The Mark Brown adaptation of AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS premiered at the Utah Shakespearean Festival in September, 2001. Though Brown's adaptation is recent, it isn't the first staged version of this novel. Jules Verne himself created an elaborate stage adaptation of AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS that opened in Paris at the Port Saint-Martin Theater in 1874. With its huge spectacle, including live elephants, the hit stage show played for a remarkable 54 years, finally closing in 1928.

As a playwright, Mark Brown has written The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge, AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (Winner of two Lillie Stoates Awards: Best Production and Best Supporting Actor), Poe: Deep Into That Darkness Peering (with Mark Rector) and The Little Prince (with Paul Kiernan).

Theatre acting credits include South Coast Repertory, Utah Shakespearean Festival, Asolo Theatre, Orlando Shakespeare Festival, Pennsylvania Shakespeare and five years at the McCarter Theatre.

Film and TV acting credits include Out of Sight, Holy Man, Ally McBeal, Providence, Diagnosis Murder, The Cape, SeaQuest, Murder in the Mirror, Gold Coast, Clover, From the Earth to the Moon and Saved by the Light.

SYNOPSIS: Phileas Fogg, a mysterious British gentleman of obvious wealth, fires his manservant. Jean Passepartout, a new, French manservant looking for a more stable, quieter life, impresses Fogg and is hired as a replacement. Meanwhile, the gentlemen of the exclusive Reform Club in London, of which Fogg is a member, are discussing a recent bank robbery. When Fogg joins them for conversation and a game of Whist, the subject turns to world travel. Read the rest of the SYNOPSIS

THE SOURCE: There are several different theories put forth as probable sources for Verne's journey around world. Verne’s grandson, Jean Jules-Verne, aware of Verne’s tremendous respect for author Edgar Allan Poe, observes that Verne wrote about several Poe short stories in an 1864 issue of the magazine Musee des Familles including Poe’s "Three Sunday’s In A Week." Read more about the SOURCE

JULES VERNE MINI-BIOGRAPHY (includes list of novels): Jules Verne, one of the most widely read authors in the world, was born in 1828 in the port city of Nantes, France. He had four brothers and sisters, Paul, Anna, Mathilde, and Marie. The son of lawyer Pierre Verne and his wife Sophie, Verne grew up fascinated by the ships he saw in the Loire River and by tales of the sea. Excited with the prospect of seeing the world, Verne even tried to run away in 1839, at age 11, as a cabin boy on a ship bound for the West Indies. Before the ship made it out to the Atlantic Ocean, however, his father caught wind of the plan, and yanked young Jules from the ship. Read on about JULES VERNE

PHILEAS FOGG AND PASSEPARTOUT'S JOURNEY: Neither the original novel nor the play go into detail regarding the European portion of Fogg's trip. Fogg and Passepartout do leave London via train from Charing Cross station, and typically, travelers to Europe would train to Dover, England. From Dover, a ferry would be caught for Calais, France, which is the closest distance between the two countries. Read more about the JOURNEY

DID YOU KNOW? That the sum of 20,000 pounds wagered by Fogg and the members of the Reform Club is approximately 4,800,000 pounds today? That is over $7,900,000! Did you know that Nantes, France, where Verne was born in 1828, is now an International Sister City to Seattle, Washington? Nantes is now a French center of maritime and aeronautics manufacturing. Read more TRIVIA

GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED IN THE PLAY: Words and quotes from the play. Go to the GLOSSARY

HISTORY OF AROUND THE WORLD TRAVEL: Long before Phileas Fogg set out to traverse the globe in eighty days, hearty explorers circled the globe looking for passage to the Far East, laying claims to new lands and territories, and collecting scientific data for research. Here are some of the highlights of around-the-world travel, pre-Phileas Fogg. Read more about WORLD TRAVEL

THE VICTORIANS: AN OVERVIEW: The period of 1837-1901 is known primarily as the Victorian age. It was so named after Queen Victoria, Queen of England and Ireland, and Empress of India (1819-1901). Read more about THE VICTORIANS

WHAT IS "SCIENCE FICTION"? Today, Verne's novels are widely considered to be the origins of what is considered modern science fiction literature. Verne combined imagination with scientific detail, marrying the two in brilliant narrative with strong, clearly etched characters. Read on about SCIENCE FICTION

In live theatre, unlike movies and television, the actors can hear (and often see) you as easily as you can hear and see them. If you comment out loud at a live show, or read or eat, you disturb not only other members of the audience but also the people on stage, thus diminishing the performance and, ultimately, your enjoyment of it.

This doesn't mean you have to remain silent. Actors want you to respond with laughter and applause; but such responses should always be genuine and appropriate to the moment. Such inconsiderate behavior as shouting, catcalling or sustained whispering, even during blackouts, can ruin the concentration of actors and audience members alike. And throwing paper or objects of any kind towards the stage is not only rude, it's also extremely dangerous to the performers.

In the event of any student misbehavior, the relevant school will be contacted and its principal informed.

We want you to enjoy your visit to Seaside Music Theater, and we rely on you to exercise your common sense and mature judgment. Thank you for being a valuable part of our audience this season.

Mark Brown's AROUND the WORLD in 80 DAYS
Move over, Mike Todd, AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS has a new adaptor and he's doing it his way.

SMT’s '80 Days' an entertaining journey
The best things in life are those we least expect, and an unexpected obstacle might lead to the best surprise.

SMT journeys 'Around the World'
The challenges are steep, but Phileas Fogg (Jay Douglas) once again makes it all the way around the world in time to win his bet in “Around the World in 80 Days,” the Seaside Music Theater production that runs through Nov. 2.

Seaside Music Theater going around world on stage
Even in this post-Concorde era, well after humans left footprints on the moon and probed Mars, “Around the World in 80 Days” still evokes wonder.