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27-632: Their original production ran from March 18 – July 27, 1986 at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC , where Bell was artistic director. Bell directed and choreographed the production. The musical also had an early Chicago production, among other revivals and ran in London's West End in 1995. It has enjoyed many additional productions in North America and the UK since then. The plot of Hot Mikado does not stray far from

54-420: A gala performance. The presidential box is never occupied. The theater was again renovated during the 2000s. It has a current seating capacity of 665. The reopening ceremony was on February 11, 2009, which commemorated Lincoln's 200th birthday. The event featured remarks from President Barack Obama as well as appearances by Katie Couric , Kelsey Grammer , James Earl Jones , Ben Vereen , Jeffrey Wright ,

81-515: A museum in 1932, and it was renovated and re-opened as a theater in 1968. A related Center for Education and Leadership museum opened in 2012, next to Petersen House. The Petersen House and the theater are preserved together as Ford's Theatre National Historic Site , administered by the National Park Service ; programming within the theater and the Center for Education is overseen separately by

108-579: A number of Lincoln's family items, his coat (without the blood-stained pieces), some statues of Lincoln and several large portraits of the President are on display in the museum. The blood-stained pillow from the President's deathbed is in the Ford's Theatre Museum. In addition to covering the assassination conspiracy, the renovated museum focuses on Lincoln's arrival in Washington, his presidential cabinet, family life in

135-693: A revival at Chicago's Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre in 1994, the musical was revived in 1995 Washington, DC, again at Ford's Theatre. The production received Helen Hayes Awards for (1) Outstanding Director—Resident Musical—David H. Bell; and (2) Outstanding Lead Actor—Resident Musical—Ross Lehman (Ko-Ko). Productions were also nominated for the following awards: (1) 2005 Los Angeles Drama Critics Award: Best Production; (2) 2004 Los Angeles Ovation Award: Best Musical; and (3) 1995 Helen Hayes Award: Outstanding Resident Musical. Bell has directed several other professional productions since 1986, including in his home city of Chicago. The original producers staged productions at

162-879: The Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, Illinois in 1993 and again in 2003. A production was mounted in London's West End at the Queen's Theatre in 1995 (after a tryout in Bromley 's Churchill Theatre) and ran for three months. It was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best New Musical. The cast included Lawrence Hamilton as the Mikado, Paul Manuel as Nanki-Poo, Ross Lehman as Ko-Ko, Richard Lloyd King as Pooh-Bah, Ben Richards as Pish-Tush, Neil Couperthwaite as Junior, Paulette Ivory as Yum-Yum, Alison Jiear as Pitti-Sing, Veronica Hart as Peep-Bo and Sharon Benson as Katisha. Bell directed, and

189-635: The New Repertory Theatre of Watertown, Massachusetts mounted a production, as did Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace Theatre in Illinois. Other professional productions have included a long-running Prague staging and a run in Dublin . Many community groups and high schools have performed the show in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and Canada. Casting is intended to be interracial, with

216-483: The Ford's Theatre Society. The site was originally a house of worship, constructed in 1833 as the second meeting house of the First Baptist Church of Washington, with Obadiah Bruen Brown as the pastor. In 1861, after the congregation moved to a newly built structure, John T. Ford bought the former church and renovated it into a theater. He first called it Ford's Athenaeum. It was destroyed by fire in 1862 and

243-757: The Gatehouse . The piece was revived again in London, at the Landor Theatre , in late 2012. Craig Revel Horwood directed, and Sarah Travis music directed, a successful production of Hot Mikado at the Watermill Theatre in England in 2006, which was revived there in 2009, followed by a tour. Starlight Theatre in San Diego, California produced the show in 2006, directed and choreographed by Carlos Mendoza, with music direction and choreography by Parmer Fuller. In 2010,

270-582: The Gilbert and Sullivan original, with a similar satiric tone. Katisha is played as a vamp. Ko-Ko is characterized in a manner similar to such characters as Sergeant Bilko . An extra male character, Junior, is added, who takes some of Pish-Tush's lines and sings the solo in "Braid the raven hair." The show is set in Japan in the 1940s, with suggested settings and costuming combining Japanese design with American 1940s design. The set uses Japanese architecture, executed in

297-528: The Landor Theatre in 1998, following a refit of the building. In 2010 the Landor staged productions of Smokey Joe's Cafe , Closer Than Ever and Tomorrow Morning . In 2013 it staged the London premiere of title of show starring Scott Garnham as Hunter. 51°27′57″N 0°07′34″W  /  51.4657°N 0.1261°W  / 51.4657; -0.1261 This British theatre–related article

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324-458: The Mikado, Katisha and Pooh-Bah specifically singing in African-American musical styles. Ford%27s Theatre Ford's Theatre is a theater located in Washington, D.C. , which opened in 1863. The theater is best known for being the site of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln . On the night of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth entered the theater box where Lincoln

351-654: The Olroyd Collection of Lincolniana. Most recently renovated for a July 2009 reopening, the Museum is run through a partnership with the National Park Service and the private non-profit 501(c)(3) Ford's Theatre Society. The collection includes multiple items related to the assassination, including the Derringer pistol used to carry out the shooting, Booth's diary and the original door to Lincoln's theater box. In addition,

378-604: The President's Own Marine Band , Joshua Bell , Patrick Lundy and the Ministers of Music, Audra McDonald and Jessye Norman . In March of every year, the Abraham Lincoln Institute holds a symposium at Ford's Theatre. The National Historic Site consisting of two contributing buildings, the theater and the Petersen House, was designated in 1932. The Ford's Theatre Museum beneath the theater contains portions of

405-695: The War Department Office to the Office of Public Buildings and Parks of the National Capital. A Lincoln museum opened on the first floor of the theater building on February 12, 1932—Lincoln's 123rd birthday. In 1933, the building was transferred to the National Park Service . The restoration of Ford's Theatre was brought about by the two-decade-long lobbying efforts of Democratic National Committeeman Melvin D. Hildreth and Republican North Dakota Representative Milton Young . Hildreth first suggested to Young

432-549: The White House and his role as orator and emancipator. The museum also features exhibits about Civil War milestones and generals and about the building's history as a theatrical venue. The rocking chair in which Lincoln was sitting is now on display at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan . After Lincoln was shot, doctors had soldiers carry him into the street in search of a house in which he would be more comfortable. A man on

459-516: The federal government's first purchase of a historic home. The National Park Service has operated it as a historic house museum since 1933, the rooms furnished as on the night Lincoln died. Landor Theatre The Landor Theatre is a pub theatre in Clapham , South London . Originally the Cage Theatre upon its opening in 1994, the Landor became "Upstairs at the Landor" in 1995 and finally

486-413: The front section of the three interior floors collapsed when a supporting pillar was undermined during excavation of the cellar, killing 22 clerks and injuring another 68. This led some people to believe that the former church turned theater and storeroom was cursed. The building was repaired and Record and Pension Office clerks were moved back on July 30, 1894. In 1928, the building was turned over from

513-629: The musical director for the production was Simon Lee, who also supervised the preparation of a cast recording (First Night: CD48). The show received good notices, with Plays International writing, "all the disparate elements come together into a very lively and enjoyable evening." The Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage produced the musical in August 2001, with direction and choreography by Scott St. Martyn. It starred Rustie Lee , Leee John and Tamsier Joof . In 2004, an off-West End production ran Upstairs at

540-430: The need for its restoration in 1945. Through extensive lobbying of Congress, a bill was passed in 1955 to prepare an engineering study for the reconstruction of the building. In 1964, Congress approved funds for its restoration, which began that year and was completed in 1968. On January 21, 1968, Vice President Hubert Humphrey and 500 others dedicated the restored theater. The theater reopened on January 30, 1968, with

567-727: The songs of Hot Mikado have the same name and melody as in The Mikado , but often have a twist. For example, the song "I Am So Proud" has the same melody for the verses, changing only towards the end, where it folds into a more jazzy round. The dances called for include the Lindy Hop , tap-dancing , the jitterbug and other 1940s dances. The orchestrations call for Double Bass (db. Bass Guitar), Drums (db. Timpani , Duck Call, Glockenspiel , Large Gong , Mark tree , Triangle and Wood Block), Alto Saxophone (db. Clarinet/ Flute), Trombone (db. Cowbell), and Trumpet (db. Flugelhorn/ Tambourine). After

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594-410: The steps of the house of tailor William Petersen beckoned to them. They took Lincoln into the first-floor bedroom and laid him on the bed – diagonally because of his unusual height. Many people came to visit him throughout the night before he died the following morning at 7:22 a.m. The Petersen House was purchased by the U.S. government in 1896 as the "House Where Lincoln Died", being

621-551: The textures of The Cotton Club (neon, brass, mahogany). The costumes include zoot suits , snoods, wedgies and felt hats, executed in the colorful silk kimono textures of Japan. The score uses much of Sullivan's original music but is reorchestrated using 1940s popular musical harmonies and arrangements and a wide range of styles, including jazz, hot gospel, blues , rock, Cab Calloway swing, and torch songs . The ' Three Little Maids ' sing in Andrews Sisters ' style. Many of

648-749: The theater was taken over by the U.S. military and served as a facility for the War Department with records kept on the first floor, the Library of the Surgeon General's Office on the second floor, and the Army Medical Museum on the third. In 1887, the building exclusively became a clerk's office for the Record and Pension Office of the War Department when the medical departments moved out. On June 9, 1893,

675-411: Was rebuilt. On April 14, 1865—just five days after General Lee 's surrender at Appomattox Court House —Lincoln and his wife attended a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre. The famous actor John Wilkes Booth , desperate to aid the dying Confederacy , made his way into the presidential box and shot Lincoln. Booth then jumped down to the stage and escaped through a rear door. This

702-499: Was watching a performance of Tom Taylor 's play Our American Cousin , slipped the single-shot, 5.87-inch derringer from his pocket and fired at Lincoln's head. After being shot, the fatally wounded Lincoln was carried across the street to the nearby Petersen House , where he died the next morning. The theater was later used as a warehouse and government office building. In 1893, part of its interior flooring collapsed, causing 22 deaths, and needed repairs were made. The building became

729-492: Was witnessed by a theater full of people, possibly including the then 5-year-old Samuel J. Seymour who claimed to be the last living witness to the Lincoln assassination before his death in 1956. Following the assassination, the United States government appropriated the theater. Congress paid Ford $ 88,000 in compensation, and an order was issued forever prohibiting its use as a place of public amusement. Between 1866 and 1887,

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