Despite an attractive physical production and exceptionally clever staging, Virginia Stage Company’s production of the Jules Verne classic Around the World in 80 Days emerges as a surprisingly dull evening.

Kenneth Boys, Michael Sharon, Scott Drummond, and Maureen Sebastion in Around the World in 80 Days.

Director Patrick Mullins has conceived the play as a madcap romp, in which an ensemble of five talented actors plays 39 characters. But the script, adapted by Mark Brown, resists him at every turn, largely because Verne’s story is better suited to film than to the stage.

The classic adventure story centers on eccentric English gentleman Phileas Fogg (Michael Sharon). He makes a wager with the gentlemen at his club that he can complete a voyage around the world in 80 days, travelling on trains and steamers. Accompanied by his French manservant Passepartout (Scott Drummond), and pursued by the inept Detective Fix (Kenneth Boys), who has mistaken him for a bank robber, Fogg attempts to meet his deadline despite a series of contrivances and misadventures which arise to foil him at every turn. It is an imaginative and often hilarious story, full of Verne’s trademark exploits. However, in order to be truly effective, the story requires exotic locales and authentic local color. These are difficult to create within the limitations of stagecraft.

Dick Block’s turntable set, made of gears from clocks and steam locomotives, is dazzling, and is used in very surprising ways. In conjunction with Jeni Schaefer’s handsome costumes, and A. Nelson Ruger’s typically stunning lighting design, the physical production nicely complements the overall concept, but remains largely unchanged throughout the evening. In its various film adaptations, the familiar story has benefitted from location shooting. The visuals here, lovely as they are, are static, and do little to illustrate the constant changes of location.

This is symptomatic of a bigger problem: many of the key plot points present perhaps insoluble staging problems. Brown’s script deals with this issue by choosing not to dramatize them. As a result, much of what is most exciting in the story occurs offstage, with the audience being told about rather than shown the most important scenes. So the play relies heavily on narration to communicate the story. It is only in those few events we are allowed to see firsthand that the play really comes to life. The most exciting is an ill-fated train ride across the United States, which involves not only a collapsing suspension bridge, but a shootout with Indians.

Matthew Schmidt, Michael Sharon, Scott Drummond, and Kenneth Boys in Around the World in 80 Days.

The small, energetic cast is tremendously talented. Drummond’s performance as Passepartout is spectacular. He is the most interesting character, and Drummond’s natural comic timing helps to make his performance a surefire crowd pleaser. Boys’s portrayal of the bumbling detective is equally well-realized. In their scenes together Boys and Drummond are well-matched, and manage to animate the dialogue even when they are explaining offstage action. Michael Sharon is charming and handsome, but has little to do. Phileas Fogg is (at least in this version) one of the stiffest, least interesting characters in all of literature. He winds up as little more than a foil for the more engaging comedic characters who share the stage with him. Maureen Sebastian is very good as Fogg’s love interest rescued by the group from becoming a human sacrifice; but she is less convincing as an elderly butler and a cockney paperboy.

It is difficult to determine for whom the show is intended. The broad, cartoonish, and frequently stereotypical characterizations seem aimed more toward children than to adults; but with its dearth of action, and two-and-a-half-hour runtime it may prove a hard sell for young audiences. It is clearly intended for families, although whether your children will enjoy it will depend entirely on their personality. Those with short attention spans may have a difficult time sitting through. It’s not a guarantee that parents will love it either. Many in the audience at Friday’s opening night appeared to enjoy the show a great deal, although there were more empty seats at the beginning of the second act than when the play began.

Mullins reveals himself to be a gifted stager, and he and his cast and production team have mounted as good a production as one could hope for given the weak script. However, it is never able to overcome the shortcomings of Brown’s contribution. So, you may sit there, as I did, wanting to like the play far more than you actually do. Around the World in 80 Days contains all of the hallmarks of class and professionalism we have come to expect from VSC’s productions, but still led me to wonder: if Fogg and company could circumnavigate the globe in 80 days, should it take as long to watch this play?

Around the World in 80 Days runs through March 14 at the Wells Theatre in Downtown Norfolk. Tickets are $15-$45, and are available through Ticketmaster, or through the Wells Theatre Box Office (757-627-1234). Tickets can also be purchased through VSC’s website, www.vastage.com.