Found while looking for something else: Mikado prompt book

Whilst looking up the correct spelling of Pooh-Bah from the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Mikado, I chanced upon the prompt book for same at the V&A website. The discovery answered a question I had when watching Topsy-Turvy, the movie that follows the making of The Mikado (which premiered in 1885).

I had wondered when watching the movie if the director and costume designers and choreographers could really reproduce the staging of the original, or if all the production notes and choreography had been lost to time. Now at least I know the staging, cues and lighting notes were preserved.

I’ve also seen photographs and posters from the original production and based on this, I would say the production departments of the film must have had a very good guide in reproducing the look and feel of the original. I’m not a good enough student of costuming to know whether they faithfully reproduced the costume, but they certainly had the source material.

The V&A page also has prompt books from Princess Ida and The Pirates of Penzance.

After writing this, I now have all the songs stuck in my head again. “Defer, defer, to the Lord High Executioner …”

richardduployen says:

November 30, 2021 at 9:05 am

What date is the prompt-book? My experience is only some of the business is annotated. You need someone who knows the proper (UNDERSTATED) style to fill in the gaps. Then some things were added over the years. I wouldn’t have allowed some of them! Some things were taught by directors from their memory.

“H. M. S. Pinafore” D’oyly Carte from t. v. (d. v. d.) is now complete on YouTube. Gilbert would not have allowed some things from “Never mind the Why & Wherefore” encores:Sir Joseph waggling his bottom (losing his dignity too much) or diving into the sea. He doesn;’t like the sea. He generally goes “below”. In the role I just lost my dignity in the only slightly frenzied and dance, then gained it calling for “Water!”

Jennifer Petkus says:

November 30, 2021 at 2:45 pm

Apparently the link to the V&A is no longer working, however I did find another link, which states:

The prompt book known as Mikado Z (as it is described on its cover label) gives a clear sense of what these documents did and what they can tell us about historical performances. It is believed to be the copy used at rehearsals for the first production of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera in 1885; whether the prompt was revised for the opening night remains a matter for scholarly conjecture. A pre-production printed copy of the libretto, disbound and mounted in a workbook, has copious and detailed attention to performers’ moves and stage props, as well as textual cuts and additions, probably in the hand of D’Oyly Carte’s stage manager at the Savoy Theatre, W.H. Seymour. Mikado Z reveals last-minute decisions such as the transfer of Yum-Yum’s song ‘The Sun Whose Rays’ from Act I to Act II.

December 1, 2021 at 12:33 am

Thanks! How do i see the PREPRODUCTION COPY? The prompt-book I have is sadly lacking. I recognise business like the boy assistant. I’m not sure if it has the tried and trusted business.of Ko-Ko lifting the sword (original rather than axe) with effort, then the assistant carrying it off easily! I wouldn’t reinstate original order of songs. Re Little List the only topical references allowed were instead of “lady novelist & inverse three where I once did a Tony Blair grin. References date very quickly. Fenton Grey and Simon Butteriss both had rewritten versions and both read them froma SCRAP OF PAPER (Unbelievable! A list can be a fan or a long roll with Japanese callligraphy. I may have played both.The general satire in classics is timeless.

Found while looking for something else: Mikado prompt book

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