ELLSWORTH – Take an executioner condemned to cut off his own head, a son fleeing the bride chosen by his father and three little maids mixed up with hijinks of the leaders of the town of Titipu and you get this year’s offering from the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Hancock County.

The society will open its production of “The Mikado” tonight at The Grand Auditorium in Ellsworth.

“The Mikado” was first produced in 1885 and was an immediate success, and has remained one of the most popular of the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas since then. In crafting the show, the duo seized on a “Japanese craze” that followed a Japanese exhibition in London, according to music director Fred Goldrich.

“There was a model Japanese village peopled with all the people you would find in such a village,” Goldrich said Thursday. “It was all terribly exciting and Gilbert and Sullivan took advantage of that situation. “That gave the show a boost right away, but now, 120 years later, there is obviously some intrinsic quality that accounts for its popularity.”

Part of the attraction, Goldrich said, is that the characters in “The Mikado” seem to be aware of the joke.

In most Gilbert and Sullivan shows, the characters are set in fantastic situations, but accept them as normal. From the opening lines of “The Mikado,” the men’s chorus introduces itself as “gentlemen from Japan,” noting that their actions are “queer and quaint.”

“No real Japanese gentlemen would admit that they were queer or quaint,” Goldrich said. “It’s clear that they are not really Japanese gentlemen, but Englishmen pretending to be Japanese.

“I think that adds a new dimension to the characters. No longer are the characters not in on the joke,” he said. “It’s a subtle point, but I think it makes the characters a little richer than they otherwise would be.”

The music of “Mikado” also is distinctive, Goldrich said. As was his habit, Sullivan uses recurring themes and melodies that appear throughout the show in many different guises. In addition, he said, the composer also relied heavily on the pentatonic scale, which is associated with Asian music.

One number, “Miya Sama” sung by the villagers of Titipu, is actually an authentic Japanese song, Goldrich said.

The Mikado centers on the fortunes of Nanki Poo, the son of the Mikado, who, to avoid marriage with an elderly lady of his father’s court, flees and hides in Titipu. He falls in love with a beautiful schoolgirl, Yum-Yum, who is the ward of Koko, Lord High Executioner.

Meanwhile, the Mikado demands that an execution take place in Titipu. Koko consents to the marriage of his ward with the disguised prince on condition that he volunteer to be beheaded at the end of the month.

But Koko is too tenderhearted to carry out the execution. Instead, he and two conspirators sign an affidavit stating that the prince has been executed. The Mikado, shown the affidavit of his son’s beheading, condemns the three to a death by “boiling oil or melted lead.”

In traditional Gilbert and Sullivan fashion, the plot is resolved with a final chorus, and most live happily ever after.

The cast this year includes Lindsay Parker, Slaney Jordan and Caroline O’Grady, as the three little maidsYum-Yum, Pitti-Sing and Peep-Bo; Debra Hange as Katisha; Irv Hodgkin as the Mikado; Zachary Field as Nanki-Poo; Dan Mills as Koko; Roland Dube as Pooh-Bah and Jim Rogers as Pish-Tush, along with a chorus of Titipu villagers.

Performances will be 7 p.m. Jan. 30-31; 2 p.m. Feb 1; 7 p.m. Feb. 6-7 and 2 p.m. Feb 8. Tickets cost $18 for adults, $14 seniors and $9 students up to age 18. Group and family discounts are available. For more information, call 667-9500.