London's Forbear Co. Finishes Professional MIKADO Tour In NYC

From October 3-5 in New York City, Utopia Opera will present Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado in a fantasy-inspired co-production with London's Forbear! Theatre. The production is directed by Forbear! Theatre's Rachel Gianesse Middle and music directed by Utopia Opera's founder William Remmers. The 16-person cast will be accompanied by a 24-piece orchestra at the Ida K. Lang Recital Hall, Hunter College (695 Park Avenue) in a four-performance run: October 3 at 7pm, October 4 at 2:30pm and 7pm, and October 5 at 2:30pm. Utopia's presentation marks the final stop for Forbear's new production, which recently completed a UK tour.

Of Forbear! Theatre — a professional company specializing in Gilbert & Sullivan — lauded filmmaker Mike Leigh (director of Gilbert & Sullivan biopic Topsy-Turvy) stated "Forbear! Theatre bring to Gilbert & Sullivan a unique, youthful freshness [...] combined with sophisticated wit and impressive theatrical and musical professionalism" and hailed a Forbear! production as "one of the two best G&S shows [he had] ever seen."

Middle has set her production of The Mikado in the mystical world of Pa'gæn, a fantastical land brimming with magic and populated with elves, satyrs, and anthropomorphic beasts. Of the concept, Middle explains, "My version of The Mikado keeps true to Gilbert's original intention by being set in an aesthetically beautiful and mysterious fictional culture: the perfect canvas onto which to paint the familiar flaws of modern government and society, which are much the same in Gilbert's time as they are today."