Review Roundup: CLUE at Cleveland Play House Starring John Treacy Egan - What Did the Critics Think?

Cleveland Play House presents the new high-spirited, madcap mystery Clue: A New Comedy, based on the popular 1985 Paramount Pictures film and inspired by the classic Hasbro board game.

Led by Director Casey Hushion (Associate Director Mean Girls, Aladdin, The Prom), the cast features Broadway veterans John Treacy Egan (My Fair Lady, Sister Act, Little Mermaid), Kathy Fitzgerald (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Wicked, 9 to 5), Michael Kostroff (Les Miserables, HBO's The Wire), Alex Mandell (The Play That Goes Wrong, Hand to God), Mark Price (Mary Poppins, All Shook Up), Donna English (Nice Work If You Can Get It), Graham Stevens (In Transit) and Eleasha Gamble (Fiasco Theatre's Into the Woods), as well as Cleveland and CPH favorites Josh Innerst (CPH's Ken Ludwig's Sherwood), Mariah Burks (CPH's Shakespeare in Love, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), and Elisabeth Yancey (CPH's Into the Breeches!).

Tickets can be purchased by calling the Box Office at 216.241.6000 or by visiting clevelandplayhouse.com. Performances will run January 25, 2020 through February 23, 2020 in the Allen Theatre at Playhouse Square.

Let's see what the critics are saying...

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Roy Berko, BroadwayWorld: Fortunately, CPH's production is blessed with director, Casey Hushion, who totally understands how to create credible visual and language farce and shares her vision with a talented cast who each inhabit their role. The effect is engaging and creates one laugh after the other and a series of "ah-hahs" as the audience is led on a merry chase of solving the mystery.

Laura DeMarco, Cleveland.com: The top notch cast is up the challenge of the fast-paced, twisty dialogue - ripe with double entendres - and broad physical humor. Mark Price is especially notable as the archly humorous and scheming butler Wadsworth, who knows all the guests invited by the mysterious Mr. Boddy to his manor house have more than a few secrets to hide. John Treacy Egan is a hoot as the dunderheaded Colonel Mustard; Eleasha Gamble is vamptastic as Miss Scarlet; while Kathy Fitzgerald provides over the top laughs as the giddy Mrs. Peacock. Everyone finds just the right balance of slapstick and drama.

Bob Abelman, News Herald: The Allen Theatre is no stranger to farce, particularly in the form of Ken Ludwig's "Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood," "Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery" and "A Comedy of Tenors." But "Clue" is clearly made of lesser stuff, where the board game characters are less richly drawn, the simple plot unfolds as if driven by a random roll of the dice and, despite director Casey Hushion's insistence she does not want it to "ever feel like we're trying to put the film on stage," that is exactly what this production feels like.

Laura Kennelly, Cool Cleveland: Yes, it's light as a feather; that's one of its charms. Whether you've seen the movie or played the board game as a child (a game still sold, still a good ice-breaker, and today a distraction from iPhones), it's a treat to watch this excellently executed story of murder and blackmail.

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