Topsy-Turvy

The story behind the making of The Mikado, a Gilbert and Sullivan musical from the 1890s.  If you don't know who Gilbert and Sullivan were, you don't know what you've been missing.  They wrote musicals making fun of Victorian english society.  Sure, it sounds dry, but a lot of it is funny even now.  I mean, it's really just people acting stupid.  How could that not be funny?  Most of the subtleties are lost to those who aren't history experts, but who cares?  Anyway, the movie talks about the problems they had coming up with a decent plot for a new show, to the point that Sullivan threatens to walk out on his contract, until Gilbert finds inspiration in an unusual place.  What does the title mean?  Well, Gilbert's story plot are often called topsy-turvy throughout the movie, but the title also refers to the many parallel opposites shown-Gilbert and Sullivan's personalities, their personalities and their work (Gilbert is serious and writes weird stuff, Sullivan is a man about town who wants to write serious music), the world which Gilbert creates and the real world of the London streets which he paces through during performances.  Judging by the way Gilbert walks through the alleys, that last dichotomy is not an accident on his part.  From what I know, which is admittedly little, actively denying the realities of life was a very typical Victorian reaction.  The rehearsal process as shown in the movie is eerily similar to the play rehearsals which I've been a part of, right down to the notes given by the directors after rehearsal and the cast and crew's eagerness to get home late at night.  I guess some things haven't changed in the last century.

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