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<P class=Blurbsubhead
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align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Play House’s take on
Verne classic an absolute joy<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=Blurbsubhead style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times
Courier<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></I></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><SPAN
style="COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Member,
International Association of Theatre Critics <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P class=managedhtml
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">This
review appeared in the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">News-Herald
</I>1/23/09<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=NewBodycopy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT face=Times
size=3> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=NewBodycopy
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">In the mid-1800s,
when Jules Verne was perfecting his writing of futuristic adventure novels, he
was advised by a publisher to add comical accents to his suspenseful stories to
make them marketable. Although his <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Around
the World in 80 Days</I> is no comedy, per se, the adaptation running at the
Cleveland Play House most certainly is. And it is an uproarious comedy at
that.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=NewBodycopy
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=NewBodycopy
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Playwright Mark Brown
has managed to reduce Verne’s massive novel without losing any of its charm, and
Los Angeles-based director Bart DeLorenzo keeps the performance moving at a
consistently vigorous clip. But it is the five actors powering the production
who are clearly responsible for the funny. The verbiage is all Verne, but its
conversion to hilarious interplay, perfectly timed repartee and genuinely witty
running gags is all Keythe Farley, Brian Sills, Michael Weber, Joe Foust and
Anna Khaja.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=NewBodycopy
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=NewBodycopy
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">It is 1872, and the
exasperatingly fastidious Victorian gentleman Phileas Fogg has made a wager with
fellow members of the elite Reform Club of London that he can circle the globe —
by rail and by steamer — in 80 days. His motivation for doing so is simply to
demonstrate that it can, mathematically, be done. Fogg is accompanied on this
most absurd adventure by his French manservant Passepartout, and is incessantly
followed from country to country by a bumbling detective who believes that Fogg
is a notorious bank robber.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=NewBodycopy
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=NewBodycopy
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Throughout this romp
— from London to Suez to Bombay to Calcutta to Hong Kong to Yokohama to San
Francisco to New York to London — Fogg and Passepartout encounter an odd
assortment of more than two dozen characters. Nearly all of them are played by
the very talented Foust. Each character is distinctive, delightful and appears
on stage through slight-of-hand transformations. Late in the production, Foust’s
costume changes are so fast and frequent that they develop into an in-joke
between the audience and the players. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=NewBodycopy
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=NewBodycopy
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Sills and Weber play
Passepart and Detective Fix, respectively, as well as a handful of minor
characters. Both brazenly chew up the scenery. Not a single opportunity to
extract something clever or comical from the dialogue is passed over, and these
fine actors hit the mark each and every time. Never do they lapse into silly or
slapstick or safe, as performers with less discipline have done in other
productions of this play, and never do they lack spontaneity or the sheer joy of
performing. They are an absolute pleasure to watch. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=NewBodycopy
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=NewBodycopy
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Farley, as Phileas
Fogg, and Khaja, as Aouda, a maiden rescued from being sacrificed during the
brief jaunt through India, have the thankless task of being Zeppos in a cast
teeming with Grouchos. That is, they are obligated to be restrained and
dignified while the comedy flies overhead. Farley and Khaja do so wonderfully.
They are interesting and thoroughly endearing and, by being so, keep the
audience engaged in the action rather than passively observing it.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=NewBodycopy
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=NewBodycopy
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">All of the crazy
action that transpires during this epic journey around the world — a wager at
the club, a monsoon at sea, a speeding train jumping a collapsing trestle, an
Indian attack, a drinking binge in Singapore, a sled ride over the frozen plain,
an elephant excursion through the jungle — takes place on one stationary set
designed by Takeshi Kata. Through clever lighting and sound effects by Lap Chi
Chu and James Swonger, magnificent costuming by Ann Closs-Farley, and the
manipulation of chairs and tables by the performers, the stately library room of
Fogg’s home becomes all things and does so sufficiently. (Audience members
unwilling to employ their imaginations will be less impressed with the
staging.)<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=NewBodycopy
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=NewBodycopy
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Plays based on novels
are often hit-or-miss and, upon close examination, Mark Brown’s work does a bit
of both. Fortunately, this troupe of performers at the Cleveland Play House
rises above the material and takes us on trip most certainly worth taking.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=NewBodycopy
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: left"
align=left><I><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P class=NewBodycopy
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: left"
align=left><I><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Around the World in
80 Days</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">
continues through Feb. 1 in The Cleveland Play House’s Drury Theatre. For
tickets, which range from $21 to $64 ($10 students), call (216) 795-7000 or
visit www.clevelandplayhouse.com.</SPAN></P>
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