GBSC’s ‘Clue’: Murder most foul and funny

By Rich Fahey

STONEHAM – Murder and mayhem, both involving beloved characters brought to life on stage, part of a game you’ve been playing since childhood. An all-star cast of actors playing those characters causing comic chaos for 90 minutes. What’s not to like?

The comedy “Clue: On Stage” is based on the fabulously successful board game from Parker Brothers, which was based in Salem and then Beverly before being bought out by Hasbro, Inc. in 1991. The Parker Brothers game was based on an actual murder committed in Salem.

The game has spawned books, movies, TV shows, knockoffs and imitators, a musical and this stage adaptation now being performed at the Greater Boston Stage Company through June 25.

When “Clue” opens, it is, of course, a dark and stormy night, circa 1954, and it’s a very unusual dinner party at Boddy Manor, a foreboding New England mansion, with murder and blackmail on the menu. Each of the guests has an alias, the butler offers a variety of weapons, and the host is, well … dead.

The cast is led by newly-minted Norton Award-winner Paul Melendy, the star of last fall’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” at GBSC, as Wadsworth, the uptight, by-the-book butler played by Tim Curry in the 1985 Paramount film.  He is the ringmaster for the deadly doings and serves as the front man for the mysterious Mr. Boddy (Bryan Miner), the ill-fated host of the dinner. Boddy had blackmail on his mind but meets his end soon after laying out his plan.

So whodunnit? Was it the lovely but cunning Miss Scarlet (Jennifer Ellis)? How about the pompous and dangerously dim Colonel Mustard (Bill Mootos)? Could it be the academic Casanova Professor Plum (Mark Linehan)?

Don’t forget the allegedly murderous widow Mrs. White (Sara Coombs), the timid, officious Mr. Green (Stewart Evan Smith), and the batty, neurotic Mrs. Peacock (Maureen Keiller). Taken together, they have enough baggage to fill a luggage carousel at Logan Airport. They’re all racing to find the murderer in Boddy Manor before the body count stacks up. Good luck with that.

Comedy is never easy, and “Clue” is awash in demanding slapstick and physical comedy, and the script contains an almost endless number of blackouts and scene changes that require precision timing in their execution. Credit goes to GBSC’s artistic director Weylin Symes, who directs this production, successfully seeing his cast through 90 minutes of action at a breakneck pace, and the technical and design crew who also make it happen.

And speaking of execution, the body count will reach frightening levels when the various deadly weapons — rope, candlestick, revolver – start being utilized in the kitchen, conservatory and billiard room.

At one point, after the cook, a cop and the woman delivering a Singing Telegram are all quickly dispatched, Wadsworth says, “Three murders in three minutes” and  Mootos as Mustard marvels at the killer’s efficiency.  “That’s our best record.”

Melendy as Wadsworth will lead the players around by the nose for much of the night, eventually culminating in a hilarious full-speed-ahead comic tour de force recap of all that had happened onstage until that point. He will then lead the cast as a dizzying number of possible murders scenarios are also played out, just as they are in the board game.

There are twists and turns aplenty in the plot and there’s even a nod to the board game’s trapdoor. Katy Monthei is scenic designer and oversees a clever. intricate set that includes scenery built by the Ogunquit Playhouse Scene Shop. A revolving set piece allows rooms and scenes to be switched from the lounge to the billiard room in just seconds, and the set works in concert with Jeff Adelberg’s lighting. sound design by Caroline Eng+, and the colorful costumes by Deidre Gerrard to create the desired atmosphere while remaining true to the spirit of the board game. Production Stage Manager Shauwna Dias Grillo has her hands full making sure the train stays on the tracks.

And while Melendy sets the pace, there are some other fine comic turns in supporting roles, with Keiller’s wild and wacky Mrs. Peacock leading the way. Miner has fun with Mr. Boddy, and later as an ill-fated motorist and a clueless cop in the wrong place at the wrong time. Genevieve Lefevre has her moments as the maid Yvette, as does Katie Pickett as the cook and the ill-fated deliverer of the Singing Telegram.

It’s always a good sign when the cast and the audience both seem to be having a great time together.

On a dark and stormy summer night in the past, you probably enjoyed a game of “Clue,” and had a favorite character or even your favorite deadly weapon of choice.

There’s great fun to be had in watching those characters come alive and then becoming part of the game being played hilariously onstage. It’s murder most foul … and funny.

The Greater Boston Stage Company production of “Clue.” Written by Sandy Rustin, adapted from the Paramount Pictures film written by Jonathan Lynn and the board game from Hasbro Inc. with additional materials by Hunter Foster and Eric Price. Directed by Weylin Symes. At the Greater Boston Stage Company through June 25. Greaterbostonstage.org.