First Impressions

[deird_lj]

My dad recently got a dvd of The Mikado. This particular performance stars Eric Idle, and it's the version I grew up with, so in my mind it's the real Mikado and all other performances are just shallow imitations.

So anyway, my mum and I sat down yesterday and watched the dvd's special features, which included footage of the actors rehearsing. In their normal everyday clothes. And I turned to Mum, and commented how weird it was seeing them when they weren't "wearing japanese clothing".

Except...
This particular Eric-Idle-starring Mikado? It's not your standard variety. The women are either wearing pinafores, or those puffy marshmallowy ballgowns. The men are wearing suits and tophats (or occasionally boaters).
THEY DON'T LOOK JAPANESE.

But somehow, despite that being the whole point of the thing, my little-girl brain, seeing this for the first time, apparently thought of them as "japanese" outfits - and I still kind of think of them that way.

Inside my head, Japanese people have curly red hair, and speak with Sloane accents...

Comments

[ikona-rakasha.livejournal.com]

so that is what is wrong with this schoool....

yep, they need the sloane accents pronto.

[deird1]

Everyone is better with a Sloane accent.

[kitty-poker1.livejournal.com]

I played Nanki-poo in school. It wasn't pretty. Eric Idle is prettier, and probably wore better clothes. *g* Those silky dressing gown-y thing are lovely and the accents sound well exotic.

[deird1]

You gotta love the silky dressing gowns.
But Eric Idle in tailored suits from the 30s? That's a real Mikado costume.

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

I don't think you've read my Buffyverse-in-17th-Century-Japan story Dojo Hard; it's full of Mikado references (with Spike as a Wandering Minstrel, Angel as the Lord High Executioner, and Giles as the Emperor of Japan).

[deird1]

Hee!
I just glanced at part one, and cracked up laughing. I see a lot of fic reading heading my way...