Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic operetta “The Mikado” has landed at the Academy of Music — this time, with a Scottish twist.

Amherst-based Valley Light Opera opened “The McAdo,” an adaptation of “The Mikado,” last weekend, and offers performances this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The show reimagines the story, which was originally set in the fictional Japanese town of Titipu, into the fictional town of Ballydew in the Scottish Highlands.

The original show is about a young traveling minstrel, Nanki-Poo, who comes to the town to find the woman he loves, Yum-Yum, though flirting in public has been outlawed. Yum-Yum, however, is betrothed to Ko-Ko, who was recently released from prison. In his new role as the Lord High Executioner, Ko-Ko is required to decapitate a prisoner, but there’s another complication: He’s not allowed to cut anyone else’s head off until he first cuts off his own!

The libretto for the Valley Light Opera’s show, however, comes from a production put on by Texas opera company Gilbert and Sullivan Austin in 2023. The original “The Mikado,” which premiered in 1885, has a complicated history of yellowface performances (white actors performing Japanese characters), even though the show is in English (with English supertitles) and was written to parody British cultural and political mores.

In moving the show to Scotland, however, this production avoids those issues. Michael Greenbaum, a founding member of Valley Light Opera, will give a talk at 1 p.m. before every matinee performance to explain“why our delight in the glories of this opera should be accompanied by sensitivity to issues surrounding its performance,” according to the event description.

The change in setting also includes a number of name changes: protagonist Nanki-Poo, for example, is now “Nanky-Doug”; Yum-Yum, the female lead and love interest of Nanki-Poo, is now “Wynn Somme”; the villain Katisha is ”Katishaugh”; and Poo-Bah is “Pubagh.” Likewise, the main setting is a castle, and the characters wear kilts and dresses rather than kimonos.

Per a “Mikado” tradition, the song “I’ve Got a Little List,” which calls out different types of annoying people who ”never would be missed,” is also updated for this production to call out “all Ivy League conservatives and liberal elites” and “that singular anomaly, the righteous bicyclist,” among other things.

Even with the changes, the core of the show — Gilbert and Sullivan’s trademark lighthearted humor, the grand ensemble numbers and a story about lovers finding each other despite challenges — remains the same, cast members said.

Elaine Crane, who plays the leading lady Wynn Somme, said that the show is “timeless” and “country-less” and that, no matter the setting, “The music is so beautiful. The humor is so on point.”

Kathy Blaisdell, who plays the villain Katishaugh, loves Gilbert and Sullivan because of their skills with wordplay and humor but also because of how well-rounded her character is.

“She’s just not all evil,” Blaisdell said. “Katishaugh is also heartsick. She’s trying so hard to be lovable.

“I love the fact that she can be over-the-top horrible and also have these moments of real pathos,” she said.

Besides Crane and Blaisdell, the cast also includes David Belew (The McAdo), Brad Amidon (Nanky-Doug), Thom Griffin (Coco), Katelyn Geary (Pretty Jean), David Leslie (Pubagh), Rory Mason (Wee Jo) and Jeff Erb (Pischtusch).

There’s also a “Chorus of Lassies” (Lisa Amato, Ekua Ampiah-Bonney, Nina Fischer, Hannah Holmberg, Faith Kaufmann, Nichole Kelly, Elysse Link, Emily Moner, Cassidy Pawul, Nina Pollard and Amanda Seymour) and a “Chorus of Lads” (Richmond Ampiah-Bonney, Bart Bales, Theodore Blaisdell, Paul Peelle, Mark McMenamin, Kevin Cox, Gordon Freed, Ethan Friedman, David Mix Barrington and Ted Fijal).

Tickets are available for $20-$37 or $10 through the Card to Culture program, not including fees, at aomtheatre.com.