Judi Herman
The winning team of Craig Revel Harwood and Sarah Travis first worked on Hot Mikado - the reworked version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s 1885 hit - in 2006.
For this welcome return, if anything they’ve turned up the heat. Diego Pitarch’s beautifully simple kabuki-inspired set of flying wooden screens embraces the whole theatre. It’s dominated by a piano (graced by Travis herself) and that knowing contrast between delicious nods to Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘Japanese’ setting and Westerners playing the piece in the West informs the production. So after a serenely ritualistic Japanese prelude, the whole theatre sizzles from the moment the fourteen-strong cast sashay through the auditorium to take the stage by storm with jazz so hot it’s cool!
Richard G Jones’ fabulous lighting, a clever blend of warmth and kitsch, enhances the excitement. Revel Harwood has a flair for invention, choreographing even the instruments into glorious Busby Berkley formations – and his multi-talented cast rise wonderfully to the challenge of playing and hoofing simultaneously.
Early number "A Wand’ring Minstrel I" is transformed from a fanciful ditty into a thrilling ‘11 o’clock’ number for the whole ensemble, led by Dominic Tighe’s sexy bare-chested, Samurai-inspired Nanki-Poo.
It's followed by two hours of sexy, knowing, laugh-out-loud fun, led by Jeffrey Harmer and Karen Mann reprising their roles as a cuddly corseted Koko and a dressed-to-kill Katisha in scarlet mini kimono and fishnets, ably supported by Julian Littman’s ingratiating Pooh-Bah and Melanie Marshall’s wickedly funny larger-than-life Mikado.
And those clever, effective nods to Japanese culture continue with three of the sexiest little maids from school. Abiona Omonua’s glowing, mischievous Yum-Yum, flanked by Cassie Pearson’s blonde bombshell Pitti-Sing and Georgina Field’s daffy Peep-Bo bump and grind outrageously in their sexy schoolgirl gear. Ice-cream colour wigs, girly socks and flashes of white knickers under tiny skirts set off with the kimono’s obi belt evoke the provocatively dressed teenagers of Tokyo’s trendiest streets. Pearson raises the temperature in the auditorium in a slinky Kill Bill catsuit (eat your heart out Uma Thurman!) straight out of a manga comic and later sets off the shortest shorts and figure-hugging top with kimono sleeves.
The cast are in great voice soaring above Sarah Travis’stunning orchestrations. Omonua brings a touch of Shirley Bassey to "The Sun and I" and blends well with Tighe’s lush romantic tenor and Kit Orton’s Pish Tush rounds out the sound. A real crowd pleaser.
- Judi Herman