HERE’S a how-de-do! It’s off to Japan for Monmouth Music Theatre next week as they bring Gilbert and Sullivan’s comedy classic The Mikado to the Savoy stage. All is neither well nor as it seems in the fictional Japanese town of Titipu.

Wandering minstrel Nanki-Poo (Meriwether Maturin) returns from his travels to marry his beloved Yum-Yum (Christine Borg), only to find her already betrothed to Ko-Ko (David Harris), the Lord High Executioner.

How far will Nanki-Poo go to win her back? Can a ‘Cunning Plan’ come to fruition under the beady eyes of town officials Pooh-Bah (played by director Adrian Bevan) and Pish-Tush (Haydn Holder)?

Who is the terrifying Katisha (Dominique Walker), and what secret is Nanki-Poo hiding?

Time is ticking to find answers, because the Mikado (Stuart Robinson) himself is coming to visit and he’s issued the town a grisly ultimatum: execute one of your own within a month, or face Irretrievable Ruin… The Mikado sees Adrian Bevan back in the director’s chair, whose previous show and directorial debut with MMT – last year’s The Pirates of Penzance – earned a National Operatic and Dramatic Association nomination for Outstanding Production.

He is assisted by musical director Ruth Friend and accompanist/répétiteur Helen Stidolph, along with co-stage managers Tony Wells and Tim Warmington-Gardiner. The Mikado is at the Savoy from Wednesday to Saturday, September 11-14, for an evening of “laughing song and merry dance!”

An MMT spokesperson said: “We’d love to report that all innocent ticket holders are guaranteed immunity from Beheading, Burial Alive and Ritual Disembowelment, but as we all know ‘virtue is triumphant only in theatrical performances’.”

The Mikado was the ninth of 14 operatic productions between William Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan and actually made its bow at another Savoy Theatre – the London venue – in 1885, running for 672 performances, the second longest run for a piece of musical theatre up to that time.

Shows are 7.30pm Wednesday to Friday, and 2.30pm Saturday, with tickets £16 adults, £10 under 16s. and oncessions £14 on Wednesday only, available at the box office or via https://monmouth-savoy.co.uk/whats-on/live/