Hey folks, Harry here with a look at Mike Leigh's Christmas Eve release, TOPSY TURVY. I am a saucer-eyed fan of SECRETS & LIES and felt that it was an absolute exquisite movie with sterling performances throughout... So I am pleased to hear that Ron Cook is in this film as well... plus we have Timothy Spall and a group I'm not too familiar with, but then that just lends itself to the possiblility of finding a bunch of great new talent... So... read on... it's about the first production of THE MIKADO from Gilbert & Sullivan... Fun...
Dear Harry, etc... Late last week I caught a screening of Mike Leigh's latest film "Topsy Turvy" here in NYC. Its an interesting look into the lives and events surrounding the first production of Gilbert and Sullivan's famous operetta "The Mikado". If you are not a theater historian or music buff Gilbert and Sullivan may strike you as a lot of stiff (re: bad) comedy and overwrought singing. I know that if done wrong G&S operettas can seem like neverending, humourless dirges--but the re-creations of the original D'oyle Carte Theater productions are wonderfully executed and extremely well performed. Like Shakespeare, these works need that homegrown British delivery. The movie, which I found visually striking, weaves the stories of composer Arthur Sullivan, his partner WS Gilbert, their producer, acting company and various family and friends against the mounting of The Mikado. The problems of their offstage lives set in relief to the glory of the stage performances are delved into. The tragic "real" lives of people of the theater is no great original concept per se, but this film nonetheless delivers poignancy, great humour and wonderful music in one fell swoop. Its historically accurate, too. There is one very funny scene were Gilbert is sternly dictating the staging to his cast--which is exactly what he did (Jeremy Broadbent is great as the stodgy Gilbert). If you like British 19th century pieces (and great music) I encourage you to check this movie out. It may not have computer effects, hobbits or spaceships, but there can be something definately "cool" about G&S! Call me Nanki-Poo
