Following on the last two season’s concert productions of Gilbert and Sullican’s operettas, Lincoln County Community Theater, the resident theater company at Damariscotta’s Lincoln Theater, completes the “top three” this year with “The Mikado” on Thursday, March 5, and playing through Saturday, March 7, presented in partnership with HM Payson. The ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations between Arthur Sullivan and W.S. Gilbert, the original production at the Savoy in London, with 672 performances, was the second longest run for any work of musical theater and one of the longest runs of any theater piece up to that time.
The idea for The Mikado first sprang into W.S. Gilbert’s mind when an old Japanese sword, which had been hanging on the wall of his study for years, suddenly fell from its place. Gilbert took this as an omen and turned towards the East as an opportunity to satirize the foibles of his fellow countrymen. He did not have to look far to research the subject of his new play. He found all the material he wanted in Knightsbridge, a little village of Japanese immigrants within a mile of his own home in South Kensington.
The program includes the return of the Never Never Sick at Sea Symphony Orchestra featuring the DaPonte String Quartet and the Quite Content Chorale, as well as many notable soloists – Don Carrigan (The Mikado), Jesse Wakeman (Nanki-Poo), Stephen Wallace (Ko-Ko), John Adams (Pooh-Bah), David Meyers (Pish-Tush), Nancy Grace Dersham (Yum Yum), Emily Mirabile (Pitti Sing), Kristen Robinson (Peep Bo) and Nina Tilander (Katisha) — all under the watchful baton of John Mulcahy.
Performances are Thursday, March 5, Friday, March 6 and Saturday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m., with a matinee performance at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 7. Suitable for the entire family, tickets are $15 Adults, $13 for Lincoln Theater members, and $5 for those 18 and under. Tickets can be obtained by calling the box office at 563-3424 or visiting the theater office on 2 Theater Street in Damariscotta from Tuesday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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