World premiere of Colorado-born ‘Legend of Anne Bonny’ is simply a ton of fun.

The pirating career of Anne Bonny lasted 61 days in 1720, but her gender has made her one of the most famous pirates in history. Since then, her story has fueled a number of popular culture narratives despite relatively thin source material.

Now, Anne has sailed into Colorado in a new musical jointly produced by Two Cent Lion and Shifted Lens theatre companies. This inspired world premiere is now up at the Aurora People’s Building.

Written by Colorado’s Emy McGuire, The Legend of Anne Bonny takes the bones of the story and fleshes it out into a full-blown musical that’s genuinely impressive. On opening night, an enthusiastic packed house cheered on the sizeable cast and live band as they depicted the events of Bonny’s whirlwind three months in the West Indies doing all kinds of pirate stuff. Along the way, she’s juggling a romance with Captain Jack Rackham and a growing interest in a younger man who turns out to be a woman named Mar Reed (played by McGuire).

The production itself had a few wrinkles to iron out, and the first act is a bit muddy here and there regarding how all these plot pieces fall into place. But by intermission, the audience was all aboard as McGuire’s story balanced the non-stop action with a love triangle that leans into the queer angle of Bonny seeing Read as a much better partner.

Jysten Atom as Captain Jack Rackham in ‘The Legend of Anne Bonny.’ | Photo: Kalen Jesse Photography

Motley crew

Director Lexie Lazear has some strong talent to work with, starting with a perfectly cast Savannah Vedovatti as Bonny (who also stood out in this summer’s production of Something Rotten at Conifer’s StageDoor Theatre.) The script has plenty of corny pirate stuff as well as a timeworn theme of a character yearning to be free, but Vedovatti’s performance nicely balances embracing it all without going over the top.

With an irrepressible pluck that reminded me of the Luffy character in the One Piece pirate manga, this Anne Bonny goes from bored housewife to sapphic swashbuckler in the blink of an eye (remember, she’s only got three months). Vedovatti winks, grins, postures, shimmies and fights her way through scene after scene — daring the rest to keep up. McGuire is splendid as the reserved Mar who falls for Bonny’s joie de vivre. By the second act, they’re inseparable and a convincing pair of lovers looking for a way to stay together.

As Rackham (aka Calico Jack), Jysten Atom is tremendous as a lazy drunkard of a pirate who’s convinced the crew he’s the best by sheer bluster and bullshit. I recalled Atom from a standout performance as the doctor in Firehouse Theater’s Blues for an Alabama Sky earlier this year. With Anne Bonny, he has the unenviable task of being a boorish, stereotypical male lout in a show where lesbians are the heroes. Even so, Atom manages to make Jack a sympathetic character as he watches the flimsy pirate-life world he’s so enjoyed disintegrating all around him.

Also in the mix is the pirate-turned-pirate-hunter Johnathan Barnet, played by Eli-Leon Harvey. This is a trickier part to manage since Barnet isn’t on the same ship, leading to a number of cutaways that take the action down somewhat. Barnet’s hatred for Jack isn’t fully fleshed out, but Harvey nonetheless is convincing as a morally tormented character clearly at odds with whatever pirate’s code might exist as Barnet pursues his former shipmates.

One other element worth noting is the strong fight choreography by Chrys Duran. There’s a great deal of swordplay and hand-to-hand combat in the show, and Duran and the cast made it all look fairly realistic.

Eli-Leon Harvey, left, and Emy McGuire in ‘The Legend of Anne Bonny.’ | Photo: Kalen Jesse Photography

Production

Working in The People’s Building black-box style space, Scenic Designer Cole Mahlmeister put together a practical set that evokes scenes in Nassau as well as shipboard without going too, ahem, overboard. We don’t need a full ship to get the idea, and the simple wooden set pieces with nautical bling here and there was plenty.

Sound Designer Aspen McCart adds some ocean sounds where appropriate and the sound levels were dialed in to allow us to hear all the songs clearly. And with what I assume was a modest budget, Lazear did an excellent job doubling as the costume designer, decking out the crew with an colorful array of looks to evoke 18^th century seagoing folk.

It’s not easy to do a pirate story without veering into schmaltzy stereotypes — particularly if you’re trying to have fun with it. And while the show has plenty of that, there’s enough human story to make Anne Bonny enjoyable on another level.

Anne’s seemingly ludicrous pursuit of “a pirate’s life” evolves into a more nuanced exploration of someone trying to shake up her life by any means possible. By stumbling into a relationship with another woman — not an easy thing to navigate today, much less in 1720 — we see a woman who’s completely cast aside the ties she had to her previous life. Leaving behind her husband, James (a suitably douche-y Johnny Thornton) who barely registers her presence is, for her, a no-brainer. In Mar, she finds someone who truly sees her, and that awakening, that possibility of true love, powers the second act to its tragically inevitable conclusion.

Driven by a live band, the score is a mix of sea shanties and folksy tunes along with some ballads. And while the choreography could use some work, the whole effort comes across as incredibly ambitious and passionate — the kind of show where the love and effort that went into bringing it to life resonates in every performance.

In Toni Tresca’s Westword preview about The Legend of Anne Bonny, McGuire is quoted saying she’d like to see the show go all the way to Broadway. With a nip and tuck here and there and a bit of luck, I’d say that seems entirely possible.

Savannah Vedovatti, left and Emy McGuire in ‘The Legend of Anne Bonny.’ | Photo: Kalen Jesse Photography

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