mikado is a real scorcher and a musical spectacular that rivals RLT’s critically applauded production of Urinetown last season. The zesty musical staging by longtime RLT artistic director Haskell Fitz-Simons and guest choreographer Nancy Rich and the exuberant accompaniment by musical director/pianist Julie Florin and the red-hot RLT pit band help create a musical juggernaut. Visual highlights include scenic designer Rick Young’s fabulous red, black, and white multilevel sets, which combine Japanese architectural motifs with Art Deco concepts, and costume designer Vicki Olson’s gorgeous blend of traditional Japanese kimonos and Zoot suits, rayon dresses, felt hats, snoods, and other 1940s fashions.

David H. Bell and Rob Bowman’s scintillating 1986 swing musical, which is based on the perennially popular 1885 Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, is set in Titipu, Japan, circa 1939-40, but the show still lampoons Victorian mores. When the curtain rises on Hot Mikado, the remote country town is abuzz with indignation fueled by the latest outrageous edict promulgated by the all-powerful Mikado (Warren Keyes). Japan’s big enchilada has perversely decreed that all men who flirt will be executed, and that puts the screws to the lowly tailor and famous flirt Ko-Ko (Actors Comedy Lab mainstay Tony Hefner), who has just been appointed the Titipu’s Lord High Executioner. Town gossips wonder aloud, will Ko-Ko set an example by executing himself?

Baritone Warren Keyes gives a regal performance as the Mikado, whose subjects must humor his every whim -- no matter how ridiculous -- and Tony Hefner is a scream as Ko-Ko, whose unrequited affection for his beautiful ward Yum-Yum (the lovely Katherine Anderson) becomes a BIG problem when the Mikado’s handsome but headstrong son and heir Nanki-Poo (the dashing Jason Justice), traveling incognito as an itinerant minstrel, arrives in Titipu and promptly steals Yum-Yum’s girlish heart in a classic case of love-at-first-sight.

Hefner is a consummate comedian; and Keyes, Anderson, and Justice were in fine voice and comic form during Sunday’s matinee. Also deserving special praise are the passionate performances by LaDawna Akins as Katisha, the ill-tempered and infernally persistent elderly suitor whom Nanki-Poo spurns, and Chad Gilbert as Pooh-Bah, the Lord High “Everything Else” of Titipu. Hazel S. Edmond and Joy Jennings are cute as Yum-Yum’s chattering sisters Pitti-Sing and Peep-Bo; and James Austin earns applause as Pish-Tush, the coolest cat in Titipu and, perhaps, all of Japan.

Superlative in sets and costumes, Hot Mikado combines smart staging, charming dance routines, and magnificent musicianship with crackerjack comic characterizations and the theatrical artistry of lighting designer Shannon Clark, properties mistress Judy Keyes, and sound designer Rick LaBach to create another must-see musical for Raleigh Little Theatre patrons. Don’t miss it.

SECOND OPINION: Aug. 13th Durham, NC INDEPENDENT WEEKLY review by Zack Smith: http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A262323

Raleigh Little Theatre presents Hot Mikado Thursday-Saturday Aug. 14-16, 21-23, and 28-30, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Aug. 17, 24, and 31, at 3 p.m. in its Cantey V. Sutton Theatre, 301 Pogue St., Raleigh, North Carolina 27607. $18 ($15 students and seniors 62+). 919/821-3111 or etix.com. RALEIGH LITTLE THEATRE: http://raleighlittletheatre.org/performances/08-09/hotmikado.html. Hot Mikado (via David H. Bell’s web site): http://www.davidhbell.com/shows/mikado/index.html. THE MIKADO (courtesy The Gilbert & Sullivan Archive at Boise State University): http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/mikado/html/index.html.

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