Mikado heats up Virginia College

Audiences at Virginia College agreed that they were treated to an amazing spectacle of fine acting, excellent singing, fantastic music and brilliant dancing on October 19-21, when the talented students performed the musical Hot Mikado (a musical comedy adapted from Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado). The plot concerns Nanki-Poo (Matthew O'Driscoll), the Mikados' son, masquerading as a trumpet player and looking for the beautiful Yum-Yum (Morgane Clarke) in the town of Titipu. He learns from a high ranking official, Pooh-Bah (Stephen Brady), that she is betrothed to the Lord High executioner of Titipu Ko-Ko (Brian Dunne). The Mikados (Cian McEnroe and Kevin Mulvaney) demand that Ko-Ko executes one person within the next month and Nanki-Poo agrees to be executed as long as he can spend one month as Yum-Yum's husband. But the plan goes awry with the arrival of Katisha (Jordan McKenna). The Gentlemen of Japan (Kevin McDonnell, Dean Crowe, Liam McCabe, Gerard Smith, Seamus Keating and Dylan Gorman) open the show with exhilarating singing and dancing and set the standard for the night, before Matthew O'Driscoll shows his talent in fine acting, diction and singing. Arguably the stars of the show appeared with the arrival of Brian Dunne and Stephen Brady (Pooh-Bah). Brian has an ability to parade facetiously around the stage and his singing and acting were beyond reproach. Stephen played the role of the exuberant Pooh-Bah excellently, and exuded confidence through his mannerisms and antics on stage. Morgane Clarke produced an excellent performance thanks to an amazing vocal solo at the beginning of act two, when the two evidently gay Mikados played by Kevin Mulvaney and Cian McEnroe appeared. Cian showed initiative and wit when he slightly deviated from the script to answer a phone call! Jordan McKenna (Katisha) was also superb, dour in her excellent portrayal of the villain of the piece. Featuring less prominently at various stages in the musical were; David McEnroe as Pish Tush, Natasha Antonakis as Peep Bo and Regina Brady as Pitti Sing. The chorus made an enormous contribution and the choreography was testament to the amount of hard work involved. It was evident a lot of work was done backstage by students and teachers as the performers were always prepared and the show ran smoothly. Finally, enormous credit must go to director Lynn Jackson, musical director Eileen Tackney and producer Tracy Talbot. All in all it was an amazing rendition of a great musical, and we look forward to future productions from Virginia College. By Brian Traynor