Here is a very handsome Christmas present for all listeners. For the first time in the history of broadcasting, Gilbert and Sullivan opera is being broadcast from the studio, an event triumphantly symbolic of good will. The cast is drawn from the company with which Mr. D'Oyly Carte delights theatre audiences all over the kingdom, and a G. and S. star of stars, Sir Henry Lytton, is among them on this occasion.
The dialogue of Act II is perhaps the most uproariously witty one that Gilbert ever wrote. The irrepressible Ko-Ko and the ponderous Pooh-Bah keep the ball rolling continuously as the complications of the plot unfold!
Yum- Yum, who is to marry Nanki-Poo, is making her bridal toilet with the assistance of a number of maidens. Yum-Yum sings a dainty and charming song, 'The sun, whose rays are all ablaze with ever living glory'. Then Pitti-Sing tells her that the terms of the marriage are that Nanki-Poo will be beheaded one month after the ceremony.
Ko-Ko appears on the scene and tells the lovers that, according to the Mikado's law, when a married man is beheaded his wife must submit to being buried alive. So it is not to be wondered at that Yum-Yum does not now look forward to her approaching marriage.
Ko-Ko suggests that an excellent way out of all the trouble would be to inform the Mikado that the execution of Nanki-Poo had already taken place and produce an affidavit signed by eminent witnesses. The procession enters with Mikado and Katisha at the head.
The Mikado receives the false certificate of the execution, and is told that the fellow's struggles were terrific. The Mikado now discovers that it was his son who was executed, and in consequence proclaims that Ko-Ko, Pooh-Bah, and Pitti-Sing also be punished by execution.
Meanwhile Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum are married, and Ko-Ko decides that Nanki-Poo must come to life again. Katisha enters and Ko-Ko makes love to her. At first she repulses him, but she is won over with Ko-Ko's charming song, 'Willow, tit willow,' and they get married.
The Mikado returns and Pooh-Bah, Pitti-Sing, Ko-Ko, and his wife plead for mercy. Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum appear and kneel before the Mikado. Everything is happily straightened out, and the opera closes with a grand finale, 'For he's gone and married Yum-Yum'.
