For the last several years, Bakersfield College has been doing a musical stage production each summer. This combines many of the different arts departments, including the orchestra, which is, in my opinion, fabulous.
You can read my posts about the last two summers, when they did Something Rotten (2024) and The Scarlet Pimpernel (2025). The level of talent at BC, combined with a truly outstanding and dedicated faculty, has led to an impressive run of plays the last few years, on all of their various stages.
Pirates! The Penzance Musical is a reimagined version of the Gilbert and Sullivan classic. While I am disappointed in general about how rarely G&S are performed these days, particularly here in Bakersfield, I do understand that not everyone is as fond of the faux-Mozart music and very Late-British-Empire plots.
Hence, I definitely wanted to see this one, to see what a new twist might look like. And, of course, because BC always puts on a good show for a great price and I will never get tired of cheering for our local kids.
This new musical is still credited to Gilbert and Sullivan, with the “adaptation” by Rupert Holmes with a few additional names credited as “conceived by” and “orchestrations.” It is a bit hard to figure out exactly what all that means, and there are a lot of names involved. Perhaps a revision by committee?
Anyway, the first major change is to the music. While the tunes are intact, they have mostly been rewritten in a dixieland jazz style, to go with the musical’s new location in New Orleans.
There are also some cuts, and two songs that have been stolen from other G&S musicals: “We Sail the Ocean Blue” from HMS Pinafore is now “We Sail the Ocean Blues”; while the criminally underperformed “Nightmare Song” is borrowed from Iolanthe and repurposed to show the Major General’s guilty conscience.
And I must say, the Nightmare Song really is too much fun, with creative staging to go with the hilarious lyrics.
As I noted, the plot is moved from the coast of England (and the jokes that we Americans don’t really get) to New Orleans. The pirates are now more genuine (and appropriately diverse) ruffians from the Caribbean, and the Major General is a British ex-pat with his various daughters presumably conceived during his “Dion DiMucci” era.
The other significant change to the plot is to the ending. In the original, of course, the “pirates” are revealed to all be misplaced aristocrats, and since they are “high born,” that explains everything and they can go inherit their money and stuff.
Which is not a particularly American sort of ending, to say the least. It is, however, silly, and in keeping with a whole tradition of British comedy.
I won’t reveal the new ending other than to say that it is also silly and nonsensical, because, well, this is G&S after all.
With all of that out of the way then, how about the production?
There was so much to like, from the costumes to the creative choreography, that I will just mention in passing. I am sure others will see specifics that I missed.
For me, I will once again say that having a real orchestra with strings, even a modest sized one to fit in the pit, is a great touch. Scott Dirkse has done good work with this group, and they sound great. No, this isn’t a professional Broadway union orchestra, it’s a community college group with some additional local pros helping out, but they do themselves proud, and really add to the experience. Nothing replaces live instruments.
The sets this time were amazing, I must say. Both sides of the stage had recreations of old New Orleans two stories tall. There was an actual moving ship. (My kid who is into the age of sail informs me it is a boat, but come on, you can’t fit three masts on a stage that size!) It was a show stopping moment when it sailed on stage. It will make you smile.
This show calls for a big cast, and it definitely had that, with only a moderate need for doubled parts.
The ensemble singing was excellent, with solid pitch and balance, and remarkably few minor issues with cutoffs considering it was opening night. Ken Burdick (a stage veteran of decades and teacher) had them coached very well.
There are two many minor roles to name specifically, but kudos to the entire cast for a great job.
I do want to mention a few of the leads. Adrian Francies played the part of Gilbert (in the framing story) and Major-General Stanley, and he was riveting every time he was on stage. And yes, the famous patter song was all that. His acting, though, was strong, even during the nightmare song when his part was pure pantomime. (John Gerhold, recently retired professor, sang the song as well as acted in the ensemble.)
His arch-nemesis, the pirate king, was played by the equally bold and memorable Christian Bradford, who swaggered and sneered and made general mischief throughout. An excellent voice, both for spoken word and song - I’d go see him in any role.
The young couple was, well, young, but handled their roles well. Luke Kratt as Frederic was handsome and upright and all that he should be. I feel he hasn’t yet quite come into his full singing voice - and a couple of microphone issues didn’t help - but full credit for good pitch and staying fully in character while singing. He has a bright future at BYU ahead of him.
Elena Baker-Hart as Mabel showcased her full voice and sense of comedic timing. In this version, she is no simpering Victorian girl waiting for her prince. She has a more full role in the proceedings, which is nice to see.
Finally, Alexandra Mackenzie in the role of Ruth was outstanding. She/they perform in the local drag scene, as well as a bunch of other theater-related stuff. In this role, they found a simultaneously androgynous and campy vibe for a role that was written originally in a rather dated “hey, let’s laugh at the poor ugly woman who will never find a man” way. In this version, Ruth could be funny and not make you feel guilty for laughing. After all, the issue for her really is more one of age - Frederic needs someone who isn’t old enough to be his mummy. And Ruth can just be daft and a bit of a wild card in the plot, drawing laughs because she is goofy, not because we feel sorry for her. So, really kudos to Mackenzie for taking a difficult role and making it their own.
This show runs this weekend from Thursday through Sunday, so if you are in the area, go see it. You can get tickets online here, or at the door.
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