This might surprise some of you , but I’ve always had a hankering to see The Mikado – but not just any Mikado. I first saw Jonathan Miller’s production on TV in the late 80s while in college. I didn’t remember much about the music, but the visual style of the opera stayed in my memory, and resurfaced over the years as a “well if only”. At the end of last year I saw they were showing it again at the Coliseum, just off Trafalgar Square, so I managed to get a couple of tickets. They didn’t cost a fortune, as they were about the same price as some of the big stadium shows by Kylie etc. Not only that, but we managed to get front row seats!

Well, there was a lot of titty-poo, tit willow and three little maids going on. I was enthralled that I was getting a chance to see something that I’d been thinking about albeit very infrequently, over the years. The singing was fantastic, and after a short while, I could even make out what even the most difficult to understand singer was saying. A bit like watching Shakespeare – to start off with you have no idea what’s going on, but after a while you start to understand the way they talk. That said, artistic license was knocking around the stage, so the school girls singing in the chorus were generally in their mid-fifties! A bit shocking to start off with.

Oh, and Boris Johnson’s dad almost crashed into her on the stairs.

Right, better get back to Proud Mary and my lunch…

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