No Mikado, Much Regret

In the 62 years that Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado has been around, the Japanese had never once performed it. Obviously Pish-Tush's lines ridiculed the Emperor:

Our great Mikado, virtuous man,

When he to rule our land began,

Resolved to try a plan whereby

Young men might best be steadied.

So he decreed, in words succinct.

That all who flirted, leered or winked (Unless connubially linked),

Should forthwith be beheaded.

Now that neither the Emperor nor his people felt so strongly about the sacredness of His Majesty, the first all-Japanese performance of The Mikado was all set to be played last week in Tokyo.* Nervous, white-haired Michio Ito, who had spent 20 years in the U.S. directing dance productions, had rehearsed the cast for two months. The 49-man Tokyo Philharmonic had been drilled on the tricky rhythms of Sullivan's music. Kiyoshi Takagi, as Ko-Ko, had learned how to sing "teet wiro. teet wiro." The producers had gambled a whopping 1,800,000 yen ($36,000) on the production. Reserved seats went for 80 yen, the highest theater prices in Japanese history.

In the midst of dress rehearsal came the bad news. General MacArthur's headquarters had banned The Mikado. The Japanese had applied two months ago for permission to perform it, and hearing no objections, had gone into production. Presumably Allied Headquarters had forgotten all about it until ads appeared in last week's papers, the day before the opening night. The announced reason for the ban: the Japanese had failed to get copyright permission. But unofficially, an Allied officer told U.S. newsmen: "This is not the time for Japanese to perform The Mikado" Japanese newspapers were forbidden even to mention the ban.

Next day, the cast gave a consolation full-dress performance for itself behind locked doors. Stagehands, performers and hangers-on wept when it was over. The chorus sung by Yum-Yum, Peep-Bo and Pitti-Sing seemed peculiarly appropriate:

So please you, Sir, we much regret

If we have failed in etiquette

Towards a man of rank so high--

We shall know better by and by. . . . -

*G.I.s had played The Mikado to G.I. audiences in Tokyo's Ernie Pyle theater a year ago.

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