In the mid-1980s, a Spanish company mounted productions of The Mikado in both Spanish and Catalan. An LP of the Spanish version dates from 1987, while a CD of the Catalan version, as well as a video from Spanish television, dates from 1994. Given the extremely close correspondence of the casts, it is not unlikely that the two recordings were in fact made within a short time of one another, but this is mere speculation at this point. Reviews of the two recordings follow below.

Spanish Version

This recording, apparently by the original cast of a Spanish production from the mid-1980s, is a cultural cousin to Papp's Pirates, with the production company's name—Dagoll Dagom—more prominently featured on the album jacket than Gilbert's or Sullivan's.

Having said that, the recording is extremely faithful to the spirit, if not the letter, of the original. The orchestration is souped up in spots, but it is done with remarkable taste and skill. Those who view any alteration to Sullivan as sacrilege will, of course, object, but I found it tactfully understated and almost never offensive. A couple of the recitatives are completely rewritten and actually manage to improve on Sullivan. Joan Vives conducts a standard Sullivan orchestra, supplemented by a piano and a concertino that are seldom heard. Interestingly, the role of Katisha is played by a man, a fact that completely passed me by until Don Smith called it to my attention.

I don't speak any Spanish and so cannot comment on the translation, except to say that it is syllabically correct in most places and doesn't seem to give the singers any trouble. This is a professional recording, featuring the Spanish equivalent of Broadway singers, and they throw themselves into the material with great enthusiasm. Many of the nuances seem to have been adopted from familiar English-language productions, but the characters add many of their own. A photograph inside of the album jacket suggests it was a very opulent production.

Catalan Version — Review by J. Donald Smith

The audio performance is identical to the Spanish version, except in a different language. The Catalan sounds a bit harsher and more than gutteral than the Spanish but is easy to get used to. Everything you have said about the Spanish recording [above] holds true for the Catalan.

The video is another story. With overture, dialog, and no intermission, the recording of a stage performance takes 140 minutes. The production is not traditional G&S: overacting and over-the-top does not begin to describe it. The audience appears somewhat bemused, and only a few of the usual lines get laughs where they are supposed to. I suspect the problem arises from the lack of chorus (the extra characters in the cast list split some of the roles) — so that almost everyone is on stage for what normally would be chorus numbers. Everyone, except for Katisha, Ko-Ko and the Mikado is on stage for the first scene. The ladies leave, then come back as the train of little ladies. For those not familiar with the original, it must have made no sense. The same problem occurs with every chorus scene — principals are on stage when the action indicates they shouldn't be. It is a very colorful, athletic and sexy production but for only very occasional viewing.

The Text

The recordings are musically complete, except for a large chunk of the overture, the "song of the sea" section of "A Wand'ring Minstrel," and—most curious—"The criminal cried." To give a small idea of the translation, the Spanish and Catalan song names and their English equivalents are given below.

Spanish	Catalan	English
Obertura	Obertura	Overture
Presentarnos es un placer	Presentar-nos és un plaer	If you want to know who we are
No soy más que un juglar	Sóc un pobre joglar	A wand'ring minstrel I
El gran Mikado, muy gentil	El gran Mikado, cast i pur	Our great Mikado, virtuous man
Yum-Yum jamás; alcanzarás	No hi pensis més	Young man despair
Y yo he viajado durante un mes entero	I jo he viatjat durant un mes	And have I journeyed for a month, or nearly
Mirad al gran Ko-Ko de Titipú	Mireu el gran i just Senyor Botxi	Behold the Lord High Executioner
You sali de la prisión;		Taken from the county jail
Por si un día hicieran falta unos nombres de acusados	Si un dia se'm demana	As someday it may happen that a victim must be found
Es un tren de niñas que terminan el colegio	Som un tren de noies	Comes a train of little laides, from schoolastic trammels free
Soy una chica virginal	Som cin noietes virginals	Three little maids
Con humildad pedimos su perdón	Perdó si per un mal entés	So please you sir, we much regret
Si no fueses pretendiente de Ko-Ko sinó de mi	Si no fossis la promesa	Were you not to Ko-Ko plighted
Con gran afán	Tinc tant d'orgull	I am so proud
Non da tristeza suponer que a ti te toca perecer	Venim perqué amb gran neguit	With aspect stern and gloomy stride
Mira quée peinado	Veus quin pentinat	Braid the raven hair
Si luce el sol	El sol que llu potent i dur	The sun whose rays
Mira el sol, ya amaneció	Mira torna a sortir el sol	Brightly dawns our wedding day
Qué calamidad	Quin moment més dur	Here's a how-de-do
Mi-ya-sa-ma	Mi-ya-sa-ma	Mi-ya-sa-ma
Un rey mejor es impossible	Un rei mes bo	A more humane Mikado
Mira el destino qué señor	Mira el desti, quin gran senyor	See how the fates
El agua de mayo al caer	Les flors que floreixen al maig	The flowers that bloom in the spring
Tan sola y pese a todo viva	Tan sola i malgrat tot tan viva	Alone, and yet, alive
En un árbol cantaba un gentil ruiseñor	Prop d'un riu	On a tree by a river
Hay bondad en una bomba al estallar	Hi ha bellesa en esclatar d'un bombardeig	There is beauty in the bellow of the blast
Se casó con la joven Yum-Yum	S'ha casat amb la jove Yum-Yum	For he's gone and married Yum-Yum