The Theatre: Mika-deo-do

In Chicago last September the Federal Theatre poured old wine into a new bottle and got the whole town tipsy. Their Mikado, with an all-Negro cast, a South Sea Island setting and swing interpolations, became a smash hit overnight, in five months broke all Federal Theatre records by playing to 250,000 people and clearing $35,000 at a $1.10 top.

By the first of this year two Manhattan producers—Michael Todd and Alfred de Liagre Jr.—were planning separate swing productions of The Mikado on Broadway. When the Federal Theatre decided to bring its own production East,...

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