The Mikado, in full The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, Operetta in two acts by W.S. Gilbert (libretto) and Arthur Sullivan (music) that premiered at the Savoy Theatre in London on March 14, 1885. The Mikado is set in the 1880s, in the imaginary Japanese town of Titipu. Nanki-Poo, the son of Japanese emperor Mikado, has fled there to avoid marrying Katisha, an older woman, and he ends up falling in love with Yum-Yum, who is betrothed to the Lord High Executioner Ko-Ko. When The Mikado was composed, Londoners were enthusiastic about all things Japanese after the opening of Japan to the West in the mid-1850s, and the initial production was a triumph, running for 672 performances. Within a year some 150 other companies were performing it in England and the U.S. The operetta continued to fill theatres in the 21st century, but its Japanese stereotypes often put it at odds with contemporary ideals of cultural representation.
