Did You Know? The awesome Gilbert & Sullivan comic opera The Mikado had its firs performance in London on March 14, 1885. Among other things, this opera gave us the word “pooh-bah” as a fanciful term for a high official. Great plot, hilarious dialogue, beautiful music, and the potential for stunning costumes and set design. It’s no surprise that this has been continuously in production ever since. (At one time I basically memorized the whole opera. I especially like the Canadian Stratford Festival production, available on DVD.) LEARN MORE.
The Japanese equivalent for “Hear, Hear, Hear!”
Tush!
You call the Mikado “the most awesome opera evah” just because you can hum the tunes, find it funny and a lot of other people like it so much it is always being performed?
How about “Mittwoch aus Licht” (Wednesday from Light) by Karlheinz Stockhausen?
It is so difficult to stage that it has never been staged fully yet.
The first complete performance will be in Birmingham England in August 2012 as part of the Cultural Olympiad.
It will cost one million pounds to stage.
It is 5 hours long
It will need 4 helicopters
150 people in the choir
and a dancing bactrian camel.
I doubt there will be any songs you can hum, but the storyline is bizarre even by operatic standards.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-17343181
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mittwoch_aus_Licht
Now that’s what I call AWESOME opera! <vbg>