Editorial Review:

Amazon.com:
The producers of Mike Leigh's vibrant Topsy-Turvy took many big studio meetings seeking financing for their film. Word has it all went swimmingly until time for the pitch came--there are apparently no two words as unsettling to Hollywood film execs as 'Gilbert & Sullivan.' But the studio system's loss turned out to be the indie film's--and our--gain. Leigh's film brought the composers' late-19th-century mounting of their breakthrough The Mikado to an all-too-familiar life, filled with as many neuroses, foibles, and fragile egos as any modern Broadway musical. The film's score, an inviting pastiche adapted from Mikado (and other G&S staples) by veteran Carl Davis, may upset purists with its time-conscious liberties. But then, it might just win over a receptive yet unexposed new audience for whom this music may seem strangely familiar, as well it should: this is where modern musical theater began. --Jerry McCulley









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Related Items:

• Topsy-Turvy
• Topsy-Turvy
• Gilbert & Sullivan - Highlights from The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Yeomen of the Guard, Trial of Jury
• The Complete Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan
• The Ultimate Gilbert & Sullivan Collection
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Disc 1:

1. Behold! The Lord High Executioner
2. Overture
3. Three Little Maids From School Are We
4. Overture
5. If You Give Me Your Attention
6. Paris Galop (from 'The Grand Duke')
7. Mi-Ya Sa-Ma and A More Humane Mikado
8. But Soft ... / Why, Where Be Oi?
9. Alone (after music from 'The Yeomen of the Guard')
10. The Criminal Cried As He Dropped Him Down
11. Overture
12. A Wand'ring Minstrel I
13. The Sun Whose Rays Are All Ablaze
14. End Titles (after music from 'The Pirates of Penzance' and 'The Grand Duke')
15. Incantation
16. The Fitting (after music from 'The Gondoliers')
17. The Lost Chord - Gilbert, William Sc
18. The Mikado: Finale, Act Two
19. Resolutions (after music from 'The Long Day Closes')

Rating: - 19th Century Sainthood
The society may have been insufferable, but the theaters were grand. The 19th century wasn't much in the way of social justice, but by golly don't you think they had more fun? Gilbert and Sullivan have never meant much to me, but Mike Leigh's movie persuaded me that I had been missing a lot. This CD captures the music; be sure to catch the DVD of this extraordinary film. The film director's recreation of Victorian England, as seen in the Savoy Theatre (front and backstage) and in the respective studies of Gilbert and Sullivan, from which their works of genius issued, constitutes artistry worthy of identification as a National Treasure. The music lives forever.

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Rating: - Here's a How-De-Do!
It's brilliant, really! I am a self-confessed Gilbert and Sullivan fanatic, and so the release of this soundtrack to accompany a truly delightful movie provided me with an "Oh, joy! Oh, rapture!" moment ... many of them, actually! To hear some of my favorite tunes from some of my favorite G & S operetti performed so well makes my heart "sing-o" - and me, too!

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Rating: - Topsy-Turvy is TOPS!!!
This is Gilbert and Sullivan like you will never hear again! These performances are so fresh and alive with comedy flourish that my formerly "purist" ears reveled in delight at this magnificeant rendition of these great operettas.It is wonderful to hear excerpts from PRINCESS IDA,IOLANTHE and SORCERER (as well as THE MIKADO) when so many recordings already exist of the other G&S chestnuts,PINAFORE and PIRATES OF PENZANCE.
The actual cd itself fills the speakers and is a true listener's dream.A great soundtrack of a great film.Wonderfully recorded by SONY.

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Rating: - Superb
This is a fantastic cd, one that I have listened to many many times without growing tired of it. The particularly nice thing about this cd for lovers of the movie is that you get to hear the entire performance for many songs which are necessarily cut short in the film, most enjoyably "A Wandring Minstrel I". As has been noted in other reviews, the vocal performances are not what you will typically find in other G & S recordings: they are far less burdened with mannered belle canto nonsense, to their immense benefit. And I must disagree with one reviewer who disparaged the staging as portrayed in the film. My wife and I saw a touring production of the Mikado which used the costumes and set from the movie, and it was fantastic. Even better, the performers seemed to take some cues from the film actors too, singing and performing in a way that was much more accessible and not a bit less pleasing.

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Rating: - Better than many a G&S non-sountrack
I was compelled to get this after seeing the overlong, flawed, but nonetheless all-around amazing 'Topsy Turvy'. (Seriously - almost every supporting actor in the film deserved an Oscar, and Jim Broadbent was robbed; his Gilbert is magnificent and real.)
Inspired then to hear a true G&S performance, I bought several Carte recordings. What broke my heart is that the genuine Savoy performances are not as good as those of the 'Topsy' actors! Contrary to a review here, the articulation is just dandy. And the tenor in 'Wand'ring Minstrel' alone is far, far superior to the thin, reedy, annoying versions on the several concert cds I've heard. As is the riveting soprano on the beautiful 'The Sun Whose Rays...' of 'Topsy'; again, the actual Savoy recordings are merely shrill in comparison.
I remove one star only because of the necessarily abbreviated performances here.