Review: CLUE from BROADWAY AT THE HOBBY CENTER

If you don’t know the board game or the film CLUE, I am not sure if you are living your life right. The game came out 77 years ago to distract from World War II, and the movie was a star-studded romp that arrived in theaters in 1985 with four different endings depending on which cinema you went to. Kids have played both ever since, and adults have quoted it endlessly. Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Martin Mull, Leslie Ann Warren, Eileen Brennan, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean, and Colleen Camp live on in our cultural consciousness as the embodiment of the iconic suspects of CLUE. So it’s gotta be tough to tour around the country and pay homage to this cult mystery comedy, but the cast that is playing the Hobby Center through June 14th is more than game to take it on with zeal. BROADWAY AT THE HOBBY CENTER brings in this show, and it’s everything it needs to be - broad, silly, fast-paced, and just a wave of joy. If you love physical comedy and farce, you don’t need to figure out anything but how to get in the room. 

CLUE live on stage is almost an athletic event, because the cast really has to go for broke with all of the physical comedy. They have a template in the game and the movie, and they adhere to that faithfully, but where the fun comes is watching them hit the farce at a fierce pace. It is almost like a musical, with such precise choreography and demands that the actors deliver everything at a certain pace and rhythm. It’s always broad and always big, and everything is played with a tongue firmly in a cheek. It’s fun for the whole family, and the show itself only runs eighty minutes with no intermission. This version somehow cuts 18 minutes from the film, and probably forty from a previous stage incarnation. But the thing is, you really don’t miss it.  This is all lean, mean, and ready to go full steam from the opening curtain. 

Adam Brett gets the flashiest role as Wadsworth, a butler who was never in the game but was a centerpiece of the film (the Tim Curry part!). He’s hysterical and winds everything up anytime he appears onstage. Adam’s delivery of the physical comedy is amazing. He leaps, he twirls, he contorts. Sarah Mackenzie Baron plays Mrs. White as dry as the driest of white wine, and it makes for a droll, funny delivery. Camille Capers brings her smoky earthiness to Mrs. Scarlet. Nate Curlotte plays a fun and dumb Colonel Mustard. TJ Lamando competes with Adam Brett in the physical comedy realm and is a wonderfully foppish Mr. Green. Madeline Raube does fine with Mrs. Peacock, but I wondered why she wasn’t playing more intoxicated by the end of the show. Peacock drinks an incredible amount! Zoie Tannous made me giggle and smile whenever she appeared as Yvette, the French maid who seems to know a little more than she lets on. Kyle Yampiro is a perfectly plucky Professor Plumb. Joseph Dalfonso, AT Sanders, and Kebron Woodfin provide strong support as a diverse array of characters.  Caey Hushion’s direction seems to be “bigger is better,” and he just lets these thespians loose in a mansion that has a really fun design from Lee Savage. Iconic rooms from the game pop in and out, and Jen Caprio’s costumes add to the fun of the ‘50s setting. Everything is as it should be, and design-wise, CLUE looks great. 

There’s not much to critique here; CLUE is just fun. If you love the game or the movie, you know what you are in for ahead of time. It’s an hour and twenty minutes that flies by, leaves you laughing, and lets you forget the world for a bit. I’m a fan of the idea of just going to the theater to sit in a room, in the dark, with over two thousand strangers, and just laugh. Maybe that is what the world needs now. It certainly needs more murders in the library with a candlestick! And CLUE is here to give you exactly what you wished for. Let Mr. Body hit the floor!  

CLUE is at the HOBBY CENTER through June 14th. The show runs 80 minutes and has no intermission. It is suitable for the whole family. Parking at the Hobby Center costs $20 for self-parking and $35 for valet. Food and drinks are available in the lobby an hour before showtime.