2011 Festival ranges from epic to edgy with Company's new production of the ever-popular Mikado; its first Baroque opera, Handel's Julius Caesar; its largest production to date, Verdi's Il Trovatore, and its first Philip Glass piece, Hydrogen Jukebox FORT WORTH, Texas, April 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Spanning 266 years, Fort Worth Opera's 2011 season ranges from Handel's magnificent Julius Caesar -- the company's first Baroque-era opera -- to the gritty 1990 chamber work Hydrogen Jukebox, a collaboration between composer Philip Glass and Beat Poet Allen Ginsberg, and rounds out with Verdi's larger-than-life Il Trovatore and a new production of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic farce The Mikado.

On November 24, SonyBMG will release The Best of Gilbert and Sullivan by theatrical quintet the Gala Ensemble, aiming to bring their music back to the masses.The deal will see songs from comic operas such as Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado and HMS Pinafore receive a "fresh and uplifting" new recording, the label said.

By PATSY FULLER GILBERT and Sullivan's muchloved Mikado is undergoing a spectacular makeover... in black and white. All the costumes, sets and props will be in monochrome when Spa Opera perform the light-hearted operetta at the Spa Centre in Leamington later this month.

MONMOUTH - The Theater At Monmouth will once again bring the wry comedy and joyous music of Gilbert and Sullivan to the Cumston Hall stage with its production of "The Mikado." The comic classic will run Sept. 26 to Oct. 5. "The Mikado" takes place in the fictional Japanese town of Titipu.

By Erica Hansen Deseret News "PIRATED!" Rodgers Memorial Theatre, through Sept. 6, (801-298- 1302); running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes (one intermission) Romp: n. A high-spirited, carefree and boisterous play.