'Clue' Stage Adaptation Coming In 2017

Clue is heading out of the mansion and onto the stage. A new play is in the works from Jonathan Lynn, who co-wrote and directed the 1985 movie based on the Hasbro board game. The plan is for Clue to debut next year in Pennsylvania and then embark on a national tour. Variety reports the Clue stage adaptation will open at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Pennsylvania around May 2017. No stars have been announced but Clue is expected to have a cast of about ten. It's worth noting that Clue will not be a musical. Hunter Foster will direct and Robyn Goodman serves as executive producer. Lynn is writing the script.

Road Company is currently setting up plans for a North American tour of Clue to follow its Bucks County Playhouse bow, and a U.K. tour is in the works as well. At this time there are no plans for the Clue stage adaptation to hit Broadway. But you might see it on a stage near you in the not-too-distant future, as the plan is for Clue to hit the theatrical licensing market for regional and amateur troupes.

Lynn's 1985 movie stars Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean, and others as guests who get embroiled in a murder mystery after they're invited to a party at a secluded mansion. Tim Curry played the butler. Among other things, the film was famous for its multiple endings — depending on which screening they went to, audiences got to see one of three different resolutions.

While not a hit in its time, Clue has since developed a strong cult following. You've surely seen Kahn's "flames on the side of my face" scene a million times, but here it is again because it never gets old.

This will not be the first time Clue has been adapted for the stage. In the 1990s there was Clue The Musical, an interactive production that ran Off-Broadway for just 29 performances and 17 previews. That one got pretty terrible reviews, so here's hoping the new Clue stage adaptation fares better. At least it has a low bar to clear. The new Clue is also one of two projects currently in development based on that property. A couple of months go, we got word a new potential movie franchise was on the way.