The plot of The Black Mikado does not stray far from the Gilbert and Sullivan original, except that in the musical the action is set on a Caribbean island rather than in Japan.

Theatre writer John Bush Jones says that the white Pooh-Bah was portrayed "as a lone scheming westerner, 'condescending' to serve an emerging black nationalist country for his own grafting purposes.

"[3] The rest of the cast were dressed in what were basically African and Caribbean costumes, "some of which were made to look pseudo-Japanese", and the sets were Japanese.

[5] The cast included Patti Boulaye (under the name Patricia Ebigwei) as Yum-Yum, Floella Benjamin as Pitti-Sing, Michael Denison as Pooh-Bah, Norman Beaton as Nanki-Poo, Derek Griffiths as Ko-Ko, Jenny McGusty as Peep-Bo, Vernon Nesbeth as Pish-Tush, Val Pringle as The Mikado and Anita Tucker as Katisha.

Terry Lane wrote, "Norman Beaton was a very handsome young Nanki-Poo and Patricia Ebigwei was a heart-stoppingly beautiful Yum-Yum.