The Company of the Second North American tour of CLUE – photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade
Clue graces the Fabulous Fox stage as the opening show to this year’s Broadway Series. Clue is a classic board game, first produced in the 1930s under the name Cluedo. The premise of the game is a murder mystery whodunnit: there are six weapons among the six guests—a candlestick, a knife, a lead pipe, a revolver, a rope, and a wrench—and your goalis to figure out who committed the murder, which weapon was used, and which room it happened in. You move throughout the house, attempting to make accusations on who could be the murderer. Whoever guesses all three things correctly wins the game. Clue was first developed for the stage as an original musical in 1997, but this “Live on Stage!” edition is not a musical, but rather a stage adaptation of the 1985 cult classic film that starred the late, beloved Tim Curry as the butler.
The play focused on giving the characters richer backgrounds and motives. It was bringing the game to life not as a game but in the same way it would happen in a real-life scenario (with some goofy humor involved). It reminded me of House on Haunted Hill, where the owner of the home invites random guests to survive the house until dawn.
All the guests in Clue received a letter, assigning them a character from the game and inviting them to the house. It’s storming the night they arrive and the road to the house has washed out. As guests arrive, they are invited to get to know one another. The guests find out they are all from Washington, DC. Mrs. Peacock (Madeline Raube) is a flamboyant entitled older woman married to a senator. Miss Scarlett (Camille Capers) is a sultry escort who comes in with Mr. Green (TJ Lamando), a nervous government worker. Professor Plum (Kyle Yampiro) is a psychiatrist, and Mrs. White (Sarah Mackenzie Baron) is a wealthy widow to 5 husbands. The cook (AT Sanders) is threatening, the maid (Zoie Tannous) is French, butler Wadsworth (Adam Brett) narrates, and Mr. Boddy (Joseph Dalfonso) is the ringleader of this wacky murderous circus.
Madeline Raube did a wonderful job with Mrs. Peacock. Her purposely pitchy voice had the sound of a snobby wealthy cartoon character, but nervous. She was immediately a source of comedy and her inflection added to the character wonderfully. Her entrance really kicked off the play for me. Camille Capers (Miss Scarlett) eased into her role; she seemed a bit reserved at first but once she warmed up, she was phenomenal. Her costume was well chosen for her character, and she really ended up fitting the role. Adam Brett’s Wadsworth was reminiscent of Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory with a bit of an Alfred-from Batman butler voice mixed in. My only issue with characters were some of the accents; I sometimes had a hard time understanding Wadsworth when he talked passionately or quickly. I had a really hard time understanding Yvette’s lines through her thick fake French accent. I couldn’t tell if that was the point, to be an aloof giggling bimbo that men followed anywhere whether they could understand her or not, but it just didn’t land with me.
The humor fired rapidly between crude humor, political puns, brilliantly witty, and cartoon-esque movements and voices. They moved en masse like Scooby Doo characters from place to place and the choreography was one of the highlights of the play. The set was incredibly well done, it really felt like moving through a mansion room by room. They broke the fourth wall a few times, which is always amusing if done well. The comedy shifts gave me a bit of whiplash, but I feel it offered something for everyone.
The play continues and Mr. Boddy, the owner of the mansion comes in to give everyone a gift. All six murder weapons are given to the six visitors, and they’re told to kill Wadsworth. They refuse, and Boddy shows he has blackmail on all of them, and the police are on the way. If Wadsworth isn’t gone by the time they get there, he turns the evidence over to the police. The charges range from embezzlement to murder to (for the sake of trigger warnings) sexual blackmail for statutory rape between the psych and an underage girl. The rating is 12+, but I would maybe push that to 14 or even 16+. The lights turn off every time there is a murder—the first time the lights go out, Mr. Boddy is now a dead body. The games begin as everyone splits up to search the house for the killer. Sarah McKenzie Baron (Mrs. White) really starts to shine at this point. Her flat slightly nasally voice makes her cold and cut off….and suspicious. She is accused of murdering her last five husbands, and it does not lend her any trust from her peers. The play continues as more characters are killed off and the cast becomes increasingly paranoid of each other. It’s chaotic enough to keep you interested but it may be difficult to remember all the clues given.
Overall, it was a fun play. It was only 90 minutes with no intermission, and the pandemonium made it feel like you were watching a cartoon. It had jokes that made you think and jokes that cost you a few brain cells. There are lots of bright lights and loud noises that may bother some viewers, but the special effects, lighting, and set are great overall, it’s a good short date night or evening out with friends for a non-musical play. Oh, and whodunnit? I guess you’ll have to find out for yourself. | Pariss Brown
Clue runs through October 4 at the Fabulous Fox (527 N. Grand Blvd.). For more information or to purchase tickets, visit fabulousfox.com. For more on Clue: Live on Stage!, visit clueliveonstage.com.
