Clue at Asheville Community Theatre
Bruce Steele: I'm afraid I was a bit, um, clue-less as we sat down for the Asheville Community Theatre's production of Clue — the company's first in-person opening night since February 2020. I didn't realize the play was based on the 1985 Clue movie with Tim Curry. Should moviegoers know a little something about the film before they see the stage comedy?
Edwin Arnaudin: It’s more important to know the basic rules of the board game Clue — the ur text of it all — to have a sense of why silly names like Colonel Mustard are used and to catch a handful of clever inside jokes. While there’s definite value in having seen the Clue film prior to the stage production, it’s such a faithful adaptation (as far as I can tell) that it’ll either be like watching the movie again (no problem for fans of this somewhat overrated cult favorite) or experiencing it for the first time, where I thought certain elements work even better. Were you able to follow along fairly easily?
Bruce: I wasn't sure what to make of it at first, as each character arrives at a mysterious mansion to modest laughs, but once we get through a draggy dinner scene, the antics perk up with everyone in the study with a knife — and a candlestick, and a revolver, and all the other weapons. Adam Arthur's Colonel Mustard, with all his dopey poker-faced pronouncements, was my favorite of the six board game characters. Who was yours?
Edwin: Mustard’s malapropisms are hilarious and Arthur’s performance is also my favorite of the guests who arrive for a most unusual evening. Beyond him, it’s a toss up between Cameron Mussar’s nervous Mr. Green and Kathy O’Connor’s persnickety Mrs. Peacock, both of whom are written with personality to spare, unlike the remaining pseudonym parts. But none are as flashy and entertaining as Wadsworth the butler, played exceedingly well by Travis Lowe — who even resembles Curry.
Bruce: Lowe is the master of the mayhem, and his hyperspeed recap of events near the end of the play is definitely the highlight of the evening. It was reminiscent of the Act II opening of The Producers — which opened on Broadway 16 years after the Clue film and likely lifted the idea. ACT director Jeff Catanese makes the most of it, since it's one time that the half-dozen characters squeezing awkwardly through doorways one after another can be played for laughs. The set, by Jill Summers, with two side rooms that rotate into view, is clever and mechanically impressive — it got its own round of applause opening night — but it is not Catanese's friend, since he's mostly working within a central hallway that's big and barren or inside those side chambers that are too small for the crowded cast. When the gang breaks up into smaller groups, such as when they're disguising corpses during a policeman's inspection, then there's space for some serious silliness.
Edwin: The side rooms are also where the comedic dialogue is most clearly delivered. The decision not to mic the cast resulted in multiple garbled lines and half-delivered jokes on opening night, but the large majority of the material is audible and meshes well with Adam Cohen’s humorous sound design work. And speaking of those corpses, they earned some of the evening’s biggest laughs, so kudos to props designer Connor Harmsworth for the strategic presentation and the actors who, er, interact with the dead bodies.
Bruce: I did love the running gag with John Adams as Professor Plum, where he would pronounce each victim dead — with mixed results. Mrs. White (Sharon Taylor) and Miss Scarlet (Tiffanie Boone) get off some good character-driven laugh lines — wearing two of Deborah Austin’s best tongue-in-cheek costumes — but the play adaptation, by Sandy Rustin (and others), doesn't give them much more than that to do. This is the broadest kind of comedy, entirely absurd, so audience members expecting some larger lesson about McCarthyism (given the 1950s time frame) or sexism (there's a throwaway #MeToo line) or the like may leave disappointed. Those keen to enjoy community theater hijinks, after such a long wait, will have a good time.
Edwin: Clue is an excellent selection for ACT’s return and provides plentiful goofy escapism from the even wackier world outside its walls. I’m excited to have this company back in our rotation, along with Flat Rock Playhouse, N.C. Stage Co., and the Peace Center also resuming regular operations over the past two weeks — and the Fine Arts Theatre on the indie movie side. Things almost feel “normal” again...
Clue runs through November 7 at Asheville Community Theatre. For details and tickets, visit ashevilletheatre.org.
(Photo: Courtesy of Asheville Community Theatre)
