THE BLACK MIKADO SOUVENIR PROGRAM  1975  RARE

Description

THE BLACK MIKADO
SOUVENIR PROGRAM 1975
RARE.
(8"X11") THE BLACK MIKADO is a musical comedy based on the original script from Gilbert & Sullivan's 1885 THE MIKADO, one of their biggest hits and still popular today.  THE BLACK MIKADO opened in April of 1975 at the Cambridge Theatre in London where it was a hot ticket for the length of its 472 performances. The show then undertook an extended and very successful tour. A later production played in Soweto, South Africa. This revamping of the original G & S production adhered closely to its source material. The locale was changed from Japan to the Caribbean and Sullivan's original score was re-orchestrated into a mixture of Reggae, Rock, Blues and Calypso. The cast was virtually all black except for Pooh-Bah who was portrayed by a white actor. The sets, costumes (lots of straw, feathers, animal prints and decolletage galore) and general production values were lavish and, in comparison to contemporaneous shows, very expensive. This production was not raunchy but let's say it was imbued by an eroticism that Gilbert & Sullivan could never have imagined. For instance, the Three Little Maids were portrayed by three beautiful women who turned their song "Three Little Maids From School Are We" into an eye-catching striptease from proper school uniforms down to more fitting and very abbreviated native costumes. And enough about that. Souvenir programs like this one from the original 1975 Cambridge Theatre production are exceedingly rare. This particular program has an inconspicuous crease down the center. On the front cover, someone has doodled three or four words onto the white gown. Upper right corner is bent (but intact) and shows about a 2" crease. The program displays photographs of 27 different scenes in color and b/w and all photographs are clean and completely unmarred as are all pages. It's hard to say when this particular program might turn up again.