Review: CLUE at Blackfriars Theatre

For Blackfriars Theatre’s opening production of the 2023-2024 season, Rochester theatregoers are being treated to the classic pop culture whodunit, “Clue”, whose adaptations have spanned board game, film, musical and play. While the murder-mystery is a genre that does not want for copycats, “Clue” is arguably the standard-bearer for the modern era. So, was it Colonel Mustard in the drawing room with the candle stick? Professor Plum in the kitchen with the rope? Well, the only way to find out is to come join the fun! (…so I guess that makes you audience member, in the box office, with the Visa card?)

“Clue” was written by Sandy Rustin and adapted from the Paramount Pictures film written by Jonathan Lynn. From StageAgent: “Six guests are invited to a dinner party thrown by an anonymous host. They are given aliases--Colonel Mustard (Jeff Siuda), Mrs. White (Jillian Racic), Mr. Green (John Winter), Mrs. Peacock (Patricia Lewis Browne), Professor Plum (Danny Kincaid-Kunz), and Miss Scarlet (Mary Tiballi Hoffman). Though discouraged from revealing personal information, it is soon discovered that all of them have fallen victim to the same blackmailer, their very host of the evening. Each is presented with a weapon and an option: pay their extortionist double, or kill the innocent butler. What follows is a madcap, slapstick evening full of murder, mystery, and laughs as they seek to puzzle out the culprit amongst criminals.”

“Clue” is by definition a hodge-podge of absurd character acting, from the bloviated military rigidity of Colonel Mustard, to the smoldering flirtations of Miss Scarlet, to the insufferable know-it-all-ism of Professor Plum; there is no “straight man” in the bunch. Each member of this “Clue” cast captures all the zany personality traits that their respective characters require, down to the bit players and ensemble members (“Ensemble Woman” Caroline Cox happens to have some of the funniest moments of physical comedy in the show). Tying together the cast of misfits is Fred Pienkoski’s Wadsworth, the cast’s standout who hardly gets a moment to breath from beginning to end, bouncing between moments of pithy dialogue, frantic set changes, and one highly exaggerated death sequence (do we still have to say “spoiler alert” for an IP that came out in 1949?).

On the production side, director Danny Hoskins has done incredible work in not only drawing out a memorable and sidesplitting acting performance from each member of the cast, but also in finding clever ways to infuse what is supposed to be a sprawling mansion backdrop onto Blackfriars’ modest stage.  The “Clue” set is filled with rotating walls, trick doors, and other bits of scenic tomfoolery that help make this production perfect for this space in which it is being presented.

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