Grand tour

SOAP LAKE — There’s adventure, comedy and mystery in the Masquers Theater’s production of “Around the World in 80 Days,” opening Friday.

“You have elephants, you have typhoons, you have a (scene in India) where they’re being chased by people who are shooting at them,” said director Cynthia Beyer. “A lot of action.”

“Around the World in 80 Days” has 32 characters and was originally written for a cast of six people, Beyer said. That was a little bit much for the Masquers to take on, she said.

“One actor was supposed to do 15 parts, another was supposed to do 12,” she said. “And I’m like, yeah, we’re not professionals here. We’re community theater.”

The Masquers production has 10 actors, most of whom have three or four roles. In addition, the characters take turns doing narration between scenes.

The play, by Mark Brown, is adapted from the classic Jules Verne novel. In 1872, wealthy businessman Phileas Fogg (Blane Schafer) makes a 20,000-pound bet that by steamship and train, he can travel to India, Hong Kong, Japan, and the U.S. and arrive back in London exactly 80 days later. Fogg is accompanied by his French manservant Passepartout (Patrick Rosman) and dogged by Detective Fix (Tina Ferrill), who is convinced Fogg is a wanted bank robber. Along the way, Fogg and Passepartout sail through a storm, purchase an elephant, fight off Native Americans in a wind-driven wagon and rescue Princess Aouda (Kristina Allman) from being burned alive.

“I’m the damsel in distress,” said Allman, who plays two other characters besides the princess. “It’s a slow build. At first, (Aouda) is very timid, very shy, doesn’t say much. But toward the end she starts speaking her mind, telling the men who’s really in charge here.”

“Shooting the Apaches,” Dave Stearns interjected. Stearns plays four roles himself, as well as narrating between – and sometimes in the middle of – scenes.

“This play breaks the fourth wall quite a bit,” Stearns said. “We’re always coming straight out and addressing the audience.”

All told, there are 29 set changes, Beyer said, made possible by the stage manager, Beyer’s daughter Mistya Zaleski.

“She is a miracle worker when it comes to being a stage manager,” Beyer said. “We have ship railings, ship wheels, a judge’s bench, a train. It’s a whole bunch of (locations).”

“Our techies are amazing,” Allman said. “This show would not happen without them.”

There’s a lot for the actors to learn for “Around the World in 80 Days,” Beyer said.

“It’s a very wordy play,” she said. “You don’t realize it until you actually start listening to it or reading it. It’s a lot of words and there’s a lot of places and dates and times that you have to remember.”

Beyer helps the audience keep the places straight with signs indicating where the characters are heading next, she said: London to Suez, Egypt; Suez to Bombay, India; Bombay to Calcutta.

“The way people describe what is happening and what we are seeing, it’s really easy to get lost in that imagery,” Allman said.

‘Around the World in 80 Days’

Directed by Cynthia Beyer

April 10-26

Fridays 7:30 p.m.

Saturdays 2 and 7:30 p.m.

Masquers Theater

322 E. Main Ave., Soap Lake

Tickets and info: www.masquers.com

Cast:

Blane Schafer: Phileas Fogg

Patrick Rosman: Passepartout

Tina Ferrill: John Sullivan, Detective Fix

Kristina Allman: James Forster, Priest, Princess Aouda

Theseus Barry: Gauthier Ralph, British Consul, Director of Police, Clerk, Priest

Randy Martin: Sir Francis, Judge Obadiah, Chinese Broker, Ship Clerk

Dave Stearns: Bunsby, Proctor, Engineer, Mudge

Kathleen Rath: Speedy, Ship Engineer, Train Clerk

Jesse Casey: Andrew Stuart, Indian Conductor, Elephant Owner, Young Parsi, U.S. Conductor

Virginia Stearns: Priest, Oysterpuff, Rev. Wilson’s Servant, Newspaperman

    Philias Fogg (Blane Schafer, second from left) tries to arrange transportation by elephant with its owner (Jesse Casey) as Passepartout (Patrick Rosman) and Sir Francis (Randy Martin) look on in the Masquers Theater production of “Around the World in 80 Days.”
  

    Detective Fix (Tina Ferrill, left) talks with the British Consul (Theseus Barry) in Suez, Egypt in her pursuit of Phileas Fogg, who she believes is a fugitive criminal.
  

    Judge Obadiah (Randy Martin) reads the charges against Princess Aouda (Kristina Allman), and Passepartout (Patrick Rosman) as the clerk (Dave Stearns) looks on.