Word: fogg
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Agitprop has supervised a wide variety of events. They kicked off the year by spiffing up the midnight Halloween organ concert at the Busch-Reisinger Museum, projecting slides of grotesque paintings on the ceiling to enhance the cerie atmosphere. The Fogg has also encouraged their efforts, and Agitprop has organized a series of professorled discussions on works pulled from the museum's stored collection. Agitprop emphasizes that these discussions operate on a "passionate" rather than academic level, and that everyone's individual response is considered and appreciated. Also, the professors are not art historians, but instead discuss their "hobby-level...
Opening on a very minimal, shoddy-looking set (a white sheet with a painted Big Ben and a blue sky), we are introduced to Phileas Fogg (Colum Amory), the British explorer who one day decides to have his valet Gitano (Keith Barsky) pack his bags for a trip around the world. With the plot thus taken care of, we can get on with the music...
Characterized by a rather serious intent to capture the flavor of each exotic locale or scene and watered down by an attempt at showy, Disneyesque flair for the mass palate, each song is performed in neat, self-contained gobbets. Fogg's first number, "A Man Who Likes to Get Things Done," is accelerated from an already brisk tempo to create the sense of rush and meticulousness in which Fogg prides himself; this anal-retention is in direct contrast to the next number, Gitano's "Improvise," which feels more licentious and uninhibited, with a Spanish rhythm. This mood music then gives...
...Harvard (except for Gitano) cast serves to sing the music, and not much else; they do very little acting throughout. Colum Amory as Phileas Fogg is characterless at first, but by the end gives some emotional depth to the tight British explorer. Wynne Love as Maureen has perfected her Irish accent, and simultaneously sings and acts with soul. The chorus is unanimated in the background, providing no action or interest of note. The script doesn't allow for the actors to do very much else besides sing, and as the show progresses we are struck with the distinct impression that...
...Fogg drops his straight-laced lifestyle and starts to dance the hot Spanish number performed in the third scene, throwing all propriety, consistency, and logic to the wind. A balloon holding Gitano comes crashing with great bravado like a deus ex machina through the roof of the stage, and, with a load of Irish children, a Chinese dragon, and a cheerleader, the grand finale is performed as a bewildering spectacle of confusion. Like a ride through "It's a Small World," Eighty Days is choppy but full of energy, disappointing on the order of the musical but impressive...