Click here to visit our new site --> CafeDVD 2.0 Gilbert & Sullivan Collection: The Mikado/ The Pirates Of Penzance/ Iolanthe (1985) Rating: Starring: Gilbert & Sullivan, Maureen Forrester, Brent Carver Director: Category: Music, Special Interest, Independent Studio: Acorn Media Subtitles: [None] Length: 412 mins     The Mikado: Described by critics as "scintillating," "exquisite," and "breathtaking," this version of the famous comic opera was a blockbuster hit at the world-renowned Stratford Festival.Cloaked in the guise of a Japanese musical drama, The Mikado is a spoof of Victorian English society.Centered on Ko-Ko (Eric Donkin), a lowly tailor, it chronicles his transformation from prisoner in a country jail to the rank of Lord High Executioner.But Ko-Ko is plagued by a terrible quandary: the emperor (Gidon Saks) has instructed him to produce a head -- or forfeit his own! The Pirates Of Penzance: Brent Carver stars as the swashbuckling Pirate King in the famous Stratford Festival's rollicking production of the Gilbert & Sullivan classic that pits British bobbies against unlikely pirates on the Cornish coast.Sullivan regarded this operetta -- a hit ever since its first production in New York in 1879 -- as the best comedy he composed.He even said of his collaborator, "The libretto is ingenious, clever, wonderfully fun in parts and sometimes brilliant in dialogue -- beautifully written for music, as is all Gilbert does."Indeed, audiences will find the music every bit a match for the lyrics, with the genius of the score lying in its parody of grand opera. Iolanthe: The highly-acclaimed Stratford Festival gives a refreshing update to Iolanthe, the 1882 comic opera that was considered a scathing contemporary satire caricaturing the leading political figures of its day.The story involves a band of fairies that become enmeshed with the House of Lords in an effort to unite the half-fairy, half-mortal son of Iolanthe with his true love.The production, which was a runaway hit when originally performed, features world-renowned contralto Maureen Forrester as the Queen of the Fairies.Enchanting sets unfold with the magic of children's pop-up books and imaginative choreography lends to the witty, high-stepping good fun.