‘CLUE:
THE MUSICAL’
Coaster Theatre ushers
in a nightly surprise
BY NANCY MCCARTHY
For actor David Sweeney, playing dead
is becoming a habit. In the Coaster Theatre’s
recent production of “Murder on the Orient
Express,” Sweeney played both the villain,
who was stabbed eight times, as well as one
of the train’s passengers.
Now, in the theater’s upcoming produc-
tion of “Clue: The Musical,” Sweeney plays
Mr. Boddy, murdered by one of six possible
suspects. Who that murderer is, where the
crime occurred and with what weapon is left
for the audience to decide.
But Mr. Boddy “doesn’t stay dead very
long,” Sweeney said. Instead, he becomes a
ringmaster, narrating action and delivering
clues to the audience.
Patterned after the popular board game,
“Clue: The Musical” pairs six possible sus-
pects with six weapons and six rooms.
Audience members are asked to blindly
draw three cards, each card containing
either a character’s name, weapon or room.
With diff erent avenues to take depending
on audience participation, this means that
there are a total of more than 200 possible
endings.
The performance changes slightly each
time, depending on the luck of that night’s
draw.
It’s the Coaster Theatre’s third round
of producing the unique musical. It was
selected to return as a commemorative per-
formance, celebrating the theater’s 50th
anniversary.
“We chose plays we had done before
and were popular and well-liked. We imme-
diately grabbed ‘Clue,’” Patrick Lathrop,
executive director of the Coaster Theatre,
said. “‘Clue’ has been done twice before;
both times, it was a really big hit. People
thoroughly enjoyed it,” he added.
That may be because audience members
play along during the performance, keep-
ing track of clues on cards they are given.
Although no prize is awarded for solving
the mystery, there’s a certain sense of tri-
umph among those who stand up at the end
of the show, recognizing their achievement.
Lathrop, who directs the show and plays
Col. Mustard, is also the play’s musical
director, a task he fi nds challenging.
He describes the musical score as
14 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
Cast members of ‘Clue,’ from left to right, include Cathey Ryan as Mrs. White, Toddy Adams as Miss Scarlet, Bennett Hunter as Mr. Green, David Sweeney
as Mr. Boddy, Joslynn Johansen as a detective, Bryan Lelek as Professor Plum, Patrick Lathrop as Col. Mustard and Shay Knorr as Mrs. Peacock.
‘Clue: The Musical’
Coaster Theatre Playhouse, 108 N. Hem-
lock St., Cannon Beach
7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, Thursdays and
Saturdays through Sept. 10
Admission is $25 to $30. Proof of vaccina-
tion is required; masks recommended
www.coastertheatre.com
Lissa Brewer
The Coaster Theatre Playhouse in Cannon Beach.
bizarre, with “weird key changes, weird
time changes and weird licks and runs.
They change the rhythm fi ve times on every
page.”
“It’s just a nightmare,” Lathrop said.
Despite the score’s intricacies, it seems to
fi t the characters, who also might be con-
sidered bizarre. Mr. Green, for example, is
“one smarmy gangster,” according to Ben-
nett Hunter, who has acted in several of the
theater’s shows.
“To prepare for the character, I pretty
much watched ‘The Sopranos,’” Hunter
said. “He’s always a bit on edge, always
yelling at somebody at diff erent volumes.
He’s very sure of himself, or at least he likes
to project that, whether it’s true or not.”
Cathey Ryan, who plays Mrs. White, a
cook, said she had to “fi nd the dissatisfi ed,
angered, put-upon domestic servant” within
herself. Was that diffi cult? “No, I’m pretty
cranky,” she said, smiling. “I’m having a
good time.”
Although Jay Johansen is about to be a
junior at Neah-Kah-Nie High School, they
play the hard-nosed detective who, accord-
ing to the script, is “hard-pressed to fi nd the
hard truth.”
“I like the juxtaposition of the detective,
who’s serious and ‘I’m here to get business
done’ and everyone else is crazy,” Johansen
said. “Half the lines are tongue-twisters in
nursery rhymes.”
Just like her much-married character,
Mrs. Peacock, Shay Knorr has been married
three times, although she is quick to point
out that none of her ex-husbands have died.
Knorr, who has acted with the Riverbend
Players in Nehalem, is new to the venue.
“Mrs. Peacock is fun to play because I guess
I’m good at playing those snotty, uptight
roles,” Knorr said, laughing. “She certainly
knows what she wants, and she goes for it.
“And I have a great song,” Knorr added.
“That’s what matters.”