Review: Clue Onstage by touring company
by Brian Paul Scipione

 

I’d like to solve the puzzle: And the murderer is . . . Casey Hushion!

 

Yes, that Casey Hushion, who's  associated with such hits as Mean Girls, The Prom, Aladdin, and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.  It was not, as some have surmised, Peter DiPietro, Terry McDonough, or Jonathan Lynn.

 

Heading to the Bass Concert Hall, the most prominent mystery was whether this production was going to be based on the game or the movie. Spoiler alert: it’s the movie (Jonathan Lynn). Also, it’s not a musical, though there is a musical version (Peter DiPietro), as well as a television mini-series (Terry McDonough), and a slew of literary and video game adaptations.

 

Not surprising for a board game that has sold more than 200 million copies worldwide.  This places it in the top three bestselling modern board games ,right behind Scrabble and Monopoly.

 

Cluedo, as it’s officially called in Britain, was patented  by Anthoney Pratt in 1944 as a mystery game called Murder.  Waddington’s Games released it in 1947 and Parker Brother's followed with an American version titled Clue in 1949. It  went on to become part of the cultural zeitgeist, remaining a internationally best-selling game with its own multiverse of officially licensed versions including those for Bob's Burgers, , Friends, Goosebumps, Harry Potter, Labyrinth, Muppets, PEANUTS, Scooby-Doo, Star Wars, The Golden Girls, The Office, Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Wednesday, to name a very few.

 

It’s fair to say this dubious though solid item of intellectual property has achieved icon status in much the same way  a musician knows he's made it when Weird Al parodies one of his songs.

 

To be fair, it's a little much to suggest that this current version is based on the movie. It basically is the movie, done on the stage with very few alterations, additions, or interpretations. This prompts the obvious observation that the production was a huge, missed opportunity on the part of the playwright, director, and producers. To be sure, the film is a classic of hysterical madcap farce. One of the legendary Tim Curry's best performances was supported by a genius cast. Comedy superstars Eileen Brennan, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean, Martin Mull, and Lesley Ann Warrengave outstanding performances.

 

 

Those are big shoes to fill, and the stage actors don’t have the benefit of closeups that allow the comedic face acting this story requires. It's the movie’s intimacy combined with close-quarters physical comedy that made it a comic masterpiece.

 

The scenes of characters racing all over the mansion are well replicated onstage thanks to a brilliant design that relies more on actual set pieces than on green screen projections. Major ‘props’ go to Lee Savage (scenic design), Ryan O'Gara (lighting design) and Jeff Human (sound design).

 

 

Yet, this is not the real sticking point; the film was inherently political. It focused on the high-tension witch hunts of Senator Joseph McCarthy, his political attacks and repression of anyone left-leaning or liberal for alleged communist sympathies. The play keeps in all of the references to McCarthyism but doesn’t bother expanding them, playing with them, or commenting. In these dismal times that's playing it safe but neglecting a goldmine of comedic possibility.

 

Never mind the plot. The meandering, inane storyline is the whole point. The structure implies that in life as in the game there's a variety of outcomes, all equally likely and completely interchangeable. Fans of the movie know that this is the best thing about it.

 

Really avid fans are sure to enjoy the stage production’s similarity and to delight at seeing physical comedy performed live. This is where John Shartzer as Mr. Green absolutely shines as the breakout star of this cast. When he's given more room in the second act, he really sinks his teeth into Green's clever buffoonery and keeps the audience rolling in laughter.

 

Jeff Skowron as Wadsworth has all the heavy lifting of the lead role. This is abundantly clear, for as his performance is more a performative workout than a gleeful embodiment.

 

Tari Kelly as Mrs. White does her best to channel Madeline Khan’s character-defining tics but—like the rest of the cast— she doesn’t attempt to make the role her own.

 

It's interesting that Clue: Live on Stage with a runtime of approximately 80 minutes is much shorter than the movie it’s based on. This may be in part due to the athletics necessary for actors in continuous performance, but it more likely reflects Casey Hushion’s concept of the production as a reel of live highlights of the movie.

 

With a burgeoning era of new audience members weaned on the whip-fast videos of Tik-Tok and Instagram, perhaps he's on to something.

 

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Clue Onstage
by Sandy Rustin, Hunter Foster, Eric Price, Michael Holland
touring company

 JAN 14-19, 2025

 Bass Concert Hall, Austin