TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Singer/actor/designer Jason McClain, a long-time favorite of local theater, is leaving Bakersfield for what can only be described as a dream job: singing and dancing while sailing to exotic ports on an ultra-luxury cruise liner.

McClain leaves Monday for San Francisco to begin rehearsals for his new job as an entertainer for Silversea Excursions, a cruise line owned by the Lefebvre family of Rome, Italy, and based in Monaco.

"They're pretty intimate cruise ships -- only about 500 passengers per ship," said McClain, who will be performing on the Silver Spirit, which, according to the company's website, is the newest vessel in the fleet and the company's flagship. McClain said he auditioned for the company in January.

"In this particular case it was a case of 'who you know,'" McClain said. "My brother-in-law was hired to play for the auditions, and he called me."

McClain said he was asked to prepare an aria and a pop song and to come prepared to dance.

"(The auditioning committee) said they were going to show my tape to the musical director --they liked me," McClain said. "And they told me to stay available."

McClain said he was one of six singers hired for the cruise liner. He will be performing in four regular stage shows, plus cabaret shows, which will feature his own material.

"Those will be very much like the shows I would have done at Stars," McClain said.

Jon Johannsen, who has directed McClain over the course of decades, said McClain's ability to sing classical and pop music, as well as theater music, should make him a featured performer.

"It's his versatility that needs to be recognized," Johannsen said.

Since receiving his contract a week ago, McClain said he has been buried in all the paperwork necessary for international travel. After rehearsals in San Francisco, he will fly to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and board ship on March 14. From there, he will sail first to Mexico and ports in South America, then to the Mediterranean until September.

McClain has been part of the local theater scene since 1991 and has appeared at productions for Bakersfield Music Theatre, Stars Dinner Theatre, Bakersfield Community Theatre, plus shows around the valley and in San Francisco. He has also been much in demand as a solo performer.

Among his favorite credits are starring in "Cabaret," "Barnum," "Into the Woods," and "Lend Me a Tenor," McClain's personal favorite. He is perhaps best-known as Joseph in three heavily attended productions of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."

"I easily performed to at least 20,000 people with just those three performances," McClain said.

In addition to his stage credits, McClain has worked behind the scenes as a set designer and director. He has taken those skills outside of the theater, starting his own design and event planning business, gogogo'design.

McClain said if all goes well, he may get a shot at a production management position and a renewed contract, which would give him another six months at sea. But he said he's not really cutting any local ties.

"I had never (performed on a cruise ship) before, but I had considered it more than a few times over the years," McClain said. "The timing just worked out; I'm not in a show right now, and I don't have any big projects right now."