Send-Up of a Send-Up Wonderfully Silly ëHot Mikadoí Rocks Fordís Theatre by Gary Tischler Hot Mikado,î now at the venerable Fordís Theatre, is a reprise of a send-up of a send-up. Resistance is futile. They might as well have a guy in a purple zoot suit standing outside, whispering, ìHey, looking for a good time?î Thatís what ìHot Mikadoî is basically about: a good time. It is, of course, a reprise of the production that was the brainchild of artistic director David H. Bell and choreographer Rob Bowman 16 years ago. They made the discovery that there had been a swing-time version of Gilbert and Sullivanís eminently silly and wonderful send-up of Victorian-age manners and moresóìThe Mikadoî in the l930s, featuring the great tap dancer Bill ìBojanglesî Robinson. Nothing much remained except the idea itself, which was to jazz up and send up ìThe Mikadoî while leaving it basically intact. This may seem like a mismatch and a train wreck, but oddly enough, it works. After all, the original had characters named Nanki-Poo, Pooh-Bah, Ko-Ko, Yum-Yum, Peep-Bo and Pitti-Sing, and what can you do with that except to dress the girls like singers at a lounge club and the guys like zoot-suiters in colors so bright and vests so shiny as to paralyze the fashion police. Bell and Bowman have kept the original plot, in which one Nanki-Poo, the son of the Mikado, fleeing the attentions of an older woman, hides out as a wandering second trumpet player, falls in love with a girl named Yum-Yum, who is engaged to Ko-Ko, the high executioner who must execute somebody or else be beheaded himself, who in turn lets Nanki-Poo marry Yum-Yum for a month at which point heíll be executed and his bride buried alive at which point Ö Oh silly, silly. From the opening number, ìWe are Gentlemen of Japan,î where the boys (none of them remotely resembling Japanese gentlemen) pull out fans instead of pistols, we know weíre somewhere else. The set looks like Japan, but the feel is downtown. When the heroóDavid Ayers, a sort of innocent Brad Pitt wannabe in a kimonoóarrives and announces ìIím looking for Yum-Yum,î he sounds nothing less than an ìAmerican Pie 2î cast-off. Ingeniously, the Gilbert and Sullivan lyrics, which are already send-ups, stay pretty much the same, except now theyíre sung and danced to a hot, throbbing beat. The ìThree Little Maidsî now sound like the Andrews Sisters and look like Destinyís Child, for instance. Thereís gospel, pop-ballad styling and lots of soulful, torchy riffs. There is Kelli Rabke as Yum-Yum, who embodies the name but also exudes fluffy funniness and is a terrific singer. There is Ross Lehman as Ko-Ko, a high executioner who resembles Phil Silvers as a Hollywood agent. There is, unforgettably, Chandra Currelley as Katisha, the imposing older woman enamored of Nanki-Poo, who survives a bout of insults to almost steal the show with her thundering, bluesy, gospel numbers and torch song. And when Lehman seduces her with his rendition of ìTit Willow,î it becomes an extended show-stopper that rock íní rolls the house. And finally, there is Ted Levy as the Mikado. He makes his entrance, and the rest of the cast jump into a scorching, pure pleasure-inducing, extended tap number. Tap is the chicken soup of musical comedy. It cures everything, including the common cold. It makes you happy. And thatís the real ìHot Mikado.î ìHot Mikadoî runs through June at Fordís Theatre, 511 10th St., NW. Tickets are $27 to $43. For more information or show times, please call (202) 434-9546 or visit www.fordstheatre.org. Gary Tischler is a contributing writer to The Washington Diplomat.