Try universities (if you’re near one). My college had a G&S society, and I’m pretty sure they weren’t the only one in the area. They do Mikado, Pirates, and Pinafore a little more often than the others, but they seem to cycle through the rest.
Hah!!!
I will say that I love Hot Mikado, a jazzy update from the mid 80s that remains (in my opinion) wonderfully faithful to the original music while completely re-orchestrating it.
Thank god someone got it…
There may be better versions, but the most widely available seems to be the one from the “Complete Gilbert & Sullivan” that the BBC and PBS did two or three decades back:
(with Clive Revill as John Wellington Wells)
Agree that the Guthrie “Pinafore” was … strange. I will pass by the interpolated Victoria to concentrate on the broad readings given Captain Corcoran and Sir Joseph – much funnier when played straight.
I thought that the singing was actually pretty good, given the way the score had been hacked.
I feel like asking anyone who would presume to replace Sullivan’s songs “So, you’ve been knighted for your music too?”
Seriously. I mean, I’ve written parodies of “Modern Major-General” (who hasn’t?), but I’d never try to replace the real thing with my doggerel.
I am so jealous that you thought of this line before I did.
What could possibly be a better collaboration than Gershwin and Lloyd Webber?