CLUE


McCoy Rigby Entertainment returns live and in person to La Mirada with Clue, eighty minutes of nonstop whodunit hilarity guaranteed to cure the pandemic blues.

Board game fans know Clue as the longtime Parker Brothers (now Hasbro) favorite that has its two to six players competing to determine the who, the where, and the how of a recently committed murder.

Movie buffs will remember Clue from its 1985 film adaptation that had butler Tim Curry welcoming Eileen Brennan, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean, Martin Mull, and Lesley Ann Warren to the murder mansion in the midst of the red-scare 1950s, a now cult classic that exposed three different killers depending on which version you happened to catch.

Sandy Rustin’s stage version (based on Jonathan Lynn’s screenplay) gives audiences all that and more, and with the one-liners flying fast and furious and director Casey Hushion eliciting pitch-perfect rapid-fire comedic timing and bursts of side-splitting slapstick from her all-star cast, there’s not a dull moment from start to finish.

The key question remains, who killed _____? (I’ll let Clue virgins discover the victim on their own.)

Was it (in order of appearance) Colonel Mustard (Harrison White), a magisterial but slightly dim-witted military man; Mrs. White (Heather Ayers), elegant in the widow’s weeds she’s wearing for the fifth time so far; Mrs. Peacock (Mary Birdsong), a wealthy senator’s wife with more than a few bats in her belfry; Mr. Green (John Shartzer), a mild-mannered State Department Employee with a sexual secret that dare not speak its name;

Professor Plum (Ted Barton), a pompous academic with a decidedly checkered past; or Miss Scarlet (Sarah Hollis), DC’s sultriest madam wearing curve-clinging red velvet befitting her name?

Or could it have been Wadsworth (Jeff Skowron), French maid Yvette (Cassie Simone) or The Cook (Rachel McLaughlan) whodunit?

It doesn’t take long for Wadsworth to introduce the assembled guests to their host (Michael Cavinder as Mr. Boddy), and soon enough there’s not just one dead body, the corpses just keep piling up.

Rustin’s script is jam-packed with jokes, some corny (Plum: It’s a long haul. Wadsworth: Indeed, it is a long hall. But then, it’s a very large house.”), some silly (White: We had a very humiliating confrontation. He had threatened to kill me in public. Scarlet: Why would he want to kill you in public?), all of them quite delish.

And there are just as many visual gags as there are scripted quips, in particular those delivered by physical comedy masters Shartzer and Skowron, the latter of whom turns Wadsworth’s mile-a-minute recap of the evening’s events into a veritable tour de force.

Indeed there’s not a finer comedy ensemble in town than the multitalented Ayers, Barton, Birdsong, Hollis, Shartzer, Skowron, Simone, and White, each of whom earns bonus points for a delightfully choregraphed sequence that turns Clue into an almost-musical midway through, and for executing Michael Polak’s athletic fight choreography.

Last but not least, the multitasking Cavinder, McLaughlan, and James Tolbert deliver the laugh-getting goods in assorted cameos. (All three understudy lead roles as do Nicole Clemetson and Perry Young.)

Lee Savage’s suitably dark-and-mysterious set (which reveals multiple surprises along the way), Jen Caprio’s terrific period costumes (inspired by not aping those from the ’85 movie), and Michael Holland’s spooky, kooky original music, all of them created for the production’s Cleveland Playhouse debut last year, are matched by those of L.A. designers Steven Young (lighting), Cricket S. Myers (sound), and Kaitlin McCoy (hair, wigs, makeup) doing their accustomed bang-up work. (Myers’ design is based on Jeff Human’s original.)

Jill Gold is production stage manager and Dylan Elhai is assistant stage manager. David Elzer is publicist.

Casting is by Julia Flores. Kevin Clowes is technical director. Ana Lara, Lindsay Brooks, and David Nestor are production managers.

It’s been a very long twenty months since Arsenic And Old Lace last entertained McCoy Rigby/La Mirada audiences with murder and mayhem. The outrageously funny Clue makes it well worth a celebration.

La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Boulevard, La Mirada.
www.lamiradatheatre.com

Ticket holders regardless of age must wear masks and provide proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours (3 days) of the performance. “Fully vaccinated” means your performance is at least 14 days after your final vaccine dose. To enter the theatre, please bring proof of vaccination, either your physical vaccination card, a picture of your vaccination card, or a digital vaccination record.

–Steven Stanley
September 26, 2021
Photos: Jason Niedle

Tags: , , ,

Comments are closed.