DORSET – Early last fall, when I learned that the Dorset Players’ new season slate included “Clue: On Stage,” the theatrical adaptation of the 1985 movie and the longtime popular board game, I circled the opening night date on my calendar because its timing was impeccable.
After a long winter, the show’s patented satire is just the antidote for the brutal cold we just experienced. Spring is slowly creeping its way across northern New England, and there’s nothing like heating up the Dorset Playhouse with raucous laughs and uncontrollable guffaws.
“Clue: On Stage” by Sandy Ruskin with additional material from Hunter Foster and Eric Price, and original music by Michael Holland, is directed by Patty Greene-Pawelczyk and produced by Brian Miksis and Josh Bond.
The story finds us in 1954 at Boddy Mansion, outside of Washington DC. There, six guests, Miss Scarlet (Joey Blane), Professor Plum (Richard Grip), Mrs. White (Megan Demarest), Mr. Green (Tom Martins), Mrs. Peacock (Natalie Philpot), and Colonel Mustard (Paul Michael Brinker) are invited to dinner, blackmailed by Mr. Boddy (Brian Driscoll), and must find the killer when bodies stack up, leading to a frantic, farcical investigation guided by the butler Wadsworth (Christopher Restino), and attended to by French maid Yvette (Dana Haley).
Other characters with parts varying in presence are the Cook (Annie Nash), the Motorist (Michael Wymer), the Unexpected Cop (Tom Stevens), Chief of Polics (Jon Mathewson), the Backup Cop (Dylan Galante) and the Singing Telegram Girl (Renee Wymer).
The cast was to die for! As anchor, Restino’s Wadsworth delivers a tour-de-force, managing the frantic pace—particularly during the insane recap of the evening’s events—is masterful, blending physical comedy with sharp timing. Demarest’s White offered a perfect monotone, icy demeanor, and a masterclass in deadpan humor, making her sudden bursts of aggression hilarious.
Brinker’s Mustard delivered tremendous energy, completely capturing the idiocy and oblivious arrogance, confident even when he is completely wrong. Blane’s Scarlet was at once sleek and manipulative, commands the stage with charm, offering a compelling, seductive, and quick-witted presence. Martins’ Green excelled in physical comedy, his nervous energy and accidental, clumsy moments are comedic highlights to soak up.
Philpot’s Peacock is wonderfully hysterical and frantic, elevating the chaos of the dinner party with high-strung, bird-like energy, perhaps the most outrageous get-up to be seen on the Dorset stage in a long time. Grip’s Plum combined lecherous charm with academic pomposity, offering us a perfect balance of intellect and incompetence.
Finally, Haley’s Yvette combined a Gallic Betty Boop aura with a skimpy outfit and machinations with a feather duster that turned up the heat and the laughter – all while mostly operating as a backdrop to the main action. Whew!
The rest of the cast as listed above handled their roles with great fun, and all complement the exceptional comedic timing that was a hallmark of director Greene-Pawelczyk’s rigorous preparation, enhanced by Wren Schmidt’s fine stage management.
The excellence of Dorset Players technical and production crew continued its winning streak, and as I have said many times in the past, the following folks, whose work would be the envy of professional theater companies, should all take a bow:
Fight/Death Coordinator, Todd Hjelt. Costumes, Lorri Bond. Set Design, Annie Nash, David McAneney with both also on crew joining Steve Holman, Errol Hill, Rich Savoyski, Frank Kropa, Eric Burdge, Sooner Dawson, Chris Bowlen, Jonathan Weiss, Colin Hill. Painting, Nash, Stacy Eileen, Brian Driscoll, Galante and Restino.
In addition: Lights design, David V. Groupe, board, Winslow Lee, and crew: Angie Merwin, Hjelt, John Lee, and Joe Mozer. Sound design and board: Miksis.
The play ran for 90 minutes with no intermission.
Let’s not mince words here: this is a very funny play and the Dorset Players do funny better than anyone in the surrounding region. Having been in their seats for more than two decades, and attesting to how seriously they take the business of performing on stage, there still remains a joie de vivre that permeates the entire company: they are friends and neighbors who know how to smile, to laugh, and above all not take themselves too seriously and love life as they move through it day to day.
It’s something you cannot train or teach. It just is. And to the benefit of local audiences, it really comes out in the Players’ comedies. Sure, these folks are acting; but honestly? They can be just as funny off stage as they are on.
So let’s not turn this fact into a mystery: there are three shows left in this run of “Clue: On Stage,” and if you can get to one of them, while tickets are still available, you really need to. Because you will love it. And you will laugh.
Case closed.
“Clue: On Stage” by Sandy Rustin and directed by Patty Greene-Pawelczyk and produced by Brian Miksis and Josh Bond will run through April 19 at the Dorset Players, 104 Cheney Rd. in Dorset. Tickets: call the box office at 802-867-5777 or visit dorsetplayers.org
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