Tucson native comes home with murder mystery 'Clue'

When Broadway In Tucson opens its five-day run of “Clue: Live On Stage” at Centennial Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 12, you’re gonna wanna look for the clues, the little telltale whodunnit hints to figure out who killed Colonel Mustard in the Observatory or Mrs. Peacock in the Guesthouse.

Don’t, says Tucson native John Shartzer, aka Mr. Green.

“I would just sit back and enjoy and let us take you back to an old-style comedy that involves fast-paced, tight ensemble work with some really good physical comedy,” the Flowing Wells High alumnus said. “Just be ready to laugh and kinda leave the real world behind for a hot second.”

“Clue: Live On Stage,” which opens Broadway In Tucson’s 2024-25 season and runs through Sunday, Nov. 17, is based on the 1985 movie that has become a cult classic.

The movie is based on the 1949 Parker Brothers board game, where players try to figure out who murdered the victim with what and where.

During a phone call from the play’s stop in San Jose, California, last week, Shartzer admitted he never played the game.

“We weren’t a board game household,” he said. “But I love the movie a lot and I certainly know the game and how it is played. Certainly by now I have to, otherwise they’ll kick me out.”

Shartzer, a 14-year acting veteran who has appeared in a number of TV shows including “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Grace and Frankie” and “Lone Star,” plays Mr. Green, an anxious by-the-rules guy with a secret.

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“I did something,” he says of his character, adding that all of the characters invited to Hill House that fateful night are keeping a secret.

“Once the doors are locked and the lightning and thunder are cooking, people start dying. We start scrambling around trying to figure out who’s really knocking these people off, and Mr. Green really does get a chance to lean into that timidness,” said Shartzer.

Shartzer said audiences have enthusiastically embraced the show, which has been playing at 2,000-seat houses since opening in February. Its inaugural national tour runs through May 2025.

“They really do love it,” Shartzer said. “They come to our show dressed up. They’re laughing. You can feel them simmering when they know that our Mrs. White, played by Tari Kelly, is getting ready to do her flames on the side of my face. ... They are waiting to see what her version of that is going to be. It feels pretty cool to be part of something people really do love.”

This will be Shartzer’s first time performing on the Centennial Hall stage, although he spent a season working backstage as a student. Shartzer attended the University of Arizona but left 10 credits shy of graduating.

“I’m pretty excited about it,” the 37-year-old father of one said of his homecoming. “I’m just really going moment to moment and I know it’s going to hit me when I’m there. But I can’t even tell you how many times I walked by that theater and I’ve seen swarms of people going in to see the shows. I know that when I’m up there and I’m looking out, it’s going to hit me in a way.”

Shartzer said he plans to take a week away from the show after the Centennial Hall run to spend time with family in Tucson.

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, Nov. 12-15; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16; and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 17, at Centennial Hall, 1020 E. University Blvd. on the UA campus. Tickets are $22-$155 through broadwayintucson.com.