Actress Hallie Heffernan loves a good mystery. So much so, she’s returned from New York for her second year in a row to perform in an Agatha Christie mystery at Magical Theatre Company.
She’s playing Countess Andrenyi, a suspect in “Murder on the Orient Express,” which will open in Barberton Jan. 30. Her latest work with Magical Theatre Company comes a year after she played a gossipy secretary in the Grand Dame of Crime’s “Witness for the Prosecution.”
The actress, 28, is a Copley native and 2015 graduate of Copley High School. In 2019, she graduated from Ohio Northern University, where she studied musical theater.
“Magical Theatre means so much to me, since this theater is where I started acting when I was a kid,” Heffernan said Jan. 14 before rehearsal.
She first cut her teeth in acting at Magical Theatre at age 11, in “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” which was her first play. Heffernan went on to perform in the Holocaust play “Number the Stars” the next year and in the play “The Outsiders” as a high schooler in 2013.
Those experiences at Magical Theatre Company gave her a taste of professional acting at a young age.
“Murder on the Orient Express” is a classic whodunit, adapted for the stage in 2017 by Ken Ludwig from Christie’s 1934 Hercule Poirot novel.
The play is a reunion with several actors from Heffernan’s childhood at Magical Theatre Company, where she also attended K.I.D. Camp growing up. They are Noah Casino as Michel the conductor/head waiter, Gabe Reed as Colonel Arbuthnot and Dimitri Georgiadis as Hector MacQueen, all of whom she’s known for more than 15 years. She also acted as a teen in “The Outsiders” with company member Kate Clay, who plays Greta Ohlsson.
“It just feels like I’m reuniting with the roots of my acting journey and the people as well,” Heffernan said.
Heffernan, who’s lived in New York since 2022 and has been performing in musicals quite steadily since, is always glad to come back to Magical Theatre Company to work with director Dennis O’Connell.
“It’s never a question. If I have the time and the availability, I’m always happy to come here and there’s always so much to learn,” Heffernan said.
She appreciates working with seasoned company actors Deb Lemire (Russian Princess Dragomiroff), Adam Hoffman (Hercule Poirot) and Mark Ross
“They fully embody these characters, so watching them work is like a master class. It’s so wonderful,” Heffernan said.
She loves New York but also enjoys coming home to work with friends and live with her mother, Amy.
A childhood full of the arts
Heffernan started dancing at age 4, with the influence of her mother, who was a professional dancer. Her late father, Mark, also was a singer and actor who influenced her foray into piano and singing when she was 6.
“I very much grew up around it and in a very artistically supportive household,” Heffernan said.
She started dancing competitively in third grade. During her busy high school years, she did cheerleading, piano lessons, a competitive writing team and theater productions.
“I definitely have always worked well under pressure,” Heffernan said.
Heffernan first moved to New York in January, 2020, but moved back home a couple months later during the COVID-19 pandemic, when her lead role in a South Carolina production of “Footloose” was canceled.
“The pandemic hits and I lose that job and my survival job in the same day,” she said.
A week after she moved back to her parents’ Copley home, her father, Mark, passed away. Heffernan gave up theater for a couple years before becoming involved again in 2022, when she was a dancer in “Mary Poppins” in Indiana. Since then, she’s worked consistently since in regional theaters, mostly throughout the Midwest.
“Eventually I came to a point where I realized that I had to continue doing it because of him (her father), not stop,’ she said. “Every single thing I’ve done since then, I’ve been working my ‘bleep’ off so that I can continue doing it for him.”
Appreciation for Agatha Christie
Playing in a crime story is right up Heffernan’s alley, considering she reads a lot of crime novels.
“I think that she is so witty and smart in the way that she writes because it’s sophisticated without being pretentious,” she said of Christie.
The actress enjoys Christie’s complexly layered characters, including her part of Hungarian Countess Andrenyi. This aristocratic character grew up as a commoner and went to medical school before marrying a count.
“She enjoys the finer things in life but she’s got a dark past,” Heffernan explained. “She knows how to use her charm to get what she needs.”
In this famous mystery, a shocking murder takes place on the snowbound, luxury Orient Express. Belgian detective Poirot, who has a car full of suspects from a variety of countries, must solve the crime before the killer strikes again.
For her role, Heffernan worked on a Hungarian accent with the help of YouTube videos for actors.
The story, which starts in a cafe, takes place mostly on the train. The wide train set spreads out across the stage to show several bedroom cars, a dining car and a radio room.
At rehearsal Jan. 14, the cast was working on stage blocking and digging deeper into the storytelling by exploring their characters’ motivations. Heffernan said it’s often easier for her to memorize her lines once they’re tied to physical movement on the stage.
Audiences will enjoy “Murder on the Orient Express” because the play’s full of intrigue, Heffernan said.
“It’s so full of surprises and twists and truly, the talent across the board is unmatched,” she said. “It is just so worth leaving the couch for a couple hours.”
The stage adaptation has some different characters and motivations from the original novel as well as the 2017, which starred everyone from Kenneth Branagh to Leslie Odom Jr.
“Seeing the play will bring you something different to experience,” Heffernan said. “You will feel invested because it’s just so intriguing to feel like you’re part of the mystery solving.”
Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.
Details
Mystery: “Murder on the Orient Express”
Where: Magical Theatre Company, 565 W. Tuscarawas Ave. Barberton
When: Opens Jan. 30, runs through Feb. 7; 7:30 p.m. Jan 30-31 and Feb. 6, 2 p.m. Feb 1 and 7
Onstage: Adam Hoffman, Mark Ross, Rose Morrison, Dimitri Georgiadis, Noah Casino, Deb Lemire, Kate Clay, Hallie Quinn Heffernan, Amanda Kidd, Gabe Reed, Steve Boardman
Offstage: Agatha Christie, novelist; Ken Ludwig, stage adaptation; Dennis O’Connell, director; Ben Needham scenic designer;, Lance Switzer, lighting designer; Inda Blatch-Geib, costume designer; Jeremiah Isley, Sound Designer; Connor Stout, technical director
Cost: $23-$25
Information: magicaltheatre.org or 330-848-3708
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Copley native returns to hop on ‘Murder on Orient Express’ whodunit
Reporting by Kerry Clawson, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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