It doesn’t take long to realize Mark Brown’s ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ is more of a foray into toilet jokes and opium use than international travel.

‘Note the thinning hair, pallid complexion and insistence of wearing a turtle neck,’ said a disheveled professor bearing a strong resemblance to actor Christopher Lloyd (played by Christopher Patrick Mullen). The character asked an adult male audience member to stand and help him illustrate the ‘effects’ of opium.

‘And most astounding of all,’ he continued to joke, ‘he is actually a 13-year-old girl.’

Fake opium pipes and audience solicitations abound in ’80 Days,’ a whimsical spin on the Jules Verne novel tracing the 80-day expedition of leading man Phileas Fogg (played by Greg Wood). Directed by Russell Treyz, the show opened last Wednesday evening at Syracuse Stage and runs until Oct. 15.

Despite its slapstick appeal, the show is wrought with one major problem: it tries too hard. For the majority of its duration, the show’s five actors walk a fine line between absurdity and annoyance. Aside from obvious references to illegal substance abuse, I’m perfectly convinced that ’80 Days’-in all its jittery excess-could just as easily be transported into a second-grade classroom.

Pull out your carpet squares!

The play starts in London in the year 1872. A ‘serious’ wager (see play’s title for further details) suggested by his cronies prompts Fogg to exit the mother country. What follows is a journey filled with pilfering monkeys, fart noises, exaggerated accents and more costume changes than a Ralph Lauren runway.

The funniest thing about the play is it’s essentially about nothing. The only real conflict of the play involves a detective (Eric Hissom) trying to arrest Fogg on false charges of robbery. Oh yeah, and various feats of ripping and unzipping costumes both on and off the stage.

Here is a sampling of cheap popcorn moments: Passepartout (Brad DePlanche) gives Detective Fix a wedgie. Passepartout plays Fogg’s French butler with a fake accent sounding more like a speech impediment. At one point he is given a Native American headdress but thinks he’s really a chef. He then proceeds to imitate a turkey. Aouda (Aysan Celik), an Indian woman who plays Fogg’s love interest, imitates Rose from ‘Titanic’ with arms outstretched in a flying position.

The show’s greatest strength is its resourcefulness. Of the five cast members in the show, three of them play at least four different characters. They also recycle four chairs and a table in each scene. Not too shabby, considering Fogg, Passepartout, Aouda and the detective scramble through landscapes ranging anywhere from the lawless American West to Bombay, India.

‘The (actors) have such a palate with different characters to express,’ said Matthew Tolstoy, a freshman musical theater major. ‘It’s very entertaining.’

Constant interaction between cast and audience members also gave the play’s harebrained tone an improvisational lift. The heartiest crowd laughter stemmed from moments when characters randomly pointed to them, saying, ‘I’m watching you,’ with an eye stabbing gesture.

Playgoers may be surprised to learn there are no balloons in the play, a departure from the 2004 Disney version starring Jackie Chan as Passepartout. Ashtyn Kucher, an Owasco native with no connection to movie star Ashton Kucher, said she didn’t mind the differences between the Disney production and the play.

‘This is a lot more true to the book,’ she said.

Helene Brophy, a Syracuse resident who moved to America from France in 1992, said the excessive accents didn’t bother her a bit.

‘It’s lighter, good entertainment. Everything is funny-all gestures, jumps and imitations,’ Brophy said. ‘We need more of this. It’s entertainment at its best.’

I dare to disagree with Brophy on that last sentiment. All in all, though, the show did offer a release from the usual humdrum of more serious productions. What this play really needs are fewer antics and more creativity-at the very least a backstage bottle of Beano.

If You Go:

What: ‘Around the World in 80 Days’

When: 7:30 p.m. show runs Wednesday through Sunday until 0ct. 15

Where: Syracuse Stage

How much: $15 to $45

Published on September 25, 2006 at 12:00 pm