Sunday, October 26, 2003

SMT’s ‘80 Days’ an entertaining journey

By MORRIS SULLIVAN
NEWS-JOURNAL CORRESPONDENT

DAYTONA BEACH — The best things in life are those we least expect, and an unexpected obstacle might lead to the best surprise.

Such is the theme of Jules Verne’s “Around the World in 80 Days,” and it’s an appropriate theme for Seaside Music Theater’s pleasantly unpredictable production of the classic.

Seaside’s version opened Friday at SMT Downtown. Based on the novel by Verne, Mark Brown’s adaptation of the story follows the journey of Phileas Fogg, an eccentric and wealthy London bachelor with a quiet home on Saville Row and a membership in the Reform Club.

During a card game at the club, Fogg bets the contents of his bank account that he can go around the world and get back to the club in 80 days.

With his manservant, Passepartout, Fogg hastily sets out on the first leg of his journey. Along the way, he meets a challenge by Scotland Yard’s Detective Fix. A London bank has been robbed and Fix sees Fogg’s sudden departure as a clue to the crime; he pursues Fogg all the way around the world.

One of Fogg’s most challenging obstacles comes when he discovers that news of a cross-India railway being completed was premature. He and Passepartout rely on their wits — and Fogg’s cash — to overcome the obstacle, and in the process take on a surprise traveling companion, Aouda — the lovely widow of an Indian ruler.

It’s a story with plenty of opportunities for conflict and comedy, along with no small amount of heroism as Fogg and Passepartout make their way through a series of encounters with an assortment of odd characters.

The cast is full of energy: Not only are they called upon to compress 80 days into an evening at the theater, but the five of them play more than 30 roles.

And staging is simple, with only a table and a few chairs creating settings from Hong Kong to Calcutta and parts in between.

With the help of the adept cast and some clever direction, these simple objects become everything from a lurching elephant’s back or the rolling deck of a typhoon-tossed frigate to a train hurtling across an untamed gorge.

Along with a brief stint as Fogg’s fellow Reformer, John Sullivan, Gary Cadwallader plays his servant, Passepartout. Cadwallader is arguably one of the funniest actors on the planet, and he executes the Passepartout role with his trademark acrobatic physicality and impeccable comic timing.

Judith Cornell plays the endearing Aouda, among a handful of roles. Derrick Peterson plays Fix and more than a half-dozen other characters, swapping personalities as smoothly as he changes hats.

Scott Gilmore plays a dizzying number of characters from a stiff-collared English gentleman to a rough-and-ready ship’s captain, a bizarre ice-sled driver and a hilariously pugnacious American frontiersman.

Only Jay Douglas, who plays Fogg, enjoys the luxury of staying in one character. Douglas sustains Fogg’s cool dignity while defying death and disaster, but finally melts when facing life’s least predictable surprise: the love of a woman.