Mock Opera

What if Lennon and McCartney had parted ways before Revolver? Smith and Wesson before the .357 Magnum? Gilbert and Sullivan before The Mikado?

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More About

• W.S. Gilbert
• Gilbert & Sullivan
• Mike Leigh
• .357 Magnum Handgun
• Arthur Sullivan

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Wait. Gilbert and who? Before the what? So it goes for the great British comic-operatic team of W.S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan, who were once bigger than The Beatles and hotter than Dirty Harry’s handgun thanks to ageless, Victorian-era wonders like Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance, and H.M.S. Pinafore.

The Mikado was their masterpiece, one that very nearly didn’t get made. Mike Leigh’s sublimely entertaining film Topsy-Turvy shows why, and how, it was conceived, while capturing the veddy-proper tone of the times and exploring the ways in which Gilbert and Sullivan subverted their society’s mores. Spot-on, chaps!

If you don’t know your Titipu from your Yum-Yum, check out the free screening of Leigh’s 1999 effort.