For anyone who ever played the board game "Clue," the show on stage at Pines Dinner Theatre through Oct. 22. is a playful walk down memory lane. "Clue: The Musical" literally brings the classic game to wacky and colorful life on stage.
The iconic characters from the Hasbro game are all there and each one is more outrageous than the last one, adding to the playful fun, as they skulk around the stage with hilariously oversized weapons and clad in over-the-top Crayola-colored outfits.
Its a funny and engaging concept that works, and the talented cast give their all to each of their crazy roles.
And, like the game, audience members can get in the action and play along to try to deduce whodunit. Everyone receives a form at their table on which they can keep track of clues, which are intoned by the murder victim at intervals throughout the show. 
The show follows the game fairly religiously, and begins with three audience members who are brought up on stage to pick a card each from three decks of card naming six suspects, six possible murder scenes and six potential weapons, with a mind-boggling 216 possible outcomes. Every night, the ending changes according to the cards drawn. The cards, unseen by the audience, are placed in an envelope hung in plain view above the stage for the duration of the musical and opened to reveal the identity of the murderer near the end.
Each character has an equally outrageous back story, giving them a ostensible motive for the crime. Since this is a musical, the songs, while not particularly memorable, serve to provide exposition for the characters and the cast attacks them with gusto.
Kent Benwell is humorously diffident and nonchalant as the universally despised Mr. Boddy, who is the unfortunate victim of murder. So stiff is he, that after he is killed, it seems unsurprising that he continues to address the audience.
And everyone, it seems has a reason, not to mention the opportunity and means, to want Boddy dead,
Syd Stauffer humorously makes Boddys overworked maid Mrs. White viciously bitter, if not too bright.
Amber Blatt is entertaining as Boddys scheming, gold-digging wife, Mrs. Peacock, who is five times a widow and not hesitant to make it number six.
Eileen Deisemann makes the jilted social-climbing starlet Miss Scarlettt aingle-minded and vengeful.
Zach Petrovich is all bluster and sputter as the ex-military man Col. Mustard, who cant keep his eyes (and hands) off the more-than-willing Mrs. Peacock.
Parker Ryan is perfectly unscrupulous as Mr. Green, a sleazy gangster with an amusing penchant for malapropism malaphors.
Maxwell Gorman nails it as the obnoxiously precise and studious Professor Plum.
Gwen Vigorito plays a new character not in the game, a somewhat backward detective investigating the murder. She and Gorman have a memorable number in "Seduction Deduction" in which they try to outdo each other with quotable quotes.
The costumes, props and moving stage set that reveals the different rooms in which the murder could have taken place add to the effect. Director Oliver Blatt keeps the action moving briskly throughout.
Tickets are $32 and include a seat for the show. All appetizers, entrees, desserts and beverages are available for purchase ala carte. Audiences are welcome to BYOB.
Entree options include grilled blackberry port pork loin; homestyle pot roast, striped Pangasius, grilled shrimp skewers, filet mignon, fettuccine Alfredo with broccoli and butternut squash ravioli.
The schedule is 12:30 p.m. dinner, 1:30 p.m. show Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday; 6:30 p.m. dinner, 7:30 p.m. show Friday, Saturday, Sept. 8 to Oct. 22.
Pines Dinner Theater is at 448 N 17th St,, Allentown.
For information, call 610-433-2333 or go to www.pinesdinnertheatre.com.