ROCKDALE OPERA COMPANY PRESENTS ‘THE MIKADO’

This was a night at the opera where one is just swept along by the lush music and the great silliness of the plot. It is a blt like a Shakespeare comedy  except of course the work is by the great team of Gilbert and Sullivan.

This MIKADO  has been well directed by Elizabeth Lowrencev with a very fine orchestra conducted by Vincent Colagiuri

Brett Cocker made a very grand and regal entrance late in the play as the Mikado of Japan.

Daniel Verschuer gave a very fine performance as the Mikado’s son, disguised as a wandering minstrel. His comic timing was excellent as he often wanted to do himself in but was stopped at the last moment.

Andrew Brunsdon gave an excellent performance as Ko Ko, the Lord High Executioner of Titipu, an executioner with a soft mushy heart. There’s a very clever scene where he announces everyone who can be done away with and comes up with the names of leading figures in society and politics. Good to see the Rockdale Opera Company playing with the text as the opera of-course is well out of copyright.

Gordon Costello played the Pooh Bah, Lord High of Everything Else, a comic role well play. To use the pun, he ‘pooh bahd’ everything.

Vi King Lim and Daniel Rae played the two noble Lords Pish-Tush and Go-To, and Kirralee Hillier, Zoe Valouris and Imogen Bilinsky played the three sisters, wards of Ko-Ko.

Carli  Pattridge played Katisha, an elderly lady in love with Nanki-Poo.

Above all THE MIKADO is a great spectacle. The costumes in this production were gorgeous. The large  ensemble cast proved to be a delight.

The Ladies of the chorus were Yolanda Altmann, Micaela Callan, Lynette Davis, Tarryn Frappell, Rebecca Mathews, Alexandra Nixon, Rose Sapuppo, Nancy Tam, Susan Wareham, Jenny Watson and Noriko Yamanaka and the Gentlemen of the Chorus were Ralph Bott, Peter Chappell, Michael Darmody, Ray Dubber, Ted Evans, John Millen and Daniel Rae.

Recommended, the Rockdale Opera Company’s production  of THE MIKADO is playing Rockdale Town Hall until June 30, 2019’

http://www.rockdaleoperacompany.comau

Production photography by Oscar Smith from Fishbowl Candidture