Photo via Marcus Performing Arts Center - marcuscenter.og
Clue
Clue
Murder, mischief, mystery—all combine for a fun evening at Clue, the latest offering in the Marcus Performing Arts Center’s Broadway series. The play-with-music is based on a campy, star-filled 1985 film, which itself is based on the popular Parker Brothers board game. If you’ve seen the film, you already know what comes next in this brisk whodunit. The play almost exactly mirrors the events in the film, which bombed at the box office but eventually became a cult classic.
The stage production is adapted by Sandy Rustin from Jonathan Lynn’s screenplay, with additional material by Hunter Foster and Eric Price. It zooms along for 80 minutes, with barely time to take a breath before the next bit of physical comedy sets one laughing again. The touring production opened Tuesday and continues through Sunday at the Marcus Center.
One doesn’t expect life-changing revelations in a play based on a board game, right? This show’s all for goofy fun, with a large dose of physical comedy rolled into the circumstances. The six characters are brought together as invited dinner guests at a creepy old mansion. The weather is awful, of course, with a clap of thunder often accompanying key elements of the script.
As the play opens, a French maid (dressed in a frilly outfit) watches some of the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings on TV. She (Elisabeth Yancy) is soon confronted by a formally clad butler (Mark Price) to make certain that all is ready for the guests’ arrival. She whisks away to make last-minute preparations before the guests begin to arrive.
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As the guests appear, each is curious about the anonymous name to which they’ve been assigned in the personalized invitations. A military man becomes Colonel Mustard (John Treacy Egan), while a much-married society woman is introduced as Mrs. White (Tari Kelly). The high-strung senator’s wife is Mrs. Peacock (Joanna Glushak), and a voluptuous madame is now Miss Scarlet (Michelle Elaine). A non-practicing psychiatrist is Professor Plum (Jonathan Spivey), while a gay Republican turns out to be Mr. Green (John Shartzer). Each intrepid guest also arrives with a weird story of their journey. Either their cars break down, or the storm causes the bridge to wash away ...
During their introductions and conversational chatter, one learns they all have intimate ties to Washington, as well as secrets to hide. The mansion’s host, Mr. Boddy (Alex Syiek), intends to blackmail them, and hints that their actions also may be turned over to the House Un-American Activities Committee (the play is set in in the mid-1950s, with its rampant McCarthyism).
Lights Out, Murders Begin
As soon as the lights are turned off, the bodies begin to fall. While the main characters seem safe, the same cannot be said for Mr. Boddy, the maid, the cook (Mariah Burks), and perhaps others (no spoiler alerts here). The various murders and other events are cleverly conceived and executed. The talented cast displays their adept skill at physical comedy, with the best being supplied by Mr. Green.
The enormous, chandelier-lit mansion (by set designer Lee Savage) is filled with hidden pass ways and well-known rooms from the board game. Many of these rooms appear and disappear almost magically from the wings or even flown in from above the stage. So we eventually get to see the billiard room, the library, the study, and so forth. And yes, at one point each guest receives a surprise gift containing one of the board game’s alleged murder weapons: a candlestick, a lead pipe, a wrench, a revolver, a long rope and a dagger. To muddle things further, the guests seem to constantly drop or lose track of their assigned “weapons.”
By the play’s finale, many intentional mis directions are revealed. Once the police show up, things get even murkier before the true killer is discovered.
Audiences will enjoy this crazy farce even more if they don’t think too hard about things like plot details. Clue is a fun ride, and something very different from this season’s other Broadway series offerings. For instance, comparing the courtroom drama To Kill a Mockingbird (which appeared earlier this season), to Clue would be like comparing the film “Titanic” to TV’s “Gilligan’s Island.”
The national tour of “Clue” runs through March 17 at the Marcus Performing Arts Center, 929 N. Water St. For tickets, visit marcuscenter.org, or call the box office at 414-273-7206.
