Five scenes in the production were motion pictures shot and edited by Orson Welles, in silent-movie style with title cards, and alternated with live action. : 61 Film sequences Īround the World was a stage-and-screen hybrid. Outside the London Whist Club.ĭue to the size and scope of the production, the play ran approximately three hours with one intermission. A Water Stop on the Banks of the Republican River. A Passenger Car on the Central Pacific Railway-Somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. Interior of an Opium Hell in the Same City. The End of Railway Tracks in British India.
Interior of Jevit's Bank, London, England. This is the order of the program as it appears in The Playbill for the Adelphi Theatre production beginning Friday, (pp. 17–19): They proved too expensive to reconstruct, and the show never again received a full-scale staging. : 395–396Īfter the show's failure, Welles was keen to stage it in London, where Alexander Korda predicted it would be a great success, but British trade union rules forbade the elaborate props and sets built for the American production, and they had to be destroyed. Due to bad legal advice, he was unable to claim the loss on his taxes, and it took him many years to pay the debt. He personally lost an estimated $320,000 (equivalent to $4,450,000 in 2021) on the production. "It was a spellbinding night, with Welles talking everyone-audience included-through their parts." : 270–271Īlthough audiences reportedly loved Around the World, its precarious finances-and the theatre's inadequate air conditioning-could not sustain it through the summer, and Welles was forced to close it. "The audience felt blessed," wrote biographer David Thomson. Welles performed various roles through the play's run, and once was required to play the lead: : 62 On the last night of the Boston run, when Arthur Margetson lost his voice, Welles read the part of Fogg and an understudy sang the songs. Technical problems were largely resolved before the New York opening. "Motion picture footage was shot and integrated into the play to heighten its mad, vaudevillian qualities." : 61 "Some of the more spectacular scenes included a giant eagle snatching an actor from the stage, an authentic Japanese circus troupe, a live elephant, a train crossing the rocky mountains, and a troop of Marines", wrote Welles scholar Bret Wood. There were 38 sets, which Welles asked to be designed in the style of the films of Georges Méliès. It was produced and directed by Welles with circus sequences created by Barbette, choreography by Nelson Barclift, costumes by Alvin Colt, set design by Robert Davison, and lighting by Peggy Clark. It premiered on Broadway at the Adelphi Theatre on May 31, 1946, and closed on Augafter 75 performances. It began pre-Broadway tryouts at the Boston Opera House, Boston on Apmoved to the Shubert Theatre, New Haven on May 7 then transferred to the Shubert Theatre, Philadelphia on May 14.
They are pursued by the persistent but incompetent police officer Inspector Fix, who believes Fogg possesses stolen money.Īround the World was a play production by Orson Welles's Mercury Productions. Phileas Fogg bets that he can circumnavigate the world in 80 days, and sets out on the journey with his assistant, "Pat" Passepartout. However, with no story and unclear relationships between the characters, the show closed quickly, with Welles losing his savings, and the investors losing "large sums". Playwright John van Druten described the musical as "enormous fun" and Joshua Logan said it was "fresh, witty, magical, exciting". The result was the 1947 film The Lady from Shanghai. He also borrowed from Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn, on a promise to write, produce, direct and star in a film for Cohn for no fee. When Mike Todd pulled out, Welles put up his own money. The show had a cast of 70 and included four mechanical elephants and 54 stage hands.
Also, according to critical Welles biographer Charles Higham, "Porter wrote the songs far too quickly and badly". However, he had no money left for a star cast and used performers who were not well known. He raised money from Mike Todd, producer William Goetz, and Alexander Korda, who held the title's European rights. He visualized an entire circus on stage, a train running through the West, and other extravagant production ideas. After he finished shooting his 1946 film The Stranger, Welles decided to make a musical out of one of his favorite childhood books, Around the World in Eighty Days.
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