Hot Mikado, David Bell and Rob Bowman’s 1986 musical, now at the New Rep, is a swinging Shakespearean comedy of the love between Nanki-Poo (Cheo Bourne) and Yum-Yum (McCaela Donovan). Nanki-Poo, the estranged son of the Mikado, visits the city of Titupu in the guise of a vagabond trumpet player. Yum-Yum is engaged to her ward Ko-Ko (Calvin Braxton), the Lord High Executioner. As the wedding approaches, along with an order that an execution must take place in Titipu within 30 days, chaos and hilarity ensues.
Though Hot Mikado is set in Titipu, Japan, circa 1939-40, the costumes, music, and lyrics reveal an entirely separate and Americanized setting. In fact, the only representations of Japanese culture are stereotypes: a single cherry blossom tree that charmingly graces the side of the stage, a few foreign characters on a sign, a few elegant flowered-covered fans, and vague references to modesty. Otherwise, the stage is set with bold oranges and reds, as the characters parade out in 1940s style suits in purple and red and shimmery dresses in turquoise and teal.
The musical, seemingly, rejoices in these references. When a note from the Mikado arrives to the city, the actors pour over it for an agonizing minute, horrified that it is written in Japanese. Moments later they sigh in unison, remembering that they are Japanese.
The comedy of Hot Mikado is self-referential and satirical. The Lord High Executioner is a careful man with round thick-framed glasses, a silk robe, and ascot. He is a well-known flirt in a city where flirting is a capital offense, appointed to his role in order to extend political favors to his friends. As he sings I’ve Got a Little List, he proclaims all the taboos that deserve execution (i.e. shaking hands too hard, eating peppermint). He waves his saber with a giddy smile as the three chorus singers duck and jump out of the way, their voices squeaking and cracking in fear as they are ensnared by yards and yards of Ko-Ko’s list.
The cast of Hot Mikado (Andrew Brilliant)
He also takes jabs at the band, adding swing musicians to the list of possible executions, as the chorus members tackle the pianist to save his life. Along the same lines, Ko-Ko chastises other members of the cast several times to stop interrupting his “soliloquizing.”
Titipu is a society of laws and status. Central to the play is a ban on flirting, punishable by execution, carried out by the Lord High Executioner Ko-Ko (Calvin Braxton). Pooh-Bah (Edward Barker) assumes the role of every other government official, though their priorities and morals conflict in varying and humorous ways. The Mikado (Kennedy Reilly-Pugh) commands respect effortlessly, with his smoky jazz voice and smooth tap-dancing.
Titipu is also a society defined by music, replete with wild swing dancing and jazz hands. Indeed, Nanki-Poo’s disguise is uncovered because he can barely sneak out a note of his trumpet. In Three Little Maids, Yum-Yum, Peep-Bo (Michele DeLuca), and Pitti-Sing (Aimee Doherty) update the song with jazz riffs, their voices jumping a scale each verse, staying in perfect harmony.
Defining their world by music has its flaws. When Katisha (Lisa Yuen), the cougar who wants to claim Nanki-Poo as her husband, struts out in red and black, shaking feathers from her headdress over the stage, the audience is ready to dislike her. However during her soulful, bluesy ballad The Hour of Gladness, she sings on her knees with such unfettered anguish that it is impossible not to root for her.
Of course, the arrival of Katisha spurs a blues versus gospel sing-off, with the entire cast against her. Though the church-bell filled gospel music starts depressingly and grudgingly, it soon changes to the mixed harmonies of a swing song with scat cords. While Katisha can certainly hold her own on stage, the jubilant, rhythmic hand-clapping to lyrics such as “We do not heed your dismal sound / the joy reigns everyone around” eventually drive her away.
Other memorable numbers include Howdy Do, which was sung practically all in one breathe with cringing, jaunty movements from Yum-Yum, Nanki-Poo, and Ko-Ko. Also, Tit-Willow, in which the corpulent Ko-Ko prances around the stage in faux-ballet swirls to preach his love to Katisha.
Though the social commentary of Hot Mikado gets a little lost in translation, the musical is full of quips and fast-paced musical numbers. The play ends on a double wedding, the sheer jubilation of which can only be expressed through a concluding song involving the entire cast.
Hot Mikado runs from May 2nd to May 22nd, with evening performances Wednesday through Sunday and matinées on Saturdays and Sundays. Ticket prices are $40-$59, with $13 student rush tickets available. Performed by New Repertory Theatre, Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal St., Watertown.
Jordan Ahnquist (Pish-Tush), Michele A. DeLuca (Peep-Bo), Cheo Bourne (Nanki-Poo), and McCaela Donovan (Yum-Yum) (Andrew Brilliant)
