The Game's Afoot | "Clue: Live on Stage" @ CTG/Ahmanson

I’ve always preferred Sleuth. For those unfamiliar, Sleuth is a card game that has a gem deck with all variations of (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green × Single, Pairs, Clusters × Diamonds, Pearls, Opals). One card is removed in secret, and the rest are dealt to the players. Players then take turns asking limited question (How many opals do you have? How many green diamonds?) to try to determine the missing gems. Parker Brothers had a similar game in the classic Clue. I’ve always preferred Sleuth because the mechanics were cleaner.

But there’s one key difference between the games. Someone was clever enough to figure out how create a story and subsequent screenplay for Clue. No one has ever figured out how to do that for Sleuth (the 1972 Sleuth movie has nothing to do with the game). The Clue movie was a success, with a stellar cast and a long life (although, for some reason, my mind always goes to Murder by Death, which you never see anymore). So it wasn’t a surprise that Clue would be adapted for the legitimate stage, especially given the trend in the 1980s and 1990s of trying to milk every dime out of corporate intellectual property (Disney was the expert in this, but game companies also got into the act). It was a bit more of a surprise that the Center Theatre Group would select it for the Ahmanson season, as it wasn’t a classic play nor a musical. But they did, likely because the selection of tours was slim post-COVID. Their choice was our win, as we saw the show yesterday afternoon.

Note that I said this was NOT a musical. There are multiple adaptations, both from the board game itself and from the movie itself. One such adaptation is Clue The Musical, which has gotten mixed reviews. This IS NOT Clue the Musical. This is a non-musical adaptation of the movie that started at the Cleveland Playhouse and Bucks County Playhouse.

The high-level plot is pretty simple: SIx characters are invited to Boddy Mansion on a dark and stormy night. They are given the classic Clue aliases, and the mansion has all of the requisite Clue rooms. They are welcomed to the mansion by butler Wadsworth. They have no idea why they were invited, until Mr. Boddy shows up. He explains the game, how they are all being blackmailed, and gives them all gives of the traditional Clue weapons. He informs them they have to kill the butler to end the blackmail, but before they can do that, the lights go down and then up, and Mr. Boddy is now dead. The game begins, as the six suspects: Colonel Mustard, Mrs. White, Mrs. Peacock, Mr. Green, Professor Plum, and Miss Scarlet, together with the butler Wadsworth and the maid Yvette need to figure out who committed the murders. Explaining the subsequent twists and turns would give away the story.

The story is played for the comedy, with the requisite (perhaps overdone) melodramatic sound punctuations. There is the usual overplay and silliness (such as running in place to fake movement). There is a lot of slapstick. There is a lot of stupid jokes. There are the expected misdirections and close calls. But the show isn’t stupid itself: it is just a fun diversion (and especially good on a hot Saturday afternoon). It is the perfect summer trifle. Light, tasty, and sweet, but it won’t ruin your appetite.

The characterizations are not deep; in fact, they are often broadly stereotypical and overdrawn. Think melodrama, and you come close. There is minimal backstory on the characters, other than the reasons for the blackmail, and there is really no character growth. That’s because this really is a board game: the actual characters don’t matter to the story; the characters only matter to the humor. This is really a summer comedy.

The performances are very strong—in particular, Mark Price as Wadsworth, who switches from deadpan to deft comedy timing (including physical comedy). His recap of the story at the end is great. Timing from the cast is strong. It was a fun show.

This isn’t a particularly deep show, and it isn’t a classic. But I think it will have a long life: It doesn’t have complicated projections or graphics. It requires a complex stage build, but that’s doable. It has no orchestra, only music cues that can be rented. It has a limited cast. It is easily done at the regional or school level. It isn’t offensive. It is as if the show was calculated for the road and regional life, as opposed to a Broadway run. And you know what? That’s OK. There area many shows like that that (the Nunsense musicals are a great example). Their life is in their licensing.

One complaint: Sound. This is a show where you really need to hear the words, and at least up in the Mezzanine, the sound was very muddy and you had to strain to hear. This is a tour sound problem, as opposed to a facility problem. The tour setup team needs to take a bit more care in checking the facility out when they move the show in.

But if you want a fun show, with some slapstick and silliness, this is the show for you. It is a great summer show.

———

Clue: Live on Stage! Based on the screenplay by Jonathan Lynn. Written by Sandy Rustin. Additional material by Hunter Foster and Eric Price. Based on the Paramount Pictures Motion Picture based on the Parker Brothers Hasbro board game Clue. Directed by Casey Hushion.

Cast: Mariah Burks Cook, and others; Mohn Treacy Egan Colonel Mustard; Michelle Elaine Miss Scarlet; Joanna Glushak Mrs. Peacock; Tari Kelly Mrs. White; Mark Price Wadsworth; John Shartzer Mr. Green; Jonathan Spivey Professor Plum; Alex Syiek Mr. Boddy and others; Teddy Trice The Cop and others; Elisabeth Yancey Yvette. Understudies: Greg Balla Fight Captain; Aliason Ewing; Mary McNulty; James Taylor Odom.

Production and Creative: Lee Savage Set Design; Jen Caprio Costume Design; Ryan O’Gara Lighting Design; Jeff Human Sound Design; J. Jared Janas Hair, Wig, & Makeup Design; Michael Holland Original Music and Music Supervision; Robert Westley Fight Director; Steve Bebout Assoc. Director; Pearson Casting CSA CDG Casting; Bond Theatrical Tour Booking, Marketing, & Publicity; Port City Technical Production Management; Margot Whitney Production Stage Manager; Emily Kritzman 1st Asst. Stage Manager; Maria Bella Divittorio 2nd Asst. Stage Manager; Berrit Keller Substitute Asst. Stage Manager; Sarah E. T. Jackson Substitute Asst. Stage Manager; Suzanne Prueter Company Manager.

Favorite Small Print Credit: Nothing particularly stands out.

♦ ♦ ♦

Administrivia: I am not a professional critic. I’m a cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does a highway site and a podcast about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at: Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre; Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages Theatre; Pasadena Playhouse; and 5-Star Theatricals. We’re looking for the right intimate theatre to subscribe at — it hasn’t been the same since Rep East died (it’s now The Main, and although it does a lot of theatre, it doesn’t have seasons or a resident company), and post-COVID, most 99-seaters aren’t back to doing seasons (or seasons we like). I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming ♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending):

• August: ♦ Company at Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages; ♣ Postmodern Jukebox at The Magnolia, El Cajon.
• September: ♦ Hamilton at Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages; Cyrano de Bergerac at Pasadena Playhouse; possibly Randy Newman’s Faust ⊕ at The Soraya
• October: ♦ American Idiot ⊕ at CTG/Taper; ♦ Little Shop of Horrors at 5-Star Theatricals; ♦ Kimberly Akimbo at Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages.
• November: ♦ Back to the Future: The Musical at Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages; possibly ♦ Fiddler on the Roof ⊕ at La Mirada PAC; ♦ La Cage Aux Folles at Pasadena Playhouse; possibly Santa Claus Conquers the Martians ⊕ at Maverick Theatre

On the Theatrical Horizon:

Patrick Page will be bringing All the Devils Are Here to the Broad Stage in Santa Monica in April 2025. Looks interesting.

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as The Game's Afoot | "Clue: Live on Stage" @ CTG/Ahmanson by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.