big life; small space

When I was a junior in college, our theatre company did Mikado in collaboration with the college concert choir. I was taking a poetry course--I forget what, alas--with the professor who was playing Katisha. She had a splendid contralto, very good for the part, and Ko-Ko was played by one of the guys in my class, the cute gay guy that all the girls in his major had crushes on (including me). His name was Chris and he had blue eyes that crossed like a Siamese cat's. All semester long they talked about the show in the idle minutes before class officially started, and on opening night, which fell on a class day, Mrs. A. (Katisha) was so nervous she could barely lecture. My mother and I went to see the production and it was great fun. I've seen Mikado live twice and seen Topsy-Turvy two or three times as well.