Musical theater magically transports its audience to an idealized time and place where endings are all happy and legs are all broken. Enjoy all the joyful resolutions and metaphorical bone trauma of the stage with today’s Groupon: for $15, you get one ticket to any show in the upcoming season at Bakersfield Music Theatre (up to a $37 value). Performances take place at the Harvey Auditorium in downtown Bakersfield, and seating is first-come, first-serve.

A local institution for more than 40 years, Bakersfield Music Theatre pulls in patrons with a schedule of major Broadway musicals and other songful spectacles. Stop by on October 8 for a one-night-only performance of Direct from Vegas: Frank Sinatra, featuring Gary Corsello crooning un-remixed versions of Sinatra classics such as “Luck Be a Lady” and “Come Fly With Me” to the orchestral accompaniment of five full-sized musicians. The hit musical Chicago (November 13, 14, and 20) follows the exploits of a pair of femme fatales driven to murder by the stiff breezes of the Windy City, while "This and That: A Night of Song and Dance" (February 26) combines the mouth-powered melodies of Bakersfield Music Theatre with the legendary leggery of the Civic Dance Center. Hairspray (April 30, May 1, and May 7) caps the season with the tuneful tale of a teenage dance queen whose fancy footwork and well-kempt coiffure help her to defeat her enemies, the Philadelphia Eagles.

Bakersfield Music Theatre cocoons its audience in the stylish surroundings of the Harvey Auditorium, a 1,600-seat Art Deco jewel that puts ears in the mood for hearing and eyes in the mood for both seeing and tasting. Most of the theater’s performances sport local Bakersfield-area talent, giving audiences the chance to hear their neighbors’ singing voices outside of the context of supermarket checkout lines and secretly watching them shower.

Reviews

Four Yahoo! Locals give the Bakersfield Music Theatre a 4.5-star average, and the theatre has more than 400 Facebook fans:

• We bought season tickets this year and haven't regretted it. Each show displays such wonderful talent! The productions are absolutely wonderful! – Patricia, Yahoo! Locals
• How such a small town can produce such big winners ... – nickybkrsfld, Yahoo! Locals