Displaying items by tag: Clue

I’m not a fan of board games. I’ve never finished a full game of Monopoly. Risk? No, thanks. But Clue? I’ve loved it since I saw the ‘80s film version as a kid. And ever since, the movie and the game have been inseparable and intertwined in my mind.

The first time I brought my youngest child to a theater production of Clue, she was also transfixed—with the show and the game—and so we were both eager to see Broadway in Chicago’s current touring production of Clue—Live on Stage!, directed by Casey Hushion and playing at the CIBC Theatre until March 2.

First off, I forget how cozy the CIBC Theatre is. I adore each of the 1920s Rapp & Rapp palaces, and I love the much-older Auditorium the most of any Chicago venue, but the turn-of-the-century-ish Vaudevillian vibe of the once-Majestic CIBC is its own thing altogether. And it sure bundled us all in and enveloped us for an evening of murder, mystery, and maniacal merriment—just like the movie and just like the game, but playing out live.

In the film, Tim Curry is Tim Curry—the thief of any scene, the star of any moment the camera catches him—as Wadsworth does the heaviest lifting. Onstage, Wadsworth the butler carries the story and the action. Jeff Skowron’s Wadsworth received the largest and loudest ovation at show’s end, and it’s because he kills it—literally and figuratively. He makes the butler his own, and relishes with impish glee the evening of horrors he’s there to present to the six guests.

Wadsworth is joined in his service to the night’s slayings and silliness by Elisabeth Yancey as the French maid, Yvette. I recall as a boy being enamored of Yvette on the silver screen, and it’s no different all these years later. Yancey’s enamoring while still being a riot—playing the trope for all the provocativeness and physical comedy she can wrench from it.

Speaking of physical comedy (not to mention, wrenches… lead pipes, candlesticks, etc.), in all my years of attending live theater, I’ve rarely seen a physical comedian as gifted as John Shartzer, who plays Mr. Green. Shartzer’s arrival at the doorway of Boddy Manor is a flop—in the best sense of the word—and in the hour or so that follows he continues to one-up himself with slithering, scooting, being squashed, shrieking, screeching, squawking, squealing, and a really cool slo-mo scene, all while waiting to deliver the show’s coup de grace.

The other five dinner guests/game pieces are equally as memorable and enthralling. David Hess imperially bumbles and balderdashes through the evening’s proceedings. Christina Anthony’s Miss Scarlet’s the sadder but wiser woman of the night. Donna English, who originated the role of Mrs. White onstage, continues the role with calculating cool. Jonathan Spivey’s abrasive know-it-all Professor Plum might annoy his fellow houseguests, but the crowd thoroughly enjoyed him. And my daughter pointed out as soon as Joanna Glushak took the stage as Mrs. Peacock (my daughter’s favorite Clue character) that she was the “perfect Mrs. Peacock.”

Indeed, with this production’s impressive set pieces, lighting, and stage choreography—not to mention its intermission-less wham-bam runtime, and its spot-on setting during American times of distrust, untruth, and turmoil—Broadway in Chicago’s current production of Clue—Live on Stage!, at the CIBC Theatre until March 2, is a great escape.

For more info visit https://www.broadwayinchicago.com/shows/clue/.

Broadway In Chicago is delighted to announce that individual tickets for CLUE, the hilarious murder mystery comedy inspired by the Hasbro board game and adapted from the fan-favorite film, will go on sale today, Wednesday, December 18. The show will play at the CIBC Theatre for a limited engagement, February 18 – March 2, 2025. Individual tickets prices range from $35-$120 with a select number of premium tickets available. Individual tickets are available by visiting www.BroadwayInChicago.com or going to any Broadway In Chicago venue box office.  Groups of 10+ are also on sale by calling (312) 977-1710 or by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The cast includes Christina Anthony as Miss Scarlet, Mariah Burks as the Cook, David Hess as Colonel Mustard, Joanna Glushak as Mrs. Peacock, Donna English as Mrs. White, John Shartzer as Mr. Green, Jonathan Spivey as Professor Plum (February 18 - 28), Jeff Skowron as Wadsworth, Graham Stevens as Professor Plum (March 1 - 2), Alex Syiek as Mr. Boddy, Teddy Trice as the Cop, and Elisabeth Yancey as Yvette. The understudies are Greg Balla, Mary McNulty and James Taylor Odom . Cast is subject to change. 

Led by Broadway Director Casey Hushion (Associate Director of Mean Girls and The Prom, Associate Resident Director of Aladdin, choreography for the Netflix series “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”), murder and blackmail are on the menu when six mysterious guests assemble at Boddy Manor for a night they’ll never forget! Was it Mrs. Peacock in the study with the knife? Or was it Colonel Mustard in the library with the wrench? Based on the fan-favorite 1985 Paramount Pictures movie and inspired by the classic Hasbro board game, CLUE is the ultimate whodunit that will leave you dying of laughter and keep you guessing until the final twist. 

CLUE is based on the screenplay by Jonathan Lynn. Written by Sandy Rustin with additional material by Hunter Foster and Eric Price. It features original music by Michael Holland.

The production also features scenic design by Lee Savage, costume design by Jen Caprio, lighting design by Ryan O'Gara and sound design by Jeff Human.

The CLUE franchise began in 1949 with the manufacture of the ‘Cluedo’ board game. Currently owned and published by Hasbro, the game has since sold more than 200 million copies worldwide.  A murder-mystery comedy film by Paramount Pictures based on the board game was released in 1985 and went on to achieve cult classic status with a passionate fanbase.

The North American tour of CLUE is produced by The Araca Group, Work Light Productions, Lively McCabe Entertainment and Aged in Wood.

Originally produced at Bucks County Playhouse, New Hope, Pennsylvania, Alexander Fraser, Robyn Goodman, Josh Fiedler, Producers. Developed by Cleveland Playhouse, Laura Kepley, Artistic Director & Kevin Moore, Managing Director.

For additional information, visit clueliveonstage.com

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Tuesday through Thursday performances are at 7:00 p.m. with a Wednesday matinee at 1:00 p.m. on Feb 26; Friday & Saturday performances are at 7:30 pm with Saturday matinees at 2:00 pm on Feb 22 & Mar 1; Sunday performances are at 1:00 pm with one evening performance on Feb. 23 at 6:30 pm. For more information visit BroadwayInChicago.com.

TICKET INFORMATION
Groups of 10+ are also on sale by calling (312) 977-1710 or by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Individual tickets prices range from $35-$120 with a select number of premium tickets available. Individual tickets are available by visiting www.BroadwayInChicago.com or going to any Broadway In Chicago venue box office.  

ABOUT BROADWAY IN CHICAGO
Broadway In Chicago was created in July 2000 and over the past 25 years has grown to be one of the largest commercial touring homes in the country. A Nederlander Presentation, Broadway In Chicago lights up the Chicago Theater District entertaining up to 1.7 million people annually in five theatres. Broadway In Chicago presents a full range of  entertainment, including musicals and plays, on the stages of five of the finest theatres in Chicago’s Loop including the Cadillac Palace Theatre, CIBC Theatre, James M. Nederlander Theatre, and just off the Magnificent Mile, the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place and presenting Broadway shows at The Auditorium.

For more information, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com.
Follow @broadwayinchicago on Facebook, Instagram , and TikTok  #broadwayinchicago

One of my earliest memories going to a movie theater is seeing Clue on the big screen. It not only started a lifetime love of Tim Curry, but cemented the Parker Brothers board game as the only board game little me ever wanted to play. And it still remains as a formative moment in my love of a good story told or performed well.

And that is what the Mercury Theater’s current production of Clue did once again. I actually brought my youngest child, about the same age I was when I saw the movie, and I delighted in watching her delight almost as much as I enjoyed the production…because boy, it’s delightful.

Just like Tim Curry in the film version, Mark David Kaplan as Wadsworth the butler steals the show, his expressions and physicality leading us down the fun and thrilling corridors of the mansion he mans. Wadsworth welcomes six guests for an evening of mystery and murder, and each character brings the mayhem.

Jonah D. Winston’s Colonel Mustard is all buffoonish bluster, towering over the cast in both size and sonority. McKinley Carter’s Mrs. White is over the top, as are Nancy Wagner’s Mrs. Peacock and Andrew Jessop’s Professor Plum, caricatures of characters we know as people even if they were once just brightly colored plastic play pieces. Mr. Green, played by Kelvin Roston, Jr., adds a sense of fear, even if I remember how the story ends for him. But both my daughter and I agreed that the most fun character (and the one we fight over being when playing the game) was Miss Scarlet, played with sizzle and swank by Erica Stephan.

Well, Miss Scarlet would be the swankiest and most sizzling person onstage if not for Honey West, most recently seen stealing scenes in the Mercury’s Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. The Chicago cabaret icon shows up throughout Clue, taking part in some of the show’s best slapstick gags.

Just like the time I had all those years ago watching the movie, as well as the hours and hours of fun the board game has given me, the Mercury Theater’s production of Clue—playing now through January 1, 2023—is every bit the hour or two of laughs and thrills and loads of fun that I remember from childhood.