Buckle your seatbelts for the original amazing race as Maurer Productions OnStage presents “Around the World in 80 Days” at Kelsey Theater weekends from Friday, October 9, to Sunday, October 18. A reception with the cast and crew follows the opening night show on October 9.
The comedy adventure features Mark Brown’s adaptation of the Jules Verne novel. Fearless adventurer Phileas Fogg and his faithful manservant, Passepartout, are racing to beat the clock after Fogg has agreed to an outrageous wager that he and Passepartout can circle the globe in an unheard-of 80 days. But Fogg’s every step is dogged by a detective who thinks he’s a robber on the run. Danger, romance, and comic surprises abound in this whirlwind show with five actors portraying 40 characters on seven continents.
The cast includes Dan Slothower of Plainsboro, who will portray Sir Francis plus 18 other roles. “It’s challenging, trying to make them all believable, remembering which accent goes with which character, which character has what facial hair, but it’s lots of fun,” he says. “I love it.”
The rest of the cast plays mostly the same characters, with a few great exceptions, who are traveling around the world. “I’m basically providing local flavor in each location,” says Slothower.
There is not much downtime during the show. “With only five of us in the cast, we’re all on stage for a large part of the show,” he says. “And when I’m not onstage, I’m changing costumes.”
Slothower has 28 costume changes, but some are as small as switching hats. He is doing 16 different accents, but some are pretty close. He does not have a dialect coach. “Just a good ear. At least I think it’s good. I may hear different opinions when people actually hear me doing the accents,” he says.
Most of his characters do not have a back story or motivation for speaking one line, but he has done some research on some of the characters with bigger roles, such as Sir Francis and Colonel Proctor, his favorite character. “He starts out as kind of a mean guy, but he comes around,” says Slothower. “He’s got the greatest range of emotions of all the characters I play.”
Slothower has also appeared at productions at Kelsey Theater including “Miracle on 34th Street,” “Spamalot,” “Sunday in the Park with George,” “The Drowsy Chaperone,” “Pirates of Penzance,” “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Oliver,” “The Sound of Music,” “The Music Man,” and more.
Slothower graduated from University of Montana with a degree in journalism and has been the director of technology communications at American Express for close to 15 years.
His wife, Kathy, has designed many costumes for productions at Kelsey Theater, Boheme Opera, and High School South. During the day she is an instructional aide at High School North, working with kids with disabilities.
Their daughters are Amy, a senior at James Madison University, majoring in theater; and Robin, a June graduate of High School South and a freshman at James Madison.
“Amy is the one who got me into acting,” says Dan. “She and I did a number of plays together and we also did several with Robin, with Kathy doing the costumes. It has been a family affair.”
Around the World in 80 Days, Kelsey Theater, Mercer Community College, 1200 Old Trenton Road, West Windsor. Drama based on Jules Verne novel. $18. 609-570-3333. www.kelseytheatre.net.
