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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse's
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
Verdict: Big musical with gay elephant
Liverpool/Guildford/Richmond - Dec02/Feb03
Here's a glowing version of Jules Verne's classic race against time, newly spiced with a triple love story.
It's 1873, and bachelor Phileas Fogg, of 7, Saville Row, Burlington Gardens, is 'one of the most noticeable members of the Reform Club'. Accompanied by his French manservant Passepartout, he accepts a bet to circumnavigate the globe before Christmas. Out to sabotage the voyage is evil Captain James Fix - bounder and runaway fiance.
From London to India, to Japan, Hong Kong, the Wild West, across the Humboldt range to the Mormon capital of Salt Lake City, and (perhaps) back to London, Fogg, Passepartout, and Fix race against days - and looming love affairs with gorgeous Parsee Pricess Auoda, Parisian Irish can-can dancer Katy O'Flatherty, and virginal (but keen to change) Miss Fotherington - towards enormous financial gain (or loss) and increasingly likely matrimony.
Blissful ending, or disaster? Staged over Christmas and suitable for children, the odds favour happiness, but it's a taut struggle, abetted by gay elephant Eugene.
Phil Willmott's production is a magnificent spectacle, with big songs, big design, spectacular sets and a cast in a million.
Stephen Beckett delivers Fogg with fine authority; it's a subtle piece of acting combining the determination of a lonely Victorian bachelor with the emergence of long suppressed emotions. Verne's writing, and Willmott's adaptation, describe a surprisingly complex man, and Stephen Beckett's performance evokes this with elegant (and elephant, in the delightfully sung Trumpety Trump) conviction.
Emma Thornett's Princess Auoda is a woman of elegance, strength, sophistication, and iron determination. This is an Auoda both regal and a bit raunchy. Emma Thornett's gloriously rich, sexy and tuneful voice brings out the emotion of each of her songs - particularly 'Sorry dragon, I Can't Dance With You'; the charming duet with Fogg: 'That's What I Love - I Think'; 'I Don't Need A Man'; and the moving 'How Was I To Know I Loved Him'?
Timothy Mitchell's impish Jean Passepartout, a kind of French Artful Dodger, is the perfect foil to the resolutely English Fogg. Tim Mitchell delivers a resourceful and inspired Passepartout in whose hands everything can go wrong, but all is recoverable. Verne's / Willmott's characterisation is again immensely subtle, and Tim Mitchell evokes a comic and dramatic delight - who dances and sings too, to perfection.
Chevaun Marsh's Katy O'Flatherty is wonderful to behold - elegance in each gesture, her voice subtle, strong and melodious. It's a witty portrayal, genuinely comic but with pathos and credibility. Chevaun Marsh has a gifted line in floozies - from the opium den scene to the Wild West - and Mormon wives - each with panache, poise and grace of dance.
The pepper to all this goodness is the magnificent Dominic Gray (Captain Fix). His James Fix is a villain some way beyond hiss - a stunningly evil man to whom no trick's too far below the belt - a platinum cad. A singer with superb timing and force, his 'Bang, Bang, Bang' is one of the great numbers of the show; as is his opium song and routine. There's an art all of its own in the portrayal of stage demons - there needs to be a genuine shiver of fear. Dominic Gray's your man.
Jane Lucas presents a splendid Miss Fotherington. Here's a Victorian lady betrayed in betrothal, robbed and abandoned (by dastardly Fix), but still looking on the bright side. Jane Lucas evokes all of this via a Fotherington of easy cheerfulness that's exactly apt for the part. Her Miss Fotherington provides the contrast of charm to the wild, driven characters travelling by her side.
Cornelius Clarke is a splendid Elder Hitch, of many wives, and imperious Queen Victoria, among other finely evoked roles. Joe Fredericks is a gifted Dr Watson, and a large range of other characters, each defined with clarity and subtle humour. Damian Jones is a contrasting Sherlock Holmes, delivering also several fine performances in his various roles, each a delight.
Haruka Kuroda is a splendid Mrs Chang - her portrayal of the host of the opium den ensuring its future inclusion in everyone's Far Eastern itinerary; her singing and dancing a delight; a great Wild West gal, too, and Mormon wife. Emma Manton shows delicacy and subtlety in each of her many performances - from Parisian brothel to American saloon, from Salt Lake City to her role as Queen Victoria's Lady In Waiting, Watkins. Emma Manton dances and sings each with élan.
Around The World In 80 Days has the benefit of a superb cast of 11, great songs (and only one clunker), and a well-written script; sensitively written and delivered music; blissful choreography, witty and imaginative design (stunning sets and balloons - toy trains and boats across the stage for the crossings a particular delight); remarkable lighting; astounding puppets (two spectacular elephants); remarkable and opulent costumes. This is a team that's thought big, and achieved it triumphantly.
Can we have this back in London again, please?
Cast Credits (alpha order):
Stephen Beckett (Phileas Fogg),
Cornelius Clarke (Elder Hitch, Queen Victoria),
Joe Fredericks (Doctor Watson),
Dominic Gray (Captain Fix),
Damian Jones (Sherlock Holmes),
Haruka Kuroda (Mrs Chang),
Jane Lucas (Miss Fotherington),
Emma Manton (Watkins - Queen Victoria's
Lady in Waiting),
Chevaun Marsh (Katy O'Flatherty),
Tim Mitchell (Jean Passepartout),
Emma Thornett (Princess Auoda).
Company Credits (programme order):
Writer - Jules Verne. Phil Willmott (Director and Writer - Script, Lyrics and Tunes), Annemarie Lewis Thomas (Musical Director), Jack Gunn (Choreographer), Cleo Pettitt (Designer), Hansjorg Schmidt (Lighting Designer), Mervyn Millar (Puppet Design and Direction), Brian D Hanlon (Costume Supervisor), Jo Beddoe (Executive Director, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse), Karin Gartzke (Chief Executive, Richmond Theatre).
END
John Park
reviewed 7 Feb 03 / Richmond Theatre, London
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
www.fringereport.com
