Topsy-Turvy

Gilbert & Sullivan - The Mikado / Eric Idle, Lesley Garrett, Richard Van Allan, Felicity Palmer, Richard Angas, Bonaventura Bottone, Susan Bullock, English National Opera Jonathan Miller set his well-known production of The Mikado, staged for the English National Opera, in a British seaside resort of the 1920s. The result, complete with a chorus of gentlemen of Japan as cartoon-like British peers, emphatically underscores the Englishness of th...	Gilbert & Sullivan - H.M.S. Pinafore / Trial By Jury - David Hobson, Anthony Warlow, Colette Mann, Tiffany Speight, John Bolton Wood, Richard Alexander, Opera Australia, State Theatre, The Arts Centre Melbourne For most of the 20th century, the D'Oyly Carte Opera performed HMS Pinafore with a companion piece, Trial by Jury. Opera Australia re-unites these long-standing stage-mates with two fresh productions and an inspired cast. While HMS Pinafore was Gilbert and Sullivan's first full-...	Topsy-Turvy - The Music of Gilbert & Sullivan: From the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack The producers of Mike Leigh's vibrant Topsy-Turvy took many big studio meetings seeking financing for their film. Word has it all went swimmingly until time for the pitch came--there are apparently no two words as unsettling to Hollywood film execs as "Gilbert & Sullivan." But th...	Gilbert & Sullivan - The Pirates of Penzance / Kline, Ronstadt, Smith, Routledge, Delacorte Theater (Broadway Theatre Archive) This Pirates of Penzance is primarily a historical document, part of the Broadway Theater Archive television series. It presents, with some inevitable, tiny technical shortcomings, a live 1980 performance in Central Park, not the 1983 movie of the same name that also starred Li...	The Complete Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan, librettist and composer, were classically Victorian gentlemen whose comic operas for the Savoy Theater under impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte have endured down to the present day despite the disappearance of the British imperial world which they lampooned....
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Gilbert - Broadbent - victorian spectator - Japanese theatre
For me one of the most engaging moments in the film is when Gilbert, played by Broadbent, encounters Japanese Kendo fighting and especially Japanese theater. This is set up as a prelude to suggesting that an exhibition of Japanese culture Gilbert attends starts him off thinking up the Mikado. Whatever the intentions Broadbent's reactions as the camera focuses on his reactions to the unfolding drama in the play demonstrate in a completely convincing way how a Victorian Londoner would react to a (Noh?) play. He utterly and with an exquisite degree of facial movement replicates a man who doesn't understand the drama he is watching, can barely relate to it, or can only respond to it as a Victorian might, but respects it. Broadbent's depiction of a Victorian popular artist thinking through the artistic problems brought about in a visit to a Japanese exhibition is spellbinding but minutely subtle. Broadbent was Victorian. Remarkable work...

A fascinating look at The Mikado
Modern day recordings of works by Gilbert and Sullivan are few and far between; those that are in widescreen and surround sound even fewer, though a notable exception is the Australian version of HMS Pinafore and Trial by Jury. The Mike Leigh directed `Topsy Turvy' shows what should be possible for an entire version of `The Mikado' and it is only frustrating that the brief excerpts shown during this fascinating biography do not exist in an extended form. This engrossing movie seems to capture the idiosyncrasies of the two main characters perfectly and the fact that some considerable time is spent showing how `Three Little Maids' and `I am the Lord High Executioner' may have been developed, only gives us more opportunity to watch the skill of the actors getting to grips with this quintessentially English opera.

A Few Days in the Life of G&S
This is a time machine back into Mr. Carte's company in London. If you are not acquainted with G&S, you are missing works of art equaled only by Mozart, Verdi, Wagner and Joplin. The big illusion with G&S is that it is easy; nothing is farther from the truth. This movie puts you into the opera company. Be warned, it is highly addictive!

Undiscovered, Underrated Masterpiece
In my opinion, Topsy-Turvy is one of the best movies of the past 30 years, and what makes it an even more important artistic achievement is that it is still such an unknown and underrated film. Director Mike Leigh brings out the whimsical beauty and genius of Gilbert & Sullivan and charms you into believing that these lovely scenes is what their theater company was like 100 years ago in London. The musical numbers and stage acting inside the movie are wonderfully pleasing, and make you wish that Leigh could film every one of G&S's other plays so we could enjoy them all with equal pleasure. You have to believe that G&S would be happy having Leigh manage all of their modern revivals, Topsy-Turvy makes The Mikado so lovely, exquisite and captivating, that the 3 1/2 hour movie feels like a leisurely slice of heaven. And the glimpses into Gilbert & Sullivan's eccentric private lives illustrate the many facets of both their genius and their capacity for frivolity. All in all, Topsy-Turvy is an exquisite film that didn't get the attention and many accolades it deserved, yet it is a film that must not be missed by any serious film fanatic.

Delicious!
This film is a feast both for the eyes and the ears. The costumes and settings allow us a glimpse into upper middle-class life in Victorian England. Every detail, from the box on a tall pole that was a telephone to the ladies' pendulous wire-framed bustles, is perfect. Although the principal story, about the tension between Sir Arthur Sullivan, who thought he ought to be writing more serious music than tunes for the topsy-turvy lyrics of his collaborator, W.S. Gilbert, is interesting, the secondary story of the preparation and performance of "The Mikado" is not only compelling but also delightful to behold. The rehearsal scenes are particularly engaging, as are the personalities of the performers--the tenor, who does not want to go onstage without his corset; the baritone whose feelings are hurt when his solo is cut; the soprano with her little drinking problem; and the patter-performer with an even more serious addiction. Their characters are developed so beautifully that one begins to care intensely about what happens to them. This beautifully-directed and well-acted film excels on almost every level. Some DVD's should be passed swiftly on to friends (or enemies, depending on the quality of the product). This one, however, is a keeper!