Around The World In 80 DaysIt is 1872 and two astonishing headlines appear in the Daily Telegraph:
A gentleman robber has stolen 55 thousand pounds from the Bank of England AND By using trains and steamboats you can now go Around the World in 80 Days. A wager is placed and gentleman, Phileas Fog, sets out to prove the latter as the world tries to find the gentleman bank robber. Rescue a Princess in India! Be attacked by fierce prairie Indians! Sail a burning Atlantic paddle-wheeler! All this and more as Fogg tries to win his wager. Gotham Radio Theatre will present their original radio drama,'Around The World In 80 Days’, adapted by Sydnie Grosberg Ronga on March 18th at 3:30 pm at the SchoolHouse Theater and Art Center in Croton Falls, New York.
Cast: Michael Iannucci, Brian Cheng, Bob Ader, Vince Trani and Megan Mekjian. Directed by Sydnie Grosberg Ronga, Stage Management Josephine Ronga, Sound Design by Abi Degay, Music created by Vince Trani. We will perform March 18th at 3:30 pm at the SchoolHouse Theater & Art Center in Croton Falls, New York. Note: the theater is located in the Village of Croton Falls - HOWEVER - Our GPS address is: 3 Owen(s) Road, North Salem, NY 10560 Buy Tickets HERE |
John Dough as Phileas Fogg
John is so thankful to the Gotham Radio Theatre Company. To help cure him of a bout with amnesia they chipped in a month of royalty checks (Irene Dahlia decided the new sable could wait until next season... isn’t she a darling) and sent him to Basel, Switzerland to work with renowned psychiatrist Carl Jung. After meeting John, Dr. Jung suggested 5 hours of therapy a day 6 days a week. And low and behold John’s memory has returned. While eating lots of chocolate and looking at clocks in Switzerland, he started to remember that he comes from a singing family. His mother, Ramona, sang the role of Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute all over the Northwest Territory and his father, John Sr. was Nelson Eddy’s stunt double in numerous movies So John may burst into song at any given moment because he is just so darn happy to have his memory back. Since his memory has returned John has appeared with Luise Rainer on tour in Peg of my Heart and with Flora Robson in Liliom. Now that all the pieces of the puzzle have come together for John...he feels the world is his oyster...even though he’s allergic to them.
Lilly Malloy Passepartout
Was born in Ireland. Her grandfather was the sole survivor of the Potato Famine. Her mother left the country life for Dublin, where she was a seamstress for the famous Abby Theatre. Literally growing up in a theatre, Lilly started acting at a young age, playing in the first production of Peter Pan in Dublin. As a young actress she toured England, playing the role of Peter and that was where she met the young actor Noel Coward. They became great friends and when he became a playwright he wrote the role of Jackie Coryton in Hayfever for her. She has appeared in many Coward plays in both London and New York. Her first foray on the radio was with Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre. She is delighted to return to radio and to be playing her first male role since Peter Pan.
Otto Shmearcase (Bob Ader) as Sir Francis Cromarty, SE Actor
Otto Shmearcase (Bob Ader) was born in 1892 in Branau, Austria, Otto was the only child of the Baron and Baroness Von Shmearcase. After seeing his first Vaudeville show, he was bitten by the Show Business bug and became a song and dance man. OTTO and his boyfriend Adolph, formed a variety act called Shmearcase und Shickelgruber and performed all through Germany. Fifteen years later, the act broke up when Adolph opted for a career in politics. Otto then decided to become a serious dramatic actor, and in 1927, he was cast as a tap dancing robot in Fritz Lang’s classic silent film Metropolis. On Lang’s recommendation, Otto obtained an interview with Louis B. Mayer at MGM who told Otto that he had the perfect face for Radio. Following Mayer’s valuable advice, Otto was cast in The Carter’s Little Liver Pills Theatre Radio Production Of Young Abe Lincoln In Flatbush, playing the title role. Traveling to London, he spent next 12 years in elocution study with George Bernard Shaw. When he returned to American, he was contacted by Gotham Radio Theatre to appear in this evening’s production.
Louie Gugliano (Vince Trani) as Fix and composer/pianist
Louie Gugliano (Vince Trani) Born in Brooklyn in 1886, the son of an immigrant bread baker from Genoa, Louie’s career began in vaudeville, singing beside a young George Burns in the Pee Wee Quartet. He then went solo as Little Louie, boy crooner. A promising songwriter, Louie often brought the crowd Louie Gugliano (Vince Trani)to tears with his heartrending rendition of Your Mother Is Your Best Friend After All, which Irving Berlin himself has called “the worst song I ever heard.” Louie also appeared in silent films, most notably as the bratty kid Charlie Chase dropped down the well in Who’s Your Daddy? Soon too old to be considered cute any more, he returned to vaudeville as an animal wrangler for Fink’s Mules, sweeping up afterwards. There followed a stint as piano player for silent films at the Bijou, still sweeping up afterwards. It was then that Louie composed his greatest hit songs, A Gypsy From Poughkeepsie, I Love My Wife, But Oh You Kid! and The Pussycat Polka. He started in radio playing spooky organ for Inner Sanctum and belting out bloodcurdling screams whenever anybody was murdered. At this point Fate intervened, giving Louie some priceless free publicity. Filling in as emcee at the Friar’s Club, Louie got sucker-punched by Jerry Lewis after mistakenly introducing him as “Larry Jewish." Then, at a restaurant in Little Italy, Louie approached Frank Sinatra, intending to compliment him, but somehow insulting him instead, whereupon Old Blue Eyes crowned him with three platters of pasta. Today Louie is best known for playing a score of memorable bit parts in obscure films, and is affectionately referred to in the business as “you know…what’shisname.”
Margaret Miller (Megan Mekjian) as Aouda, SE Actor
Margaret Miller (Megan Mekjian) was “born in a trunk” in Kansas City, Missouri. Her mother and father, the famed duo “Miller and Miller”, were headliners on the Orpheum Circuit. Margaret got her first taste of show business performing as the “Soft-Shoe Sweetie” in their act. A talent scout spotted her, and Margaret quickly made her Broadway debut as a “Ziegfeld Girl” in the summer revue, Fool Me Once. After appearing in several Broadway revues, Margaret decided to move to Hollywood and pursue her dream of becoming a star of the ‘silver screen’. She made her film debut as an un-credited extra in the film His Dame Tuesday. In 1935, she signed her first film contract and immediately became a star for her role in the box-office hit Ingrid, Irma, and Esther. Margaret is currently preparing for her next film My Darling Tangelo. Today she lives happily in her Beverly Hills Bungalow.
Adapted and Directed by Sydnie Grosberg Ronga (Sydnie Gale)
Sydnie Grosberg Ronga has directed extensively in New York, St. Louis, and regionally, staging plays such as Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Design For Living, Hayfever and several new plays. Sydnie has been directing shows for Gotham Radio Theatre and she recently directed a critically acclaimed production of It Had to Be You in St. Louis. As Associate Artistic Director of The Phoenix Theatre Company, Sydnie directed Boy Meets Girl, Alone At The Beach, and The Nerd. She has directed two of Branislav Tomich’s one-man plays; Blue Lanterns which had a highly successful run in New York fall '09, and Café God which played in NYC, St. Louis and won a Drama Logue Award in Los Angeles. She is The Associate Artistic Director of Max & Louie Productions (St. Louis), on the steering committee for the Project Rushmore Theatre Company, NYC, and has worked with Manhattan Class Company and The Women’s Project. As an arts educator Sydnie has worked with students of all ages, directing shows from elementary school to college and designing theatre curriculum for in-school and after-school programs. She is an acting teacher and coach. Born in St. Louis, she is a graduate of Webster University.