Thursday, October 13, 2016
Stage Play Based on Iconic Board Game CLUE to Bow in 2017; Hunter Foster to Direct
www.broadwayworld.com: BWW has learned that leading Broadway producing company The Araca Group and Hasbro Inc. today announced plans to bring the classic Hasbro game CLUE to the stage. The play marks the second live entertainment project announced between Araca and Hasbro, after the Broadway-bound musical adaptation of Monopoly announced earlier this year.
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I love Clue! I love the game and I love the movie! It is a very cult-y classic, so seeing it brought to the stage in a form of a musical will be so cool! It is a story that lends itself to the stage well, I'm actually surprised this didn't happen sooner - the article doesn't mention how long the talks went on, but there seems to be a huge trend right now to revive 70s-80s classics - Rocky Horror, Grease, now Clue. This could either go very well or be a gimmicky trick, but based on the people involved, I am hoping for some good music.
Something that kind of confused me is that Monopoly is a musical too? I guess I haven't heard about it yet, but I would have picked Clue way above Monopoly for a board game-to-musical show, Monopoly doesn't even have a plot! Clue has a plot! You have to find the murderer! Monopoly just leads to making your dad feel inadequate and silent dinners for a week - not super great musical range. But, even if it's a flop, it'll still be funny. Sometimes the worst musicals are the best in their own terrible way.
This is one of my favorite movies and board games. I would definitely go and see this stage adaptation. I am curious if they are going to have different endings like the movie did on who committed the murder. You can watch the dvd with a random ending so you have no idea who the real killer is until the very end. I think that would be very interesting doing it live onstage. The actors could somehow choose beforehand either by their own opinions or at a random pull out of a hat choice. Or what would be even more interesting is if they start the play out without anyone knowing but then at some point the real killer is triggered in order for the right script ending to start. Although maybe they can do a random choice before the show by the use of the murder mystery games you do with friends where you get slips of paper telling you if you are the murderer or not. I just get so excited with all these logistics.
Ever since King Kong the Musical, I thought there was no new musical that could come out that would surprise me. I was wrong. It isn’t CLUE: The Musical that surprises me, it is Monopoly. How are they making Monopoly into a musical? What is the plot? Will there be a singing thimble? However, making a musical out of CLUE seems like it could work really well, especially after looking at the team that will be working on it. I do wonder what kind of tone the musical will have. I assume somewhat light-hearted since it is a musical based on a board game, but given the subject matter of CLUE they could go more serious. Based on the video in the article, it seems like it will have a fairly silly tone. I am also a bit confused because there was a Clue the Musical Off Broadway in 1997, and I can’t tell if this production has anything to do with that one. I assume not since it isn’t mentioned in the article, and this article makes it sound like the board game hasn’t been made into a musical before.
I'm pretty much obsessed with Clue, the board game, so I may be a bit biased when I say I'm honestly excited for the ridiculousness that is Clue on Broadway. I agree with the quote in the article stating that Clue is a rare breed of board game gone to Hollywood, in that it transcends genre by pulling in audiences that are aroused by its mysteriousness. It does feel a little bit commercial in the sense that I worry about Broadway stages becoming more and more like ads for products, which I would hope that the production team of Clue is taking the proper steps to avoid having their production become nothing more than a glorified ad. I guess its somewhat unavoidable in the sense that big brand names have the followings to promote ticket sales, but this does foreshadow a potential change in the way we approach the development of commercial shows for mass audiences.
The article said that the musical would be based off of the movie, not the game itself. I do wonder how that will effect some of the costume designs and casting, will the production aim to make the actors look like the movie characters, or more like the (I would think) better known game pieces? Specifically, I wonder if they will costume the characters in their name color. It doesn’t happen in the movie, but it would make the action easier to follow from a distance. As an earlier comment already mentioned, I am wonder what they will do about the multiple endings. When a production has alternate endings, it is generally one per performance. All the different endings in the Clue movie are hilarious, partially because they are one after another. Either the writers cut one of the funniest parts of the movie, or the techs have a nightmare sequence of transitions.
Oh what the heck I had no idea Hunter Foster directed things! Anyway, this sounds really cool. I have not seen the Clue movie, but I am a big fan of the board game, and the clip this article shows from the movie seems really funny. There are not enough murder mystery shows. Actually, I don't think there are any murder mystery shows. The only one I can think of offhand is The Mystery of Edwin Drood. There are barely any shows about murder in general, so this is a really cool step for the theatrical industry. Honestly though, one of the main things I want to talk about from this article is the fact that there is a stage adaption of Monopoly in the works. Literally what the fuck. Has creativity so completely run its course that we must now adapt board games into musicals? (This is not aimed at Clue, since that is more based on the movie than the game, and that game kind of has a story anyway.) What is Monopoly's story gonna be? Someone moves across the stage and then randomly gets sent to jail? What happened to originality??
HOLD THE PHONE. I have always loved the CLUE movie, having first seen the ending without knowing what movie it was, but when my dad explained it to me, I knew I had to watch the whole thing. The CLUE movie in itself is a brilliantly clever film and definitely has a chance making it big onstage. The fact that it already has tour prospectives is a promise to how good it can really be. I do enjoy seeing movies go to the stage and vice versa, so I’m excited to see how the transition into live media is made. Also a little aside that this article mentions is that Monopoly is also a staged performance, and a musical!?! How that could ever be made possible I have no idea but I love Monopoly and am now very interested in that show as well. I wonder what this will do for the future of stage performance, if maybe we’ll be able to have a whole Broadway season of classic board games.
So there’s a few things that should be addressed before discussing details of the show itself. First, we need to discuss how there is a Monopoly musical in the works? I’m surprised I would not have heard about until now. I can maybe see a Clue musical because there is a through-line that occurs every time you play the game and there is a definitive ending. How in any world would you be able to make a story off of Monopoly? I feel like more people should be talking about this! However, I think the article hits the nail on the head where Clue “transcends genre”. There is already a movie of the board game which definitely helped sustain a pitch for the show. I struggle with these new types of musicals when we have many new artists, musicians, and playwrights who are waiting for a chance for a slot to open in a Broadway theatre for their show that they have been working on for years to put up.
I honestly can't believe that Clue is not already a piece of theatre. Like the article states, this content has the potential for so many things like great physical comedy and witty banter. There really are many possibilities with this content. For example, what if there were several ending to the play? Just like the game, the play can have a multitude of different possible endings. Sure that would be a little difficult, but I think that is something that live theatre can contribute to a play like this one. This play also lends it self to a bunch of other cool things like audience involvement and improve aspects. It is true what the article says about how Clue is an iconic game that anyone from all generations can relate too. Even though I didn't play much Clue as a child, the idea always fascinated me. I thought it was so cool how immersive the game was and how there were so many possible outcomes that it was truly a mystery. I am excited to see what direction they take this great opportunity!
From a producer aspect this is an amazing idea. You have a known product which is sure to attract a huge audience. Many people have played this with their friends and family for years so if they write the show in a correct way, this can be a show for all ages to watch. This will make them so much money. You have a creative team that is known in the industry and will make a great show. If the show is not well written it will tank though like Shrek which only lasted on broadway for a year-ish. However as an audience member I have many questions. Will the ending change every show like the board game? Will there be any interaction with the audience? Hopefully this show will have a life after this!
Um what? Am I the only person in the School of Drama that doesn't love Clue? I mean I guess I played a few times, and I certainly had no idea there was a movie. I certainly did not think that Clue had such widespread appeal nationally in general.
I suppose I can see how the context of Clue could make for an interesting piece of theatre, with the variable endings and the visually rich aesthetic that Clue is based in. But I do wonder how pitches like these make it through. A collaboration between a B-way producing company and a game company is somewhat strange to me, although apparently these two companies have collaborated before. They really are not messing around either, the listed collaborators on this proposed project are all quite accomplished.
Also, there is a musical adaption of Monopoly?! How does that even work.. What is this craziness. I guess I should crawl out from the rock I apparently live under.
Clue into a play, I can totally see that happening, but how are they not talking about Monopoly the Musical? That sounds absolutely crazy! I think that Monopoly is a classic board game and is an interesting concept, but I cannot even begin to imagine the adaptation into a musical. Would the pieces like the top hat and sport car be characters? Are they really going around the world and investing in property, or is it still in a make believe game context? Anyway, I like Clue, I've played it when I was a kid, but now its not that interesting. I like the concept of playing to solve a murder case, but so many newer games hold the same concept and are a lot more interesting. I did watch the movie Clue once, but all I really remember was that I didn't like it. They made the characters way too cartoonish and nothing was believable, but not in a way that was really funny, in a way that it was a little sad. I hope that the stage play gets it a little more right. I think their is a lot of potential because most people are familiar with the game and the characters, they just have to find the right balance between scary mystery and sketch comedy.
I never would have thought of turning Clue into a musical (or any other board game) into a musical. But I think it could turn out really well, especially if they do something like having multiple possible endings and changing which one they use from night to night. Monopoly on the other hand I have a hard time seeing as musical. How would you do that? Have bunch of businessmen running around a city trying to out bid each other on property? That would work but its only monopoly in the barest sense. But more importantly, I wish this article had talked about the upcoming show more. All they really said was it was going to be called clue and adapted from the 1985 movie and then go into a long list of the awards and credits of the creative team. These are all good things but I would have liked a little more information about the show itself in addition to all of this.
This is extremely exciting news for me because the world premier will be at Bucks Country Playhousethe theater I got my start at. I'm happy to see BCP continue to produce new works. Knowing and having worked with the creative team associated with this production I feel that this is right up there wheelhouse. I'm going to be seeing their production of Rocky Horror during break and will most definitely be picking their brains.
I love Clue, and think that asides from being a genuinely good standalone movie, it is one of the only good movies adapted from a board game or video game that I’ve ever seen. The premise has everything that a play might want, a lovely dinner party at a mansion goes awry when a murderer strikes, stylistically there’s really something to work with in terms of putting the story up on a stage. But what I’d really love about the whole concept of Clue is that there are multiple endings. I hope the theatricalized version of the show stays true to that part of the original concept of the movie, and am excited by what that could mean logistically.
Clearly there would have to be some sort of set of scenery for each room in the house (and maybe a secret tunnel or two) as clearly the story is heavily dependent on the various rooms throughout the house. But if the play is going to mix up the whole who killed whom where investigation like the movie did, the various sets might have to come on in a different order each night in a way that will probably have to be scripted. All in all, it’d have to be treated almost as if it were multiple shows
Regardless of all that though, I’m hoping I can get to see this production.
I absolutely love the idea of creating a live musical version of this game. My only concern with it is… How are they going to pick from all of the items and rooms and people?! I think that this new adaption lends itself very nicely towards a “new experience every time you come” type show. I worked with Zumanity for a bit two years ago and they have over 44 versions of their show. They can have a new show every night because of the cabaret style that they adapted. I would love for them to do that with this show so that if you come a second night, you wont lose that element of surprise in the end when the true murderer is revealed. This lends itself to a really thrilling and suspenseful story. I know I’ll be going to see this when it hits theatres.
I must admit I don’t know much about clue except for the board game. I had no idea there was a movie based on it. Nor did I know that there was a cult following of it. The idea of bringing a board game to a movie and then to a staged play is still strange to me. I’m sure that part of what draws people to these attractions is the familiar characters and seeing the realized forms of the board game. I’m not terribly familiar with Bucks County Playhouse, but I think it is great that Clue is starting there. From what I know, it isn’t a more well known theater and this could bring a lot more recognition to not only this theater but to others that produce such shows before going to Broadway or starting a tour. It also doesn’t hurt that the director, Hunter Foster, is a Michigan graduate.
CLUE is a very iconic movie, and a very enjoyable one, too. This looks like a really neat idea. I mean the board game is pretty great. The murder mystery genre is one that just isn't explored enough in the theatre. It's always fun to watch a movie or read a book and try to figure out the murder case before the detective (or whatever protagonist) does. It seems to me that this experience has the ability to translate well to the theatre. It looks like Bucks County Playhouse is staging this play in a fairly traditional manner, but a murder mystery show could also work as a somewhat-immersive experience (without being a straight-up murder mystery dinner). Either way, this looks to be an exciting show. This article also brings up Monopoly the musical, which I am somewhat confused about. It looks like that show is a few years off, so we'll have to wait and see.
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