ON THEATER: Going ‘Around the World’

The Laguna Playhouse generally manages to bring new attractions to the stage — even when the live production might be quite new but the original material has been around for eons.

Such is the case with “Around the World in 80 Days,” playwright Mark Brown’s stage adaptation of the classic Jules Verne novel which was transformed into an award-winning movie in 1956 by famed showman Mike Todd. It opens Saturday and will be on the playhouse stage through Feb. 8.

Brown’s personal journey to put this epic story on the stage began in 1999 and was realized in 2004 when it was named “best theatrical comedy” by the Sacramento Bee. Since then, the show has been produced, literally, around the world.

So how do they get that balloon on stage? They don’t. There’s no balloon.

“There’s no balloon in the book,” Brown declares. “There’s no balloon in my script. It’s the curse of the movie, really. The one with David Niven that won five Academy Awards. The film had a balloon ... but there’s no balloon in the book, and there’s no balloon in this show.”

For such an ambitious undertaking, the production uses only five actors to play some three dozen roles.

Brown trimmed his script after originally mounting a version using the original material and discovered his first act was two hours long.

“We would have needed a dinner break to do the entire play,” he laments.

For the uninitiated, “Around the World” focuses on a London dandy, Phileas Fogg, who bets his fellow club members that he can travel around the globe in a mere 80 days.

This presents a prodigious challenge, since the story is set in the 1870s.

Accompanied by his trusty manservant (a role that won Mexican actor Cantinflas an Oscar for the movie), he proceeds to do so, encountering romance, adventure and a collection of colorful characters en route.

Director Michael Butler faced his own set of challenges when he staged an earlier production in 2006.

“The script does not tell you how to do it,” he comments. “You have to come up with a way to do things. It’s sort of like running a steeplechase that was designed by insane clowns. I love it. I’m constantly devising how to do something. It’s up to the director and actors how mad they want to be.”

Laguna audiences will find out how mad Butler and his actors can be when the show opens Saturday for a four-week engagement.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: “Around the World in 80 Days”

WHERE: Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road

WHEN: 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays until Feb. 8

COST: $25 to $65

CONTACT: (949) 497-2787 or www.laguna playhouse.com

TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Coastline Pilot.