''Around the World'' is a musical based on the 1873 Jules Verne novel, '' Around the World in Eighty Days'', with a book by

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

and music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It involves an around-the-world adventure by

Phileas Fogg Phileas Fogg () is the protagonist in the 1872 Jules Verne novel ''Around the World in Eighty Days''. Inspirations for the character were the American entrepreneur George Francis Train and American writer and adventurer William Perry Fogg. ...

. The expensive musical

extravaganza An extravaganza is a literary or musical work (often musical theatre) usually containing elements of burlesque, pantomime, music hall and parody in a spectacular production and characterized by freedom of style and structure. It sometimes also ...

opened on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

in May 1946 but closed after 75 performances. As he did with his unsuccessful 1938 stage production of ''

Too Much Johnson ''Too Much Johnson'' is a 1938 American silent comedy film written and directed by Orson Welles. An unfinished film component of a stage production, it was made three years before Welles directed ''Citizen Kane'', but it was never publicly screen ...

'', Welles shot film sequences that were integrated into ''Around the World''. This footage is lost.

History

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''. He visualized an entire circus on stage, a train running through the West, and other extravagant production ideas. He raised money from

Mike Todd Michael Todd (born Avrom Hirsch Goldbogen; June 22, 1909 – March 22, 1958) was an American theater and film producer, best known for his 1956 production of '' Around the World in 80 Days'', which won an Academy Award for Best Picture. Act ...

, producer William Goetz, and

Alexander Korda Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; hu, Korda Sándor; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956) Higham, Charles, ''Orson Welles: The Rise and Fall of an American Genius''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1985 The show had a cast of 70 and included four mechanical elephants and 54 stage hands. When Mike Todd pulled out, Welles put up his own money. He also borrowed from

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

president Harry Cohn, on a promise to write, produce, direct and star in a film for Cohn for no fee. The result was the 1947 film ''

The Lady from Shanghai ''The Lady from Shanghai'' is a 1947 American film noir directed by Orson Welles (uncredited) and starring Welles, his estranged wife Rita Hayworth, and Everett Sloane. It is based on the novel ''If I Die Before I Wake'' by Sherwood King. Altho ...

''. Playwright

John van Druten John William Van Druten (1 June 190119 December 1957) was an English playwright and theatre director. He began his career in London, and later moved to America, becoming a U.S. citizen. He was known for his plays of witty and urbane observation ...

described the musical as "enormous fun" and Joshua Logan said it was "fresh, witty, magical, exciting". 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".

Synopsis

Phileas Fogg bets that he can circumnavigate the world in 80 days, and sets out on the journey with his assistant, "Pat" Passepartout. They are pursued by the persistent but incompetent police officer Inspector Fix, who believes Fogg possesses stolen money.

Production

''Around the World'' was a play production by Orson Welles's Mercury Productions. It began pre-Broadway tryouts at the Boston Opera House,

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

on April 28, 1946; moved to the Shubert Theatre,

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

on May 7; then transferred to the Shubert Theatre,

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

on May 14. It premiered on

at the

Adelphi Theatre The Adelphi Theatre is a West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster, central London. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiv ...

on May 31, 1946, and closed on August 3, 1946 after 75 performances. It was produced and directed by Welles with circus sequences created by

Barbette Barbettes are several types of gun emplacement in terrestrial fortifications or on naval ships. In recent naval usage, a barbette is a protective circular armour support for a heavy gun turret. This evolved from earlier forms of gun protectio ...

, choreography by Nelson Barclift, costumes by

Alvin Colt Alvin Colt (July 5, 1916 – May 4, 2008) was an American costume designer. Colt worked on over 50 Broadway shows. His first job was in a theatrical fabric house, he also worked on painting scenery during the summer. '' On the Town'' was the firs ...

, set design by Robert Davison, and lighting by Peggy Clark. There were 38 sets, which Welles asked to be designed in the style of the films of Georges Méliès.Welles, Orson, and

Peter Bogdanovich Peter Bogdanovich (July 30, 1939 – January 6, 2022) was an American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian. One of the " New Hollywood" directors, Bogdanovich started as a film journalist until he was hired to work on ...

, edited by

Jonathan Rosenbaum Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for ''The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008, when he retired. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has ...

, ''

This is Orson Welles ''This is Orson Welles'' is a 1992 book by Orson Welles (1915–1985) and Peter Bogdanovich that comprises conversations between the two filmmakers recorded over several years, beginning in 1969.Welles, Orson, and Peter Bogdanovich, edited by Jon ...

''. New York: HarperCollins Publishers 1992 "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 Bret Wood is an Atlanta-based film director and author. Film career Wood was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and attended the University of Tennessee. After living in New York City, where he was hired by Kino International, he moved to Atlanta ...

. "Motion picture footage was shot and integrated into the play to heighten its mad, vaudevillian qualities." Technical problems were largely resolved before the New York opening. Welles performed various roles through the play's run, and once was required to play the lead: 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. "The audience felt blessed," wrote biographer David Thomson. "It was a spellbinding night, with Welles talking everyone—audience included—through their parts." Thomson, David, ''Rosebud: The Story of Orson Welles''. New York:

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...

, 1996, Although 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. He personally lost an estimated $320,000 () on the production. 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. After the show's failure, Welles was keen to stage it in London, where

Alexander Korda Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; hu, Korda Sándor; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956)trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

rules forbade the elaborate props and sets built for the American production, and they had to be destroyed. They proved too expensive to reconstruct, and the show never again received a full-scale staging.

Program

This is the order of the program as it appears in '' The Playbill'' for the

production beginning Friday, May 31, 1946 (pp. 17–19): ACT I. * ''Scene 1.'' Movies. * ''Scene 2.'' Interior of Jevit's Bank, London, England. * ''Scene 3.'' Movies. * ''Scene 4.'' Hyde Park. * ''Scene 5.'' A London Street. * ''Scene 6.'' Mr. Fogg's Flat in London. * ''Scene 7.'' A Street before the Whist Club. * ''Scene 8.'' The Card Room of the Whist Club. * ''Scene 9.'' Fogg's Flat. * ''Scene 10.'' The Charing Cross Railroad Station. * ''Scene 11.'' Suez, Egypt. * ''Scene 12.'' The End of Railway Tracks in British India. * ''Scene 13.'' The Great Indian Forest. * ''Scene 14.'' The Pagoda of Pilagi. * ''Scene 15.'' A Jungle Encampment in the Himalayas. * ''Scene 16.'' About the S.S. Tankadere on the China Sea. * ''Scene 17.'' Movies. * ''Scene 18.'' A Street of Evil Reputd in Hong-Kong. * ''Scene 19.'' Interior of an Opium Hell in the Same City. * ''Scene 20.'' The Oka Saka Circus, Yokohama, Japan. ACT II. * ''Scene 1.'' Movies. * ''Scene 2.'' Lola's, a low place in Lower California. * ''Scene 3.'' The Railroad Station in San Francisco. * ''Scene 4.'' Movies. * ''Scene 5.'' A Passenger Car on the Central Pacific Railway—Somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. * ''Scene 6.'' A Perilous Pass at Medicine Bow. * ''Scene 7.'' A Water Stop on the Banks of the Republican River. * ''Scene 8.'' The Peak of Bald Mountain. * ''Scene 9.'' The Harbor, Liverpool, England. * ''Scene 10.'' The Gaol in Liverpool. * ''Scene 11.'' A Cell in the Liverpool Gaol. * ''Scene 12.'' A Street in London. * ''Scene 13.'' Outside the London Whist Club. * ''Scene 14.'' Grand Tableau. Due to the size and scope of the production, the play ran approximately three hours with one intermission. Wood, Bret, ''Orson Welles: A Bio-Bibliography''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1990

Film sequences

''Around the World'' was a stage-and-screen hybrid. 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. The film is lost. "These sequences are virtually forgotten in discussions of Welles' cinema," wrote Welles scholar Bret Wood. "The motion picture segments of ''Around the World'', probably long since destroyed, would provide cineastes with an important piece of Wellesian history."

As was the ''
Too Much Johnson ''Too Much Johnson'' is a 1938 American silent comedy film written and directed by Orson Welles. An unfinished film component of a stage production, it was made three years before Welles directed ''Citizen Kane'', but it was never publicly screen ...
'' footage, the ''Around the World'' film was black and white without sound in homage to the breathless chases and adventures of the silent era. Viewing the latter footage would be of great interest because by this time Welles had considerable experience in filmmaking and had acquired a definite cinematic style, drawn largely from other films.

The "Movies" scenes provided a silent introduction (with orchestral accompaniment) to each act of the play. Other sequences included a scene inside the bank and the rescue on the S.S. Tankadere, filmed in one day at the Edison Studios; and a chase through San Francisco. The chase was filmed in Boston and, like that in ''Too Much Johnson'', featured actual locations. The edited film sequences comprised about 30 minutes of projection time in the play. Brady, Frank, ''Citizen Welles: A Biography of Orson Welles''. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1989

Featured cast

These actors were featured in the "Who's who in the cast" section of '' The Playbill'' for the

production beginning Friday, May 31, 1946 (pp. 26–32): *

Arthur Margetson Arthur Margetson (27 April 1887 – 13 August 1951) was a British stage and film actor. Margetson worked as a stockbroker before he became an actor. In 1936, Margetson married actress Shirley Grey. Filmography * ''Wolves'' (1930) as Mark (fi ...

* Mary Healy as Mrs. Aouda * Julie Warren as Molly Muggins * Larry Laurence as Pat Passepartout * Victoria Cordova as Lola * Stefan Schnabel as Avery Jevity * Brainerd Duffield as Mr. Benjamin Cruett-Spew * Dorothy Bird as Meerahlah * Guy Spaull as Ralph Runcbile * Bernard Savage as Sir Charles Mandiboy *

as Dick Fix

Songs

This is the musical program as it appears in ''The Playbill'' for the Adelphi Theatre production beginning Friday, May 31, 1946 (pp. 21–23): ACT I. * ''Scene 4.''
"Look What I Found" — Molly, Pat, Singers * ''Scene 6.''
"There He Goes, Mr. Phileas Fogg" — Fogg and Pat * ''Scene 7.''
Reprise, "There He Goes, Mr. Phileas Fogg" — Fogg, Pat, Dancers and Singers * ''Scene 12.''
"Meerahlah" — Singing Boys
Dance — Meerahlah and Dancers * ''Scene 14.''
"Suttee Procession" — Mrs. Aouda, Dancers and Singers * ''Scene 15.''
Dance — The Dancers * ''Scene 17.''
"Sea Chantey" — Singing Boys
"Should I Tell You I Love You?" — Mrs. Aouda * ''Scene 20.''
"Pipe Dreaming" — Pat and Singing Chorus * ''Scene 21.''
Oka Saka Circus — Circus Performers ACT II. * ''Scene 2.''
Dance — Dorothy Bird, Bruce Cartwright, Jackie Cézanne and Dancers
"If You Smile at Me" — Lola
Reprise, "Pipe Dreaming" — Pat
Reprise, "If You Smile at Me" — Molly * ''Scene 8.''
"Wherever They Fly the Flag of Old England" — Fogg and Singing Girls
"The Marine's Hymn" — Mrs. Aouda and Singing Boys * ''Scene 11.''
Reprise, "Should I Tell You I Love You?" — Mrs. Aouda * ''Scene 14.''
Finale — Entire Company

Reception

Critic Lewis Nichols of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' calling the musical "only fitfully amusing", noted that the production "has spared no expense in gadgets and effects. There are movies of the flicker era, a miniature train crossing a bridge ... and desperate men and bold clinging to the rails of pounding ships at sea. In other words, ''Around the World'' has the making for an hilarious evening. It does not come off because it lacks unity. There are too many styles fighting among themselves ... the dances generally are miles removed from Mr. Welles' burlesque. Finally, Cole Porter has written an inferior score, the songs being on the usual musical comedy subjects and delivered without the zest brought to the show by its mainstay. … Perhaps the best part of the show is a circus, with acrobats, a rope walker and with Mr. Welles, himself, as the magician." ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

'' magazine called the show "the most overstuffed conglomeration of circus, magic, movies, old-fashioned spectacle and penny peep shows that Broadway has seen since the days of Barnum's Museum. … For part of the time ''Around the World'' is wonderful, noisy fun. But, handicapped by Cole Porter's disappointing music and a slapdash production, it ends up like a Victorian whatnot more cluttered with junk than gems." After New York drama critic Robert Garland wrote disdainfully that the show had "everything but the kitchen sink", Welles had a kitchen sink brought to him onstage during his curtain speech. During the show's run, Bertolt Brecht went to see it, and went to congratulate Welles backstage after the show, declaring it to be "the greatest American theatre he had ever seen". After Welles's death in 1985, critic Stanley Kaufmann recalled seeing ''Around the World'', "his exuberant 1945 Broadway production … The show flopped, but sometimes I meet someone who saw it. Immediately we start to bore everyone else in the room by reminiscing about it."

Adaptations

* During the show's run, Welles was also producing, directing, writing, presenting and co-starring in the anthology radio series ''

The Mercury Summer Theatre of the Air ''The Mercury Summer Theatre of the Air'' (1946) is a CBS radio drama series produced, directed by and starring Orson Welles. It was a short-lived summer radio series sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon, on Friday evenings at 10 p.m. ET lasting 15 ep ...

''. The show's first episode, broadcast on 7 June 1946, was a heavily abridged version of the musical, truncated to meet the radio programme's half-hour format. All of the principal cast participated, and the radio broadcast remains the only recording of any portion of Cole Porter's ''Around the World'' score. Songs include "Look What I Found" (Larry Laurence, Julie Warren), "There He Goes, Mr. Phileas Fogg" (Arthur Margetson) and "Should I Tell You I Love You?" (Mary Healy). *After Welles's elaborate musical stage version of this Jules Verne novel, encompassing 38 different sets, went live in 1946, Welles shot some test footage in Morocco in 1947 for a film version. The footage was never edited, funding never came through, and Welles abandoned the project. Nine years later, the stage show's producer

made his own award-winning film version of the book.Welles, Orson; Bogdanovich, Peter; Rosenbaum, Jonathan (1992). This is Orson Welles. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 978-0060166168 * The "Lost Musicals" series presented a concert version at the Lilian Baylis Theatre,

Sadler's Wells Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-seat ...

, London, in June–July 2007.

References

External links

*
''Around the World'' production, songs, and plot at sondheimguide.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Around The World (Musical) 1946 musicals Broadway musicals Musicals based on novels musical Plays by Orson Welles Lost American films 1940s lost films Musicals by Cole Porter India in fiction Mumbai in fiction Kolkata in popular culture