The band is back together for special Holmes mystery
One day you’re on a New York soundstage with Naomi Watts, then you’re in Cincinnati onstage in “Misery,” then you’re at home on a South Carolina beach . ... And if you’re David Whalen, you also are never too far from Pittsburgh or the role of Sherlock Holmes.
Whalen, a New Kensington native and Point Park University grad, is that working actor who strives to balance family and work and still go where the roles are.
He and longtime collaborator Andrew Paul are bringing their sixth iteration of Sherlock Holmes to the stage for Kinetic Theatre, when “The Speckled Band” opens on June 13. Mid-run, on June 24, he will take a quick trip to New York to join castmates at the premiere of Showtime’s “The Loudest Voice.” It’s the story of Fox News founder Roger Ailes that stars Russell Crowe, with Watts as Gretchen Carlson. The series debuts on June 30.
Whalen plays “Fox & Friends’” Steve Doocy in three of the seven episodes — a long way from the play that is afoot in Pittsburgh. He stars in “The Speckled Band,” the only known script of a Sherlock Holmes mystery by the great detective’s creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The 1910 play was adapted into a 1931 film, but it has been produced rarely since then.
Jim Zunic, president of the local Sherlock Holmes Society, the 5th Northumberland Fusiliers, suggested the play, based on one of Conan Doyle’s Holmes stories, and the director did some detective work to find the script. He sent it to Whalen, who deemed it “terrific,” and here they are again, with James FitzGerald as Dr. John Watson. The man who would be Sherlock Holmes said audiences will be surprised by the 1910 play’s timeliness.
“You watch Holmes deal with a guy who’s a major misogynist and puts him in his place. It shows what an iconic, aheadof-his-time figure Conan Doyle created with Holmes,” Whalen said.
This is the Paul-Whalen team’s seventh Holmes play together and their sixth in Pittsburgh — the other was at Gulf Shore Playhouse in Naples, Fla.
It all began when Whalen suggested “The Mask of Moriarty,” which he had seen at the Old Globe in San Diego but felt it could be more successful if done with a younger cast and explored to reach a more modern audience.
It worked, and it helped that the timing coincided with newfound Sherlock-mania, sparked by the Benedict Cumberbatch BBC series and the Robert Downey Jr. films.
“Kudos to Andrew for saying, ‘Let’s do it,’ because it certainly wasn’t a guarantee,” Whalen said.
These days, Pittsburgh is a destination job. There’s a lot more traveling involved and less time than he’d like at his home on the beach, “but I don’t want to be an actor who complains when he’s working,” he said.
“I am honored to be in that group of people,” he said of the miniseries. “I’ve been lucky enough to work with some wonderful, really talented people, but Naomi Watts is the most gracious actress I have ever worked with.”
Most of his scenes were with her, as Doocy and Carlson worked together, in the script by Oscar winner Tom McCarthy (“Spotlight”).
Kari Skogland, director of two of his episodes, is an Emmy winner for “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and he also was directed by Emmy-nominated Jeremy Podeswa of “Game of Thrones.” Whalen said the miniseries is “a fair treatment of the material,” so he had no hesitation playing someone who is still very much on the job. He called it “the hottest project in New York” from the time it shot, from November 2018 through April of this year.
Last year, Whalen starred in the regional premiere of “Misery,” a stage adaptation of the Stephen King book and movie, at Cincinnati’s Playhouse in the Park. He returns to Cincinnati in October for “The Lifespan of a Fact,” which was a hit on Broadway last season.
First, there’s the wily detective and a second Kinetic play, “Scapino,” adapted by and starring Jeffrey Binder and inspired by the Moliere comedy,
Whalen said Binder is “a world-class actor and a close friend.” He and the Broadway veteran have acted together often in their well-traveled careers. “I think Pittsburgh is gonna love him,” said Whalen, and he should know.
For someone who has spent so much of his career enjoying the appreciation of Pittsburgh audiences, it’s elementary.