‘Clue’ at PPAC – a comical, contrived stage adaptation of the whodunit board game 

PROVIDENCE – Touring entertainment can sometimes be an iffy proposition. We’ve all encountered sketchy traveling carnivals, second-tier circuses and aged-out performers seeking a final payday. Amusements like Mattel’s “American Girl Live” tour and “Disney on Ice” blatantly exploit children as consumers. The nomadic “Shen Yun,” which seems to be everywhere all at once, is religious-political propaganda in the guise of a colorful cultural dance pageant.

At first glance, it seems as if “Clue” — a touring, live-action stage adaptation of the Hasbro whodunit board game – could also be low-hanging fruit. The show was written by Sandy Rustin, whose credits include the above-mentioned “American Girl Live” tour. And while the show is part of PPAC’s 2025-2026 Broadway Season, it never actually played on Broadway, and it never previously played in Providence even though it is part of the Encore series.

“Clue” premiered at the Bucks County Playhouse in Pennsylvania in 2017 and then hit the road after being field-tested at a handful of regional playhouses and receiving some positive press. I happened to see an early production at the Cleveland Playhouse.

Going on tour was a wise choice considering the abysmal track record for the few existing plays based on board games. “Monopoly: The Musical” never got to pass go after stalling on its way to Broadway in 2017. “Clue: The Musical” made its off-Broadway debut in 1997 but got killed off after a mere 29 performances, by poor box office sales, in a Greenwich Village theater. In its review, The New York Daily News noted that making a play from a board game “is the kind of bizarre task that only a genius or a fool would undertake. And there is no sign of genius here.”

There’s little genius in the touring non-musical “Clue” as well, though it’s a pretty entertaining piece of work. The show takes much of its inspiration from the star-studded but success-stunted 1985 film of the same name – so much so that the screenwriter Jonathan Lynn shares top billing. The script is similarly chock full of deliciously groan-worthy one-liners and over-the-top embellishments of classic murder mystery tropes. And the stage is filled with slapstick from actors whose resumes list plenty of comedies in their past.

It’s 1954, during the height of McCarthyism, and six strangers have been invited to a secluded mansion in the dark of night where they are met by Wadsworth the butler (Adam Brett), Yvette the maid (Zoie Tannous) and the cook (AT Sanders).  Each guest — the inane Colonel Mustard (Nate Curlott), the tragic Mrs. White (Sarah MacKenzie Baron), the flighty Mrs. Peacock (Madeline Raube), the accident-prone Mr. Green (TJ Lamando), the underqualified and overconfident Professor Plum (Kyle Yampiro), and the sardonic Miss Scarlet (Camille Capers) — is introduced to Mr. Boddy (Joseph Dalfonso), whom Wadsworth reveals has been blackmailing them for engaging in un-American activities.

Soon Mr. Boddy is found dead. So are the maid, the cook, a motorist whose car had broken down, the cop who found the car and a singing telegram delivery girl.

Everyone’s a suspect, but who is the murderer? The board game asks players to find the murderer, the crime scene and the weapon used from the clues that surface during the game playing. Based on the cards drawn, the mystery has 216 possible endings. But this play, like the film, thankfully acts out only the most entertaining options, in addition to Wadsworth’s manic 11th-hour madcap recap of the play’s proceedings.

Tour designers (Lee Savage (scenic), Jen Caprio (costumes), Ryan O’Gara (lighting), J. Jared Janas (makeup/wigs) and Jeff Human (sound)) nicely capture the period and the proper murder mystery ambience, complete with a mansion of epic proportions and secret chambers. Production bells and whistles, including the flying in and flying out of scenery, help generate the same lightning-quick pace as the film’s cinematic momentum.

It is fortunate that this national tour – the production’s second – was launched just last October, so the actors and crew should not be road weary upon their arrival in Providence. With that said, they will be closing in Portland, Maine the night before opening at PPAC. So, stamina as well as superb comic timing will be the things to look for during the upcoming production.

Bob Abelman is an award-winning theater critic who also writes for The Boston Globe. Connect with him on Facebook.