The Hot Mikado

I haven’t seen The Hot Mikado before, and I was really looking forward to seeing BATS
performance before I arrived. We were greeted by a lovely front of house team and shown
to our seats. The programme was good, with lots of information about the story and the
cast. The set was simple but effective, giving us an idea of location with the clear
restrictions of working on a small stage. Beautifully painted blossom. Well done.
The band started to play a pleasant jazz sound, the balance was good and they all sounded
great together, well done. Good interaction from the MD/pianist with the show throughout
as well.
I was a little confused by the first scene with the new shoes for Pish-Tush played by Ryan
Lenney; some fantastic falling over though Ryan! David Chilton playing Ko-Ko was a natural
on stage, his confident performance and his relationship with Pooh-Ba played by Geoff
Hewitson helped to make this show a success. Ryan Maslen (Nanki-Poo) and Becky Hoskyns
(Yum-Yum) made a lovely couple, both with lovely clear and strong voices throughout.
Some really nice harmonies throughout the show particularly held by the men including Len
Stockdale and Mark Hinson in the ensemble. Fiona Morris did a great job with the tough
role of Katisha with some big vocal numbers, as did Lesley Mercer as Pitti-Sing, with Faith
Arnold as Peep-Bo.
The ‘gentleman’ and waitresses were on a lot, and were caught up in a lot of the drama!
Well acted, and lots of enthusiasm in for the dances. I was impressed overall with the
singing, however there were times when I struggled to hear all of the words being sung,
sometimes due to the balance with the band, and sometimes to do pronunciation of the
words.
Overall a great musical with some strong individual performances leaving the audience with
a feel good feeling as when they left.

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