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 …”