Review: CLUE at John W. Engeman Theater At Northport

The John W. Engeman Theater at Northport’s production of Clue is fantastically funny and frenetic. Based on the eponymous popular board game and cult classic 1985 film, the play takes place on a dark and stormy night at Boddy Manor, where Wadsworth, the butler, Yvette, the maid, and the cook are all preparing for a dinner party. Who are the honored guests? None other than the guests from the classic game: Colonel Mustard, Mrs. White, Mrs. Peacock, Mr. Green, Miss Scarlet, and Professor Plum. Once all the guests and their host, Mr. Boddy, arrive, they soon discover what they all have in common. With the flick of a light switch and the threat of extortion, a murder most foul occurs, and the guests must discover who killed Mr. Boddy? Mix Agatha Christie, Neil Simon and farces like The 39 Clues or The Play that Goes Wrong and you have Clue.

Who is responsible for killing the audience with laughter? It would be none other than director Marc Tumminelli, with the director’s chair, at the John W. Engeman Theater at Northport. Tumminelli takes the material and brings it to new heights by paying homage to both the board game and film. While the play follows the original screenplay by Jonathan Lynn, Tumminelli takes the new material by Sandy Rustin, Hunter Foster and Eric Price and makes it feel as if it were taken right from the original film. The set created by Kyle Dixon is beautiful; it is as if he replicated the beautiful artwork of the board game itself and made it 3-dimensional. The set has amazing secret compartments that move about the stage becoming one of the mansion’s many rooms and potential locations for murder. Dixon takes a minimal set and makes it massive exhibiting his immense creativity. I also loved Dustin Cross’s wonderfully color coordinated costumes for each character. While the show is not a musical, there is a ton of choreography that truly exemplifies the vastness of the mansion, which to me was reminiscent of the infamous door slamming scenes in Michael Frayn’s Noises Off. Tumminelli beautifully staged these scenes.

In addition to the fantastic screenplay, the reason why Clue became such a success was its amazing comedic ensemble including: Eileen Brennan (Mrs. Peacock), Colleen Camp (Yvette) Tim Curry (Wadsworth), Madeline Kahn (Mrs. White), Christopher Lloyd (Professor Plum), Michael McKean (Mr. Green), Martin Mull (Colonel Mustard) and Lesley Ann Warren (Miss. Scarlet). With a roster of talent like that, it can be very daunting to tackle these roles. The ensemble at the John W. Engeman Theater:  Michael Keyloun (Wadsworth), Arianne Davidow (Yvette), Danny Rothman (Colonel Mustard), Christina DeCicco (Mrs. White), Thursday Farrar (Mrs. Peacock), Patrick Harvey (Mr. Green), Ken King (Professor Plum), and Lauren Weinberg (Miss Scarlet) each hit it out of the park. What really was unbelievable was how all the secondary characters were given new comedic life; Bravo to Cody Gerszewski (Mr. Boddy/The Motorist/Chief of Police), Suzanne Mason (The Cook/Singing Telegram Girl/Backup Cop) and Jeremy McClelland (Unexpected Cop/Back up Cop). I guarantee you will be giving the entire ensemble a standing ovation by the play’s hilarious conclusion which is led by the tour de force performance by Michael Keyloun, who most definitely made Tim Curry proud.

If you are looking for a great time, the gags and laughs abound with the Engeman Theater’s production of Clue. Game on!

Clue is playing the John W. Engeman Theater at Northport through October 27. Rounding out the 2024-2025 season are: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Nov 14-Dec 29), Heartbreak Hotel (Jan 16 – Mar 2, 2025), Waitress the Musical (Mar 13 – Apr 27, 2025), South Pacific (May 15 – Jun 29, 2025), and Footloose the Musical (Jul 10 – Aug 24, 2025). You can purchase tickets to Clue and the rest of the season here: https://www.engemantheater.com/

Be sure to check out photos from Opening Night here: /long-island/article/Photos-Opening-Night-of-CLUE-at-The-John-W-Engeman-Theater-20240915

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