If you want to forget your troubles…CLUE at Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre is a Must See before it closes this Saturday September 12.
Since the run in 2024 the brilliant director, Casey Hushion (Artistic Director of Paper Mill Playhouse) has pulled together her crew; Scenic Designer (Lee Savage); Costumes (Jen Caprio); Lighting (Ryan O’Gara); Composer and Music Supervisor ( Michael Holland) ; Fight Director (Robert Wesley), and so many more, to create a tight, brilliant evening of theatre.
The Company of the Second North American tour of CLUE. Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.
Whitley Theatrical /Peter Dunn cast an eclectic group of characters endowed with comic timing, individuality, intelligence, physical ability… to say nothing of being very well-rehearsed. This romp not only kept the audience awake, but made them part of the adventure, warning of danger, gasping at the result, and just plain having a great time in the 90-minute-no intermission show that flew by before you could say, “Watch out!”
It gave the audience in-the-know and those who have never seen either the film, video or game a chance to ride on the fast-paced hysteria of slapstick farce that kept uncovering the secrets promised to be revealed in each strike of lightening.
The Company of the Second North American tour of CLUE. Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.
The Cast, led by Adam Brett as Wadsworth the Butler, never waned nor rested for the full 90 minutes of raucous reveals and laughter. Mr. Brett’s well-honed talent was a cross between tight supercilious servant and petulant child. Moving like a dancer… it was as if he plucked Gilda Radner’s Rosanne Rosannadana, from the annals of Saturday Night Live, at her most childlike creative hysteria with the physicality of Baryshnikov. With much aplomb, Wadsworth’s rundown and admission of the evenings “activities” was sheer genius and his endurance surrounded each guest, adding a special ingredient to the establishment.
The Company of the Second North American tour of CLUE. Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.
The evening began, with lightening (of course) revealing the Grand Hallway of the Gothic Mansion of Mr. Boddy, replete with French Maid (Zoe Tannous). The reveal of the first guest, Colonel Mustard, the pompous, high ranking yet witless commander, well played by Nate Curlott, began the evening. Then comes the dark, Mrs. White, divorcee… or murderess, played by Sarah Mackenzie Baron with a sense of underlying hysteria while covering her stunning past that manages to cause titters and shock from the guests.
The Company of the Second North American tour of CLUE. Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.
TJ Lamando’s Mr. Green, the mild mannered government employee, repressed, nervous, accident prone, appears at points to be the victim of untenable situations…and the subject of delight.
Enter…Kyle Yampiro’s Professor Plum the intellectual absent-minded professor with Miss Scarlet voluptuously played by Camille Capers dressed to the nines in her scarlet beaded gown. Her decolletage, defines her daring acidic personality that holds secrets of Washington insiders.
Not to be outdone by the evening’s cast of characters is the delightful Mrs. Peacock, Madeline Raube’s portrayal of the panicky, pious senator’s wife…so proper in her white gloves and peacock blue feathered hat. She amuses with her unorthodox reactions to the challenges of the evening yet manages to make one fall in love with her outbursts and occasional nips. While Joseph Dalfonso, as Mr. Boddy, bullies his way to…well, you’ll find out.
The Company of the Second North American tour of CLUE. Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.
The staging in and out of hallways, doors opening and shutting, guests crouching cat-like puts some corps de ballets to shame. The sudden surprise of the tight creepings, precise dressage of galloping bodies and chiaroscuro lighting accentuates movement in dark places. Staged so tightly, yet with such freedom, it can only be said…it is sheer genius.
One must get over to the Ahmanson as soon as possible or pick CLUE up in another town on their tour schedule. The sheer laughter, grace, and professionality does not come often enough. It is a treat for the entire family and may perhaps convince this company to come back to L.A. as soon as possible. Thank you for a truly needed experience of joy that makes us laugh out loud in today’s environment that never makes fear and suspense as delicious as this.
To learn more about the Center Theatre Group and the Ahmanson Theatre, please visit their website.
Written by Joanne DiVito for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: The Company of the Second North American tour of CLUE. Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.
