The Off-Broadway musical Clue, which put up, and then took down, a posted closing notice for Dec. 14, lasted just one more week before vanishing after 17 previews and 29 performances. Said spokesperson Kevin Rehac, "I walked in to work one day to find it closed the week before. Strangely enough, they were doing pretty well, almost at break even, though Denny Dillon had left the show the last week of the run, and her understudy was in."

Back in early December, the show looked doomed when a key investor pulled money out of the production, but spokesperson Rehac told Playbill On-Line the producers hadn't given up hope -- especially so close to the holidays, a traditionally strong time for shows.

Clue, based on the internationally popular board game of the same name, premiered at Chicago's Organic Theatre in April 1996. Reviews were negative, but the creators did massive rewrites during the 8-month Chicago run.

Explorer Productions, in association with Manhattan Rep Company and DLR Entertainment, opened Clue at Off-Broadway's Players Theatre, 115 MacDougal St. In Greenwich Village. Previews began Nov. 18 for a Dec. 3 opening.

Written and directed by Peter DePietro (with songs by lyricist Tom Chiodo and composers Galen Blum, Wayne Barker and Vinnie Martucci), Clue offers six murder suspects, six rooms wherein the murder might have occurred, and six murder weapons -- leading to 216 possible combinations. Comedienne Denny Dillon is best known for playing Toby the exasperating secretary on HBO's "Dream On." She also received a Tony nomination for her work in My One And Only. Joining Dillon were Robert Bartley (replacing previously announced Tom Galantich as Mr. Boddy), Ian Knauer, Michael Kostrof, Daniel Leroy McDonald, Marc Rubman, Wysandria Woolsey and Tiffany Taylor. Taylor appeared in both previous mountings of Clue.

-- By David Lefkowitz