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A CurtainUp Review
Around the World in 80 Days
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Why did you leave France? — Phileas Fogg I wish for a quieter life monsieur. I have yet to find a master's lifestyle which suits mine. — Passepartout. |
Evan Zes, Danel Stewart, Lauren Elyse McCord
(Photo: Sandy Underwood) |
The comedic approach has not escaped director Michael Evan Haney who has five capable actors playing more than thirty roles in the globe-trotting yarn, as compactly adapted by Mark Brown. While changing costumes, wigs, accents, genders and nationalities in a flash provide a field day for the actors, the gimmick tends to become the most admirable aspect of this rather undernourished production. The script allows for a few nicely earned laughs, but the pacing tends to lag especially during Act I. Act II is peppier with a monsoon at sea, a speeding train going over a collapsing trestle, an Indian attack, and a sled ride over ice and snow following in quick succession. This is all accomplished with considerably more brio than brilliance.
As produced by The Irish Repertory Theater in association with The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park (where it recently closed the 2007/08 season), . . . 80 Days is a modestly conceived and designed entertainment made more attractive by an array of stunning costumes, the work of David K. Mickelsen. In accordance with the story, Fogg lavishes a wardrobe fit for a princess upon Aouda (Lauren Elise McCord), the Parsi woman he rescues from being sacrificed on a funeral pyre by Thuggee worshipers. This version, which premiered in 2001 at the Utah Shakespearean Festival in 2001, is apparently geared for family audiences whose demands are met with a minimum of stage magic.
In tune with the time and locale, there are glints of Victoriana and exotica among the many props and easily adaptable adornments that grace each change of scene from Bombay to Calcutta to Hong Kong to Yokohama to San Francisco etc. Particularly amusing is how an elephant is created by a chair, a table and a steamer trunk covered with a fancy fabric. Even more in tune is the atmospheric musical accompaniment provided by two musicians at the rear of the stage.
Director Haney maintains his focus on keeping the action as frenzied as possible, even if it also seems endless in its prescribed perils. This is not to say that Phileas Fogg's madcap bet with his friends at the Reform Club to win £20,000 if he should travel round the world and make it back to the club in 80 days doesn't move with purpose and clarity. The story is a familiar one and the action designed to test the concerted talents of the four men and one woman. Although John Keating flings himself into such diverse characterizations as a Priest, Indian train conductor, and elephant owner, he registers principally as the obsessive Detective Fix, who stays close on the trail of Fogg believing him to be a bank robber. Jay Russell takes on fourteen assignments, including that of a Chinese broker, with aplomb. Evan Zes is assigned only two roles, but his primary one is portraying Fogg's French man-servant Passepartout. His French, not unlike that spoken by the irrepressible Inspector Clouzot, can best be described as ersatz ("We smoka da piss pipe").
The exception to the multiple role playing is Daniel Stewart who steadfastly remains the independently wealthy, stiff-necked, persnickety and resolute Phileas Fogg who ultimately and unwittingly succumbs to romance. It's a persuasive performance.
It is virtually impossible not to think of the recent more convulsively funny version of Hitchcock's The Thirty Nine Steps that uses four actors to play many more characters. Perhaps Haney's direction of . . . 80 Days isn't as imaginative as it could be or perhaps Brown's adaptation isn't as witty or as cleverly inspired as it might be.
Just as Fogg's goal is to arrive back home in 80 days, you may consider how lucky you are if your trip home takes you less than an hour.
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Around the World in 80 Days By Mark Brown, based on the novel by Jules Verne Directed by Michael Evan Haney Cast: John Keating, Lauren Elise McCord, Jay Russell, Daniel Stewart, Evan Zes Set Design: Joseph P. Tilford Costume Design: David K. Mickelsen Lighting Design: Betsy Adams Sound Design: David Andrew Levy Original Music/Foley Artists (musicians): Mark Parenti, Elizabeth Helitzer Running Time: 2 hours including intermission The Irish Repertory Theater, 132 West 22nd Street (212) 727- 2737 Tickets: ($60 - $55) Performances: Tuesday thru Sat at 8 PM, matinees Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 3 PM. From 7/11/08; opening 7/20/08; closing 9/07/08 Review by Simon Saltzman based on performance 07/19/08 |
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Leonard Maltin's 2008 Movie Guide