Hot Mikado:
Redditch Operatic Society

If you like your musicals fast-moving, funny and full of memorable music, this is likely to be the most energetic and exhilarating production you'll see anywhere this year. Strictly Come Dancing judge, Craig Revel Horwood and Tony Award-winning orchestrator Sarah Travis’ electrifying show had toes tapping, fingers clicking and enjoyed nightly standing ovations at the renowned Watermill Theatre, where it ran in 2006. Picture a little town in Japan where flirting is punishable by death. Unsurprisingly its citizens are finding the law rather tiresome. They appoint Ko Ko, a lowly tailor, as Lord High Executioner, himself condemned for flirting and so not likely to execute anyone. Throw in the beautiful Yum Yum, her ardent admirer Nanki-Poo, errant son of the Mikado, and the man-eater Katisha, and you have one of Gilbert and Sullivan's most famous comic operas in all its wonderful absurdity.