The year was 1884,
Princess Ida is nearing the end of it's run and Richard D'Oyly Carte realized that for the first time since 1877, no new Gilbert and Sullivan production would be ready by the time
Ida closed. In March of that year, D'Oyly Carte sent contractual notice to Gilbert and Sullivan that a new play would be required. Gilbert immediately began working on a script that involved falling in love against their will use of a magic lozenge. Sullivan was less enthusiastic about the opportunity, having seen a close friend suffer from a stroke and contemplating his own failing health in addition to a desire to devote his time to more "serious" music, Sullivan wrote back that it would be impossible to work on another collaboration with Gilbert. Gilbert was surprised to hear that Sullivan was not interested in another collaboration and asked him to reconsider. Sullivan responded that he would prefer a plot which allowed him to write music that complemented both humorous and serious plots and that the "magic lozenge" plot was too improbable as well as too similar to a previous show by the duo,
The Sorcerer.
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A photo of the Japanese Village
taken by W. S. Gilbert |
It seemed that this may be the end of the Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration, however in May of 1884, Gilbert wrote to Sullivan again asking if he would reconsider should Gilbert write a plot with no supernatural elements and with "a consistent plot, free from anachronisms, constructed in perfect good faith & to the best of my ability". Sullivan agreed, and Gilbert began thinking of a new plot, the plot which would become The Mikado. The story of how The Mikado came to Gilbert states that he was walking in his study one day when an ancient Japanese sword fell off the wall. Gilbert picked it up and placed it back in it's place and as he did so realized that an exotic locale like Japan would make a good setting for his new plot. In the 1850's Japan had been opened to western trade and influence and by the 60's and 70's a massive interest in Japanese culture had swept through Britain, this culminated in the Japanese Village exhibit in Knightsbridge, specifically at Humphrey's Hall a few miles from Gilbert's house. It is widely believed that this was the inspiration for the show, however that may not be accurate; for example, Gilbert began working on the plot in May of 1884 and the Japanese Village opened in January of 1885. However, Gilbert may have known about the exhibit coming to Kinghtsbridge and it is clear that he used the exhibit to build interest for his plot as well as to accurately depict the Japanese style going so far as to hire members of the exhibit to teach the cast traditional Japanese movements and attitudes.
The rest of the story is history, in March of 1885, the show opened at the Savoy theater and became the longest running Gilbert and Sullivan production closing in January of 1887 a staggering 672 shows. Since then, it has become one of the most often performed pieces in musical theater history. It has been translated into multiple languages and is a popular choice for school, amateur, and professional companies alike. Not to be left out of the fun, John Philip Sousa published a march based on the themes of The Mikado it premiered the same year as The Mikado and can be found
here played by the US Marine Band.
All background information taken from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mikado
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