It’s a show that is decidedly “off.”
Off the Strip, with an off-Broadway attitude. Offbeat. Off the chain. Even the costumes, eventually, are off.
It’s a show in which a lead pipe is both a possible murder weapon and a smoking device, and the cast ventures off the stage and sometimes off the script.
“ClueX” is off and running at Notoriety Live’s Renkus-Heinz Theater at Neonopolis. The venue named for an international audio technology company has been making noise since opening in March. The show has been extended through the end of July (showtime is 7:30 p.m. this Friday, Saturday and Sunday; continuing July 2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 30 and 31).
“ClueX” could be extended further, depending on the “trajectory of ticket sales,” as we say. The show has drawn some small but engaged audiences in its first several weeks. Factoring into its success is convincing the uninitiated that topflight entertainment is being staged at the top-level Neonopolis (kudos to the crew for finally repairing the elevators).
Based on the game
“ClueX” is worth the journey to proprietor Ken Henderson’s cluster of live entertainment venues. This is a stage adaptation of the 1985 ensemble black comedy starring Tim Curry with an all-star cast including Martin Mull, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd and Michael McKean — and famously released with three separate endings.
The plot was taken from the popular board game. The film, in turn, inspired the stage show “Cluelesque,” which ran at Vegas Theatre Company in the Arts District over two stints in January and May 2024. “ClueX” is an expanded variation of that show. The name was changed, in part, to avoid the unfortunate mispronouncing of “Cluelesque” as “Clueless.”
The production has kept its whodunnit plot arc, with odd-fitting guests invited to a dinner party at a mansion by an unseen host. The pool boy is found dead early in the event. Everyone is a suspect, with many rooms, murder weapons and possible motives.
As with the movie, there are multiple potential endings. Ticket holders fill out forms as the show unfolds (as we say, “I didn’t prepare for homework.”). You can select, for example, Mz. Off-White in the kitchen with a knife, a similar sleuthing method as the board game.
An audience member who gets it right has a moment on stage near the end, one of many “interactive” twists in the production.
Variety in the characters
The show is unauthorized. The primary characters’ names are in the vicinity of the licensed names from the board game and movie. So it’s Professor Prune instead of Professor Plum, Mr. Grass instead of Mr. Green and so on.
The characters are featured in a series of burlesque numbers throughout the production. The story is steered by two omnipresent mansion employees: Keaton Johns, as Wordsworth the nonplussed butler. (Among his lines, “I HATE musical theater,” just after a rousing ensemble version of “Pool Boy Tango,” a send-up of “Chicago’s” “Cell Block Tango,” the show’s wild, signature scene.) And Jackie Lakoudis, who plays Ivet the sassy maid. (Her intro: “That is Ivet, with one I. Well, three. I’ve got two on my face.”)
Co-producer Simone Skold plays the political figure Mr. Grass, who operates the “lead pipe” murder weapon.
In character and stripped to his green skivvies, Skold often surveys the crowd to see if that night’s audience is at the break-even point.
Space exploration
Skold says he found the right aesthetic and operational partner with Notoriety. The theater is built for performance with clear sight lines and space for several cocktail tables up front. The theater was once part of the Neonopolis 11 movie theaters.
“Ken is so willing to work with us, one-on-one, with a deal that really helps us out. He is not charging us huge numbers, like other places would if we tried to go there,” he says. “We got to rehearse there and build our set there. There is so much space for us.”
Skold’s production partner, Jason Bennett, is also the show’s costume designer. The characters don his intricately designed yet functional stage costumes. Bennett has created a wardrobe that wears great in the scenes but is invariably stripped away and tossed to the stage. (A wig accidentally fell to the floor in one recent show. This is an accepted risk.)
“Everyone knows the Clue board game. Everyone has assumptions about these characters,” Bennett says. “The fun became turning those assumptions upside down through costume, parody, glamour and burlesque.”
The suspects
Elsewhere around the cast, Luke Phillips is the flexibly lifeless Pool Boy, Jaymes Mansfield is a doubly convincing Colonel Mushroom, Ali Vesey is the risqué Miss Cherry, Brandi Glass is a slightly demure Mrs. Woodpecker, Tia Bean is the gleefully knife-wielding Mz. Off-White, and the comically mustached Felix Addams is Professor Prune.
Luke Allen, the original Pool Boy, is the show’s choreographer. His work on “Pool Boy Tango,” in which every character dances with the inanimate figure, is reason enough to check out the show.
“ClueX” also invests in a live band, a real luxury in a show of this scale. The set pieces are custom-built for the theater and are rotated around for each new scene. These set turnovers are executed in the dark between breaks in the show, another noble investment of resources.
The show’s solid
Skold is asked for a state-of-the-production assessment.
“The easiest, the quickest thing that comes to my mind is, I’m really proud of the show. We’ve got little things that we’d like to tweak here and there, but the show is really strong and really fun,” he says. “Our marketing, getting people to know about the show, and to buy a ticket to the show, of course is the hardest part of the gig, and maybe not what I’m best at doing, either.”
Sending the costumed cast down Fremont Street Experience while carrying flyers might work. Except, they would just blend in with the buskers.
The simplest method might not be the easiest, which is to win over fans with word-of-mouth, one ticket holder at a time. This is a fully realized, funny, sexy, expertly performed gem that deserves a look-see.
“It’s really the fusion that works,” Skold says. “It’s not just a burlesque show that has a theme; it’s really its own thing.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykatson X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
What: “ClueX The Show”
Where: Notoriety Live at Neonopolis.
When: 7:30 p.m. (doors 7 p.m.) June 19, 20 and 21; July 2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 30 and 31.
Tickets: Starting at $40 general-admission; $80 VIP (including fees).
Information: Notoriety
ClueX at Notoriety Live in Las Vegas runs regularly on Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays [1, 2]. Standard showtimes are at 7:30 p.m., with doors opening at 7:00 p.m.. [1, 2, 3, 4]