The production was conceived, staged, and directed by Harry Minturn, with swing re-orchestrations of Arthur Sullivan's music by Warden.

The starring roles were performed by Maurice Cooper (Nanki-Poo), Frankye Brown (Yum-Yum) and William Franklin (Pooh-Bah).

The New York Times reviewer, Brooks Atkinson, gave it a good, if patronizing, review, praising Cooper as "a Nanki-Poo of superior voice and articulate acting capability" but complaining that the large company of "sepia show-folk" [sic] included "some that only fumble the music."

Atkinson wrote that "after a slow start the show goes on a bender, the performers grin and strut and begin stamping out the hot rhythms with an animal frenzy.

All this is something to see and hear ... the chorus includes some dusky wenches who can dance for the Savoyard jitterbugs with gleaming frenzy, tossing their heads in wild delight ... when [the company] gives The Mikado a Cotton Club finish, they raise the body temperature considerably.