Announcing the Cast of Clue

“The key to comedy is finding good actors,” said director Hunter Foster. “And we definitely found them!” Indeed, the Utah Shakespeare Festival has assembled an inspired group of actors to play the iconic oddballs in this season’s production of the madcap comedy, Clue. Almost all have appeared at the Festival in past seasons, and most are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the professional actors union.

They are:

Cherita Armstrong will be making her first appearance at the Festival. She will be playing Miss Scarlet in Clue and Millie Davis in Trouble in Mind. She has appeared off-Broadway at American Place Theatre, MCC, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Theatre for the New City, and New York Theatre Workshop and at such other theatres as St. Louis Black Repertory Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Yale Repertory Theatre, Public Theatre, and Hollywood Fringe Festival. On television she has been in 9-1-1, Pretty Little Liars, Law & Order: SVU, and Law & Order: Trial by Jury. She is a member of both Actors’ Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA.

Bailey Blaise returns for her third season at the Festival. She will play the maid Yvette in Clue and Judy Sears in Trouble in Mind. In 2021 she played Evelyn Nesbit and Ensemble in Ragtime and a Sister in The Pirates of Penzance; in 2019 she was in various roles in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Featured Performer in The Greenshow. Other theatres she has worked at include Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre (Funny Girl, Oliver!, The Music Man); Hunterdon Hills Playhouse (Sherlock Holmes Returns!); Musical Theatre West (Catch Me If You Can); Opera San Luis Obispo (Carousel); Rubicon Theatre Company (South Pacific); and Musical Theatre Guild (Zorba!, Minnie’s Boys). She received aB.A. in musical theatre from the University of Alabama and is an Equity Membership Candidate.

Michael Doherty is returning to the Festival in the role of Green in Clue. He will also appear as Lavatch, the clown, in All’s Well That Ends Well and Jonas Fogg in Sweeney Todd. In past seasons at the Festival he has played Dromio of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors and The Joneses in The Comedy of Terrors (2021); the solo performer in Every Brilliant Thing (2019); Charlie Baker in The Foreigner and Tom Sawyer in Big River (2018); and more. He has appeared at many other theatres, including Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, and the Denver Center. A member of Actors’ Equity Association, he is also the showrunner for Mythic Thunderlute: A D&D Podcast Musical.

Aaron Galligan-Stierle is returning for his tenth season at the Festival. He will be playing Wadsworth in Clue and Adolfo Pirelli in Sweeney Todd. In past Festival seasons, he has appeared as Tateh in Ragtime, Clarence in Richard III, Dromio of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors, Feste in Twelfth Night, Smee in Peter and the Starcatcher, Grumio in The Taming of the Shrew, Launcelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice, Clown #2 in The 39 Steps. On Broadway he played Monsieur Andre in The Phantom of the Opera, Henry Ford in Ragtime, and Papa Who in The Grinch and acted in the White Christmas national tour, as well as at the Kennedy Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Papermill Playhouse, The Rev, TUTS, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, and more. He is a member of Actors’ Equity Association.

Bree Murphy is returning to the Festival after an absence of several years—to play Mrs. Peacock in Clue and Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd. Most recently at the Festival she appeared as Miss Andrew and Mrs. Corry in Mary Poppins and Queen Isabel and Mistress Quickly in Henry V in 2016. She has also been in such Festival productions as South Pacific, The Taming of the Shrew, Henry IV Part Two, Measure for Measure, Henry IV Part One, and Into the Woods. A member of Actors’ Equity Association, she has appeared in the national tour of Les Misérables and in many other theatres, including Musical Theatre West, 3D Theatricals, PCPA, Swine Palace, New Swan Shakespeare, Kentucky Shakespeare, and Okoboji Summer Theatre.

Melinda Parrett is another actor returning to the Festival this season. She will play Mrs. White in Clue and Elsa Schraeder in The Sound of Music. Previously at the Festival, she has played numerous roles, including Titania/Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, Ariel in The Tempest, Belinda in Noises Off!, Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, and many more. She has also acted across the country at such theatres as Denver Center, Goodspeed Opera House, Geva Theatre, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, PCPA Theaterfest, Sacramento Music Circus, Capital Stage, SLO Rep, B Street Theatre, Sierra Repertory Theatre, StageWorks Fresno, New Helvetia Theatre, Sacramento Theatre Company, Oregon Cabaret Theatre, Phoenix Theatre, Odyssey Theatre LA, Long Beach CLO. She is a member of Actors’ Equity Association.

Michael Sharon is returning to the Festival after a fifteen-year absence, this year to play the roles of Professor Plum in Clue and Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music. In past seasons he has played Orsino in Twelfth Night and Tullus Aufidius in Coriolanus in 2007; Antonio in The Merchant of Venice and The Dancin’ Kid in Johnny Guitar in 2006; and Lancelot in Camelot and Theseus/Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2005. He has performed off-Broadway in The Fantasticks (Jerry Orbach Theatre), The Most Happy Fella (NYCity Opera), and Happy Hunting and Josephine’s Song (The York). Regionally he has appeared across the country in theatres such as the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Folger Theatre, Los Angeles Theatre Center, and Milwaukee Rep. His training was at the University of Southern California and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and he is a member of Actors’ Equity Association.

Rex Young is also a veteran of the Festival stages. This year he will play Colonel Mustard in Clue and Al Manners inTrouble in Mind. In past seasons he has taken on the roles of Jack in The Importance of Being Earnest, 2003; Antipholus of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors, 2003; Macduff in Macbeth, 2004; Cassius in Julius Caesar, 2016; and Murray in The Odd Couple, 2016. Off-Broadway he has appeared as Paddy O’Dowd in A Touch of the Poet at The Irish Repertory Theatre and Goering/Ensemble in Flight at The Lucille Lortel Theatre. He has worked extensively at regional theatres, including twenty-three seasons as an acting company member at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and work at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, Indiana Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Theatre, and more. He is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and SAG.

Other actors in this year’s production are: