# Recordings and discography of The Black Mikado

The Black Mikado is a musical comedy, based on Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado, adapted by Janos Bajtala, George Larnyoh and Eddie Quansah from W. S. Gilbert's original 1885 libretto and Arthur Sullivan's score. The show premiered on 24 April 1975 at the Cambridge Theatre in London, where it ran for 472 performances before going on a national tour. A cast album was produced in October 1975 featuring 12 of the show's songs, and a medley of numbers from the finale of act one. It was recorded at Basing Street Studios in London, then finished at Island Studios.
In 1976 a production of the musical was mounted in Soweto, South Africa, where it played at the Diepkloof Hall. Another cast album was recorded for this production.

## Musical numbers

The numbers listed in the 1975 and 1976 recordings were as follows. The show had additional musical numbers.

## Singles

Three singles were issued alongside the London cast recording. The first of these is a single edit of "The Sun Whose Rays...", with the instrumental bridge after the second chorus excised. A second single features only the "Oh Fool, That Fleest My Hallowed Joys!" part of "Finale Act One" as its B-side. Finally two new studio recordings were made by Derek Griffiths with a different arrangement of "Tit Willow", and "I've Got a Little List", which is not on the soundtrack album.

## London cast recording
### Track listing

All tracks are written by George Larnyoh, Eddie Quansah, Bajtala János, and Dave Bloxham. Adapted from lyrics by W. S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan

### Personnel
#### The Titipu Town Band

GEP Horns
* Eddie Quansah: Trumpet, flugel and French horn, additional percussion, and music adaptation
* George Larnyoh: Alto Sax and music adaptation
* Peter Vanderpuije: Baritone sax
Juice
* Willie Cheetham: Percussion
* Janos Bajtala: Keyboards and music adaptation
* Graeme Morgan: Drums
* John Varnom: Lead, rhythm, and acoustic guitar
* Colin Vallance: Bass guitar

#### Production and technical

* Music production: Dave Bloxham
* Executive producer: James Verner
* Engineer: Phil Ault
* Assistant engineer: Barry Sage

## South African cast recording
### Personnel
#### Production and technical

* Produced, directed, designed and choreographed: Dawn Lindberg
* Musical director: Gerry Collins
* Vocal director: Irene Frangs
* Musical adaptation: Eddie Quansah, George Larnyoh, Janos Bajtala
* Musical production: Dave Bloxham
* Recording engineer: Julian Laxton, Meyer Van Rensburg

#### The Titipu Town Band: Spirits Rejoice

* Gilbert Matthews: Drums
* Sipho Gumede: Bass
* Duke Makasi: Sax
* George Tyefumani: Trumpet
* Russell Herman: Guitar
* Merwyn Africa: Keyboard
* Gerry Collins: Conductor and special keyboard
* Irene Frangs: Extra vocals
* Gene Peterson: Additional brass, trumpet and flugelhorn
* Ron Francetti: Tenor sax

## Discography
### Albums

| Year | Country | Title | Label | Cat. No. |
| 1975 | England | The Black Mikado | Transatlantic | TRA 300 |
| 1976 | South Africa | Des and Dawn Lindberg Present the South African Cast Recording of The Black Mikado | RPM | RPM 1111 |

### Singles

| Year | A-side | B-side | Label | Cat. No. |
| 1975 | "The Sun and I" Black Mikado London Cast featuring Pat Ebigwei | "Three Little Maids from School" Black Mikado London Cast | Transatlantic | BIG 530 |
| 1975 | "So Please You Sir" Black Mikado London Cast | "An Excerpt from Finale Act 1 (Oh Fool, That Fleest My Hallowed Joys!)" Black Mikado London Cast featuring Anita Tucker | Transatlantic | BIG 531 |
| 1975 | "Tit Willow" Derek Griffiths With Black Mikado London Cast | "I've Got a Little List" Derek Griffiths with Black Mikado London Cast | Transatlantic | BIG 533 |