Mikado

"Three Little Maids From School Are We"


In an 1885 interview with the New York Daily Tribune, Gilbert stated that the short stature of Leonora Braham, Jessie Bond and Sybil Grey "suggested the advisability of grouping them as three Japanese school-girls" referred to in the opera as the "three little maids". He also recounted that a young Japanese lady, a tea-server from the Japanese village, came to rehearsals to coach the three little maids in some native Japanese dances.[19] On 12 February 1885, one month before The Mikado opened, the Illustrated London News wrote about the opening of the Japanese village noting, among other things, that "the graceful, fantastic dancing featured... three little maids!"[20] The title character appears only in Act II of the opera. Gilbert related that he and Sullivan had decided to cut the Mikado's only solo song, but that members of the company and others who had witnessed the dress rehearsal "came to us in a body and begged us to restore [it]".[19]

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Ko-Ko enters ("Behold the Lord High Executioner") and asserts himself by reading off a list of people "who would not be missed" if they were executed ("As some day it may happen"), such as people "who eat peppermint and puff it in your face". Yum-Yum appears with Ko-Ko's other two wards, Peep-Bo and Pitti-Sing ("Comes a train of little ladies", "Three little maids from school"). Pooh-Bah does not think that the girls have shown him enough respect ("So please you, sir"). Nanki-Poo arrives and informs Ko-Ko of his love for Yum-Yum. Ko-Ko sends him away, but Nanki-Poo manages to meet with his beloved and reveals his secret to Yum-Yum: he is the son and heir of the Mikado, but travels in disguise to avoid the amorous advances of Katisha, an elderly lady of his father's court. They lament that the law forbids them to flirt ("Were you not to Ko-Ko plighted").
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Three little maids from school are we
Pert as a school-girl well can be
Filled to the brim with girlish glee
Three little maids from school

Everything is a source of fun
Nobody's safe, for we care for none
Life is a joke that's just begun
Three little maids from school

Three little maids who, all unwary
Come from a ladies' seminary
Freed from its genius tutelary
Three little maids from school
Three little maids from school

One little maid is a bride, Yum-Yum
Two little maids in attendance come
Three little maids is the total sum
Three little maids from school
Three little maids from school

From three little maids take one away
Two little maids remain, and they
Won't have to wait very long, they say
Three little maids from school
Three little maids from school

Three little maids who, all unwary
Come from a ladies' seminary
Freed from its genius tutelary
Three little maids from school
Three little maids from school

第1幕[編集]
1. If you want to know who we are （男性コーラス）
2. A Wand'ring Minstrel I （ナンキ・プー、男性達）
3. Our Great Mikado, virtuous man （ピシュタッシュ、男性達）
4. Young man, despair （プーバー、ナンキ・プー、ピシュタッシュ）
4a. And I have journeyed for a month (レチタティーヴォ)（プーバー、ナンキ・プー）
5. Behold the Lord High Executioner （ココ、男性達）
5a. As some day it may happen (I've Got a Little List) （ココ、男性達）
6. Comes a train of little ladies （少女達）
7. Three little maids from school are we （ヤムヤム、ピーボー、ピッティシング、少女達）
8. So please you, Sir, we much regret （ヤムヤム、ピーボー、ピッティシング、プーバー、少女達）[n 4]
9. Were you not to Ko-Ko plighted （ヤムヤム、ナンキ・プー）
10. I am so proud （プーバー、ココ、ピシュタッシュ）
11. 第1幕フィナーレ (アンサンブル)