Board games — Parcheesi, Exploding Kittens, Unstable Unicorns — helped get my family through the rough early weeks of the pandemic, so I say there is nothing trivial in the pursuit of a favorable dice roll on the dining-room table.
But they don’t easily translate to the stage.
“Clue,” which opened Thursday night at the Mercury Theater and has, I’m told, been selling fast, tries mightily to engage in a hefty bit of brand extension: to persuade fans of the long-lived Parker Bros. diversions that a show can be made out of the long-lived British detective game (known as “Cluedo” in some countries) that dates back to 1943. Herein, characters such as Miss Scarlett (Erica Stephan), Professor Plum (Andrew Jessop), Mr. Green (Kelvin Rolston, Jr.), Mrs. Peacock (Nancy Wagner), Mrs. White (McKinley Carter) and Col. Mustard (Jonah Winston) variously commit murder in such famed locales as the Kitchen, Billiard Room and Ballroom of Boddy Manor (Patrick Byrnes is Mr. Boddy).
In the stage version, the suspects are corralled by a butler, Wadsworth (Mark David Kaplan) and Honey West, Andrew MacNaughton and Tiffany T. Taylor are on hand for further shenanigans.
In essence, “Clue” is a revamp of the 1985 movie, famous for releasing different endings to different theaters. But that film is just one entry in the huge “Clue” franchise of spinoff TV shows, books, even jigsaw puzzles; this licensed stage show, not to confused with the short-lived live musical, actually presents all the possible endings to the mystery in its finale, rather than changing things every night a la “The Mystery of Edwin Drood.” Which, frankly, feels weird.
All of the above performers, many from Chicago’s musical theater world, are consummate comedic pros looking fab in Marquecia Jordan’s costumes and I have to report, in all fairness, that much of the audience around me was convulsed with laughter throughout the whole affair. I enjoyed plenty of individual moments, many courtesy of Kaplan, Carter, Stephan and Rolston, but the material just doesn’t compare with many of the traditional stage thrillers out there. It’s far more of a spoof than a thriller and the gags don’t always inform the narrative tension needed for the mystery.
I also thought the whole affair a tad overplayed for this intimate space, too; it’s not a subtle script to start with and it needs a lighter performative touch. A lot of stuff here is pretty on the nose.
That said, Stearns and his set designer, Bob Knuth, have stuffed all the famous rooms of an entire mansion onto the small Mercury stage, even replete with a trick chandelier. Most everyone in the place had a lot of laughs (there are no bad seats here), and that warm spirit was infectious in all the best ways.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
Review: “Clue” (2.5 stars)
When: Through Jan. 1, 2023
Where: Mercury Theater Chicago, 3745 N. Southport Ave.
Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes
Tickets: $35-$85 at www.mercurytheatrechicago.com
