Broadway Across Canada brings the campy, energetic whodunnit Clue to Edmonton's Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium from July 14 to 19 and Calgary's Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium from July 21 to 26, 2026. The stage adaptation, based on the classic board game and the 1985 film, promises a fast-paced comedic mystery.
From Board Game to Stage
The board game Clue was created in 1943 and marketed in 1949 in the United Kingdom and North America. By the 1960s, it became a household staple alongside Monopoly. The 1985 film starred Madeline Kahn, Lesley Ann Warren, Christopher Lloyd, Eileen Brennan, and Martin Mull, with Tim Curry immortalizing the role of English butler Wadsworth. In this stage version, Long Island native Adam Brett takes on the iconic role.
Brett acknowledges Curry's influence but emphasizes making the role his own: "You can’t play Wadsworth without nodding to Tim Curry, that’s how great an impression he left on the role, but you cannot do an impersonation. You have to make the role as much your own as possible."
Adam Brett's Journey to Wadsworth
Brett credits his English accent skills to a high school production of My Fair Lady and previous experience playing Colonel Mustard in another production. "Two summers ago, at another theatre, I played Colonel Mustard, and getting to do the show really helped me because I already knew what to expect; the tone, the rhythm, the pacing of the players," he said.
The stage version of Clue premiered in 2017 starring Sally Struthers and has since become a popular comedy in regional and community theatre.
A Non-Stop Comedic Ride
Brett describes the play as starting at a fever pitch and never letting up: "I never leave the stage so I am physically exhausted when the show is over. It’s like being shot out of a cannon and you just can’t stop going." The production acknowledges the film's three endings, but audiences will see the same ending regardless of the performance night.
The plot unfolds in an old mansion during a storm. Mrs. White, Miss Scarlet, Mrs. Peacock, Mr. Green, Professor Plum, and Colonel Mustard receive suspicious letters summoning them to Boddy Manor, where Mr. Boddy is murdered, making them all suspects.
Campy Characters and Agatha Christie Vibes
Brett compares the play to an Agatha Christie mystery but with a campy twist: "The characters are exaggerated caricatures, and it's a very heightened state of emotions. That is the fun of the show." He recalls playing the board game at age eight, loving the murder mystery intrigue and the liberating escape into that world.
Brett has been acting since age three, when his parents enrolled him in preschool drama classes. He booked his first professional role at 12 in Canadian playwright Norm Foster's Ethan Claymore's Christmas, playing young Ethan Claymore.
Performance Details
Broadway Across Canada presents Clue at Edmonton's Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium from July 14 to 19 and Calgary's Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium from July 21 to 26, 2026.
