Zany Ensemble Cast Bring Classic Murder Mystery Board Game to Life on Summerville Stage
By: Jeff Walker, Entertainment Writer
Inspired by the classic 1949 Hasbro board game and brought to life by an all-star cast in the 1985 film version, ‘Clue’ is an outrageous farce-meets-murder mystery, with the cast and crew with Flowertown Players bringing the timeless and comedic whodunit to life on stage at the Summerville’s Community Theatre. Flowertown Players thoroughly entertain the audience for a full two hours in this nonstop cat and mouse game, brought to you by the nostalgic Parker Brothers (pun intended).
When six mysterious guests including a socialite, senator’s wife, and a female escort assemble for an unexpected dinner party, they soon discover that the menu consists of murder, intrigue, and blackmail. When the party’s host Mr. Boddy turns up dead, all mayhem breaks out. Did the butler, the cook, or the maid do it, or did one of the invited patrons concoct this fiendish scheme of who, what, and where!
Ironically Mr. Boddy’s body is just the beginning of the dead body count. Plenty of rooms in Boddy Manor to perpetrate a murder, and plenty of potential murder weapons on hand. Are any among the invited dinner guests being blackmailed enough to contemplate murder? The plot thickens as each outrageous scene unfolds with the Flowertown Players keeping the audience continually guessing and amused at the same time.
To single out any one performer (whether a lead or not) for their stellar portrayal is to extend accolades to the entire cast, which grows to 14 by the play’s finale. It’s rare to find a complement of this many actors especially in community theatre that totally immerse themselves in their respective characters. Kudos to director and choreographer Brandon L. Joyner for finding the right actors to fill such diverse roles. Flowertown Players are the epitome of an ensemble cast!
Mike Hornacek is phenomenal as Wadsworth, the rather short and abrupt British butler who leads the guests through this real-life board game. Hornacek slays the audience with his two-minute murder mystery recap late in the production. Holland Kemp is ideally cast as Miss Scarlett the sassy lady of the evening, with Citadel alum Robert Lowe equally filling the shoes of the often pompous and seemingly naive Colonel Mustard.
Sally Clemence knows how to portray the uppity and reserved Mrs. Peacock to a tee, with Kerry Bowers justly exuding the right amount of female confidence as the five-time widow Mrs. White. Joey Kelley is superb as the timid yet overly anxious Mr. Green, a dinner guest with his own hidden agenda.
Not to be overshadowed Zach Rettig plays the amorous academic Professor Plum perfectly, with a measure of assuredness, with Makenna Bryant lighting up the stage performance exquisitely when she prances on and off stage as Yvette, the sexy French maid. Ooh la la! Let’s not leave out Andrew Williams who portrays assertive and perplexing Mr. Boddy, as well as stepping into two smaller characters late in the game.
There are so many wonderfully moving parts including the revolving panels on stage that keep audience members totally enthralled throughout. Flowertown Players absolutely kill (pun intended) in a good way with ‘Clue’. If you enjoy murder mysteries with endless bombast from beginning to end, then spending two hours at the Summerville Community Theatre taking in ‘Clue’ is time well spent! Weekend performances run through November 13th.
