By james art
Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic operetta The Mikado comes to the Academy of Music — this time with a Scottish twist.
Amherst-based Valley Light Opera will present “The McAdo,” an adaptation of “The Mikado,” the weekends of Nov. 1-3 and 8-10. The show reimagines the story, originally set in the fictional Japanese town of Titipu, to the fictional town of Ballydew in the Scottish Highlands.
The original show is about a young traveling singer, Nanki-Poo, who comes to town to find the woman he loves, Yum-Yum, even though flirting in public is forbidden. However, Yum-Yum is engaged to Ko-Ko, who has recently been released from prison. In his new role as Lord High Executioner, Ko-Ko must behead a prisoner, but there’s another complication: he’s not allowed to cut off another’s head until he cuts off his own!
However, the libretto for Valley Light Opera’s show comes from a production staged by the Texas Gilbert and Sullivan Austin Opera Company in 2023. The original Mikado, which premiered in 1885, has a complicated history of yellowface performances (white actors performing Japanese characters), although the show is in English (with English subtitles) and was written to parody British cultural and political mores.
By moving the show to Scotland, however, this production avoids these problems. Michael Greenbaum, a founding member of Valley Light Opera, will give a lecture at 1 p.m. before each matinee performance to explain “why our enjoyment of the glory of this opera must be accompanied by a sensitivity to the issues surrounding its performance.” according to the event description.
The change in setting also includes a number of name changes: the main character Nanki-Poo, for example, is now “Nanky-Doug”; Yum-Yum, the female lead and Nanki-Poo’s love interest, is now “Wynn Somme”; the villain Katisha is “Katisho”; and Poo-Bah is “Pubagh”. Similarly, the main setting is a castle and the characters wear kilts and gowns rather than kimonos.
In “Mikado” tradition, the song “I’ve Got a Little List,” which calls out various types of pesky people who “will never be missed,” has also been updated for this production to call out “all the Ivy League conservatives and liberal elites” and “that singular anomaly, the righteous cyclist,” among other things.
Even with the changes, the core of the show — Gilbert and Sullivan’s trademark light-hearted humor, big ensemble numbers and a story about lovers who find each other despite challenges — remains the same, cast members said.
Elaine Crane, who plays leading lady Win Somme, said the show is “timeless” and “no country” and that, regardless of the setting, “The music is so beautiful. The humor is so spot on.”
Cathy Blaisdell, who plays the villain Cattyshaw, loves Gilbert and Sullivan for their wordplay and humor, but also for how well-rounded her character is.
“She’s just not mean,” Blaisdell said. “Katisho is sick too. She tries so hard to be attractive.
“I love the fact that she can be over-the-top terrible and also have these moments of real pathos,” she said.
In addition to Crane and Blaisdell, the cast also includes David Bellew (McAdoo), Brad Amidon (Nanky-Doug), Tom Griffin (Coco), Caitlin Geary (Pretty Jean), David Leslie (Pubbag), Rory Mason (Wee Joe) and Jeff Herb (Pischtusch).
There’s also the Chorus of Lassies (Lisa Amato, Equa Ampia-Boni, Nina Fischer, Hannah Holmberg, Faith Kaufman, Nicole Kelly, Elise Link, Emily Moner, Cassidy Paul, Nina Pollard and Amanda Seymour) and the Boys Chorus ( Richmond Ampia-Bonney, Bart Bales, Theodore Blaisdell, Paul Peel, Mark McMenamin, Kevin Cox, Gordon Freed, Ethan Friedman, David Meeks Barrington and Ted Fial).
Tickets are available for $20-$37 or $10 through the Card to Culture program, excluding fees, at aomtheatre.com.