Mika. Kid-tested, Parent-approved.

By Veronica Murtagh in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 23, 2009 7:45PM

To say we were unprepared for the scene that awaited us at Tuesday night's Mika show at the Riviera Theatre doesn't even begin to describe our misconceptions about the London-based pop crooner and his fans. We arrived expecting glitz wrapped in gloss and left surprised that theme-park theater had made it out of the shadows of roller-coasters and onto one of Chicago's most revered stages.

Opera-trained and a graduate of the Royal College of Music, Mika pushes the boundaries of mainstream pop, putting serious musicianship to work alongside pop ideals. Flamboyance, style and mirth mark both Mika's 2007 debut, Life in Cartoon Motion and this year's, The Boy Who Knew Too Much, releases reminiscent of Elton John, Freddie Mercury and the history of pop's golden past. Mika's albums foreshadowed an evening of sophisticated eye candy, theatrics and piano-accompanied sing-alongs, but unfortunately he delivered a juvenile stage show, burying the style and substance of his music under a Disney-esque carnival of poorly executed musical theatre, tacky schtick and failed humor.

Perhaps some of the burden of the evening's disappointment is our own fault, blind to the reality of Mika's fanbase of overexcited, shrieking tweens. Lyrically sophisticated, Mika always seemed a musician best appreciated by our own demographic. For example, Billy Brown tells the tale of a married man engaged in a gay affair, hardly a G-rated theme. While we applauded his ability to bridge generations with his music, our hearts were heavy and went out to Mika, expected to pull off the impossible, conflicting dual role of kid-appropriate entertainer, and mature performer.

On the long cab ride home, we wondered what advice Freddie and Elton would give to the talented musician. Can the ideals and spirit of pop's past translate to today's musical landscape? Or are restraint and compromise all that would lie in pop's future beyond the Yellow Brick Road?