He pairs well with Nimmer, as the naïve Lynn, for some subtle and charmingly comedic scenes. Johnson also effectively handles multiple roles, the largest being Andrei, who dances to hide his identity.Īs James, Woods is eager and engaging. With various voices, inflections and timing, Doherty creates a trio of crowd-pleasing characters. Kravitz, the dockside landlady Lyn’s clueless mother and the haughty, overbearing bridal shop owner. Perhaps the most memorable characterizations are Doherty’s as Mrs. As Frank, Bolin matches Maggie’s toughness and also has some wonderful turns as Major Hartwell (part of a Hydrogen bomb experiment team) and a priest. She is in total command of every situation, but vulnerable when it comes to Frank, the love of her life, who is ready to take the plunge until he uncovers Maggie’s secret. Maggie is fast-talking, tough and driven. Kerr’s Maggie, with her trench coat and distinctive hat, has the look and demeanor of a film noir detective, like Humphrey Bogart’s Philip Marlowe.
Like a neatly wrapped gift, each scene is a surprising treasure, especially as the characters’ personas start to form. Each scene’s ending is a thought-provoking line that simmers briefly before the next gem of a scene begins. A screen in the back of the stage shows clips from the McCarthy trials, as well as images of a Boston dock and other locales related to the action. This is a show that is dense with humor and wordplay, mystery and all sorts of period and other references including “Moby Dick,” “The Prisoner of Zenda,” Richard Nixon, “Ike,” fission, fusion, Quakers, Catholics (including a hilarious confessional scene), Jews and lots more. The three couples intersect as plans for a deadly bomb hidden in a block of Velveeta cheese end up on a Boston dock, where a corpse was found days earlier. Kravitz (Kelly Doherty) and her tenant Andrei (Bo Johnson).
Joe McCarthy (McCarthy did have a daughter named Tierney, who was adopted as an infant in 1957) and James (Zach Thomas Woods), a Russian spy, are lovers so are landlady Mrs. Besides Maggie and her partner Frank (Dylan Bolin), Lynn (Eva Nimmer), the fictional daughter of Sen. These don’t seem like the themes of comedy, yet Hollinger has found lots to spoof and Next Act runs with it.īesides the intrigue of the era and a murder mystery, Hollinger weaves three very unconventional love stories throughout the comedy and ties up all the knots in heartwarming fashion. Maggie is surrounded by all sorts of goofy situations and characters in the era of McCarthyism, the Cold War and the hydrogen bomb. The show features hard-boiled detective Maggie (Mary McDonald Kerr), “a flatfoot in heels,” evoking 1950s mysteries. And Next Act has polished each one to a high gleam.
#Red herring michael hollinger full
Hollinger’s show is a barrel full of quirky characters, tongue-in-cheek laughs-and 24 scenes that are all gems. For its holiday show, Next Act Theatre is presenting the Michael Hollinger comedy “Red Herring.” I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun at a play.
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