A stay in Sydney wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the Opera House.  And not just a tour (although those are very nice too) but going to see an actual show!  So Ruth and I decided against the wills of our empty wallets, that we were going to see some sort of opera or other such musical performance at the famous shell-shaped building.  We didn’t want to see a dance show or a normal play because part of the allure of the Opera House is its fantastic acoustic properties.  I heard all about them in the last tour I did of the place, and apparently the building was designed so the acoustics are perfect. 

So we got a little brochure of what was playing, and we decided to go see an operetta called The Mikado.  We were pleasantly surprised that tickets were only $60 bucks—not bad when you are expecting to pay over a hundred.  So…the Mikado.  We had no idea what to expect. 

This is outside the Opera Theatre–no camera’s allowed inside!  

Whoops! My finger slipped and I accidently took a picture of the stage.  My fault.

 So anyway, The Mikado–we knew it took place in old-school Japan and it starred on of Sydney’s Opera stars who was the Phantom of the Opera for about 5 years, and it was about a forbidden love or something like that…but that’s about it.  Oh…and it was supposed to be funny.  That did no justice to the show we witnessed.  It was absurd!  Let me just give you the synopsis as it was given to us at the beginning:

“Nanki-poo, son of the Mikado(the Mikado is the emperor of Japan…or something to that effect)., has fled the royal court to escape the clutches of the elderly Katisha, who wishes to marry him.  Disguised as a wandering minstrel he arrives in the town of Titipu (are we appreciating these names yet?? Just wait) to be reunited with his beloved Yum-Yum (!!), whom he hopes to marry.  Much to his dismay he finds that she has become engaged to her guardian Ko-Ko, a tailor.  Having been condemn to death under the Mikado’s severe anti-flirting laws, Ko-Ko has subsequently been appointed Lord High Executioner, on the grounds that before executing anybody he must decapitate himself.”

So are we confused yet?  We were, but the story kind of works itself out as it goes on.  Basically it’s a comedic romp through ancient Japan with a lot of modern twists.  One of the songs talks about the annoyances of Facebook and people who talk too loudly on their cell phones!

There are other ridiculously named characters such as Pitti-Sing (Yum-Yum’s sister) and Pooh-Bah (Lord High Everything Else), Pish-Tush, Peep-Bo…(I think they chose Japan as the setting so they could use silly names)–I don’t know if you can actually read the text on this picture… With all the dancing, singing, joking and general ridiculousness it was not the show I’d expect to see in the Opera House…but it was definitely amusing.  We tried to take some pictures, but unfortunately no photos were allowed inside the theatre.  As for the acoustics…I can only assume they were amazing because I’m pretty sure no microphones were used and you could hear everything throughout this pretty large theatre.  So good job designers! Well done!