Around the World in 80 Days is a wonderful evening of entertainment that is antic, inventive, imaginative and with the pacing of a farce. It’s masterfully designed and directed by Rachel Klein, who guides six terrific performers through 39 roles and 40 scene changes in a play that gives everyone a workout, including the audience, and still leaves you smiling.
Mark Brown has adapted the Jules Verne novel into a play that works on a small stage in a small theater. Scenic designer Robert Andrew Kovach transforms the small, newly refurbished New Theater at 45th Street into an environment capturing the feel of 19th Century London. English gentleman Philias Fogg, played with droll wit and perfect timing by Bryce Ryness, makes a potentially life-changing wager at a gentlemen’s club in London. He has bet that he can circumnavigate the world in 80 days.
Ryness is the only actor of the talented cast who plays one role. John Gregorio is perfect in his principal role as the antic and acrobatic man-servant, Passepartout. He is the anchor that keeps Philias somewhat on time. He is equally good in the various other characters he puts on during the course of the race. Dogging Philias’ trail from London is Detective Fix, always one step behind and convinced he is on the trail of a bad guy. Stephen Guarino plays this character and a bunch of others with perfect timing and accents. The switching from one to another is blindingly fast. And speaking of fast switches, Shirine Babb goes from cockney newsboy to the Indian Princess Aouda with pitch-perfect timing and accents. Rounding out this incredibly adept cast is Jimmy Ray Bennett as Sir Francis and a host of others. The fast-paced action taking place on a two-story set with multiple scene changes and costume and character changes requires a group of actors who are perfectly in sync and can adjust their actions to each other as if they were a single organism. In fact, there are 22 scene/action changes in the first Act alone, with brilliantly inventive props used in imaginative ways. None of this would have been possible without the support of a technical team composed of Ben Kato for lighting, Kate Freer for projections, Kae Burke for costumes, and Sean Hagerty for handling the pulsing, immersive sound design. Last, but by far not the least, are Cedric Yau and the Yow! Theater Company for producing such a wonderful evening of entertainment. He took a risk, and the results are first rate and strongly recommended.
