Topsy-Turvy (Criterion Collection, out Mar. 29). Mike Leigh’s 1999 film about Gilbert, Sullivan, and the making of The Mikado, newly remastered and reissued by the Criterion Collection with all the usual goodies, is the best backstage movie ever made, as well as a surpassingly fine exercise in cinematic time travel. To watch it is to feel closer to the tone and texture of Victorian life than you ever thought possible. Intelligent, provocative, hugely entertaining…what’s not to like? (TT).
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
