Metzger, Brett deliver laughs in "The Mikado"
By Joanne Santomauro
Last weekend, the Santa Clara Theatre and Music departments joined forces to produce Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta, "The Mikado."
As an effort to help the world, all of the ticket sales for the Saturday matinee performance will be donated to the American Red Cross for Japan earthquake relief. For all other performances, two dollars will be donated for every ticket sold.
"This production was unique in that it was a unique collaboration between the Theatre and the Music department," said senior Sabrina Brett.
The joint effort behind the production was evident. The show featured a full orchestra and the music department was much more heavily involved in "The Mikado" than in past Santa Clara productions.
"They're trying to put a little bit more camaraderie between the two departments which is really cool," said junior Riley Saito. "This is the first time they've really made a show and joined together. It's been cool to have [Barbara Murray] and [Nancy Wait-Kromm] on board with this."
Although written by British playwrights, the musical comedy is set in Japan. The plot revolves around the love story of Nanki-Poo, son of the royal Mikado of Japan, who has ran away from home disguised as a traveling minstrel, and Yum-Yum, the young dependent of Ko-Ko, appointed "High Executioner" of the small town of Titipu.
Freshman Andrew Metzger (Nanki-Poo) and Brett (Yum-Yum) were fantastic as the comedy's two star-crossed lovers. Metzger plays the role of the naïve romantic with ease, and wow, can the boy belt it! The entire cast boasts great vocal talent, but Metzger's voice is exceptionally well-fitting for this production's operatic styling. Similarly, Brett flitted along the stage perfectly, as the innocent and somewhat vain female lead. Her performance was nothing short of brilliant.
Saito was hilarious as the Lord High Executioner. Clever, witty, and ultra-charismatic, he charmed the audience with quick one-liners. In fact, unique to the Santa Clara production of "The Mikado," Saito re-wrote several lyrics of the song, "I've Got a Little List" to modernize the number. For example, when singing about all the people he plans to execute, Ko-Ko sings,
"That kid, outside Swig, who yells, ‘WAKE UP, SWIG!'/The guy in gender studies who just wants to pick up chicks, and the girl who actually dates him ‘cause his pecs are hard as bricks."
Also inducing plenty of laughs was sophomore Kyle Arrouzet, who played Pooh-Bah, the vapid, elitist politician who has assumed several different official government positions in Titipu. Arrouzet was professionally comedic; he paraded (and fumbled) around stage with the haphazard precision of a true comedic actor.
Highlights of the night also included fantastic performances by junior Alexandria Lorano as Katisha, and senior Timothy Quock as The Mikado. Quock also changed parts of his aria to make it more contemporary.
"That's a tradition," said Quock. "Whenever you do this show, a couple of the songs are always updated to fit contemporary views."
The show featured a relatively young cast; for a lot of the production members, this was their first show at Santa Clara.
One admirable aspect of the production was the fan work. Actors had to learn how to whip open fans and close them, on beat, in synchronization.
"It took me a whole month to learn how to work a fan," said freshman Jesse Shirley.
After spending time with some of the cast members, it was easy to see they were close. This made for great energy on stage; the actors seemed to be laughing at themselves as much as the audience was laughing at them.
Overall, The Mikado was hilarious, energetic, and well done. The entire cast delivered an engaging, professional performance, and the production as a whole, including the set, costumes, music, and lighting, was seamless.
Contact Joanne at jstantomcuro@scu.edu or at (408)554-1918.