| “Harvey”
is cute but dated fantasy about living the right life
“Harvey.”
Written by Mary Chase; directed by Scott Ellis.
Roundabout Theatre Company at Studio 54, 254 West 54th Street, New
York City.
212-719-1300. http://www.roundabouttheatre.org/Shows-Events/Harvey.aspx.
Opened June 14, 2012; closes August 5, 2012.
Reviewed by Lucy Komisar June 20, 2012.
“Harvey” is a cute fantasy for adults produced in 1944,
a difficult era when some Americans were perhaps considering the meaning
of life in the wake of the horrors of war. It was a time when a sermon
of how to live the right life, proposing simple goodness against social
climbing, could win a Pulitzer Prize for its author Mary Chase. That
wouldn’t happen today: there are no hard edges even in the work’s
social criticism.The play lacks bite. Director Scott Ellis keeps the
40s mood rather than looking for irony.
 |
| Jessica
Hecht as Veta Louise and Jim Parsons as Elwood P. Dowd. Photo
by Joan Marcus. |
So “Harvey” now floats on the superior acting
of its cast, especially Jessica Hecht as the fraught Veta Louise Simmons.
She is ever distraught at the difficulty of trying to make a socially
advantageous match for her daughter Myrtle Mae (Tracee Chimo), who
has no particular charms, and trying to keep the family reputation
from being dragged down by her nutty brother Elwood Dowd ( Jim Parsons),
who at 39 imagines he is accompanied everywhere by a giant rabbit
named Harvey. Rather, Harvey is a “pooka,” which makes
him anthropomorphic.
 |
| Larry Bryggman as the Judge, Holly Fain as a
nurse, Charles Kimbrough as hospital chief William Chumley, Morgan
Spector as a hospital doctor. Photo Joan Marcus. |
They inhabit Denver, Colorado, but this could be anywhere
in America, where the social-climbing Veta has invited ladies she
wishes to impress to an afternoon musicale in the living room; she
hopes it will get her into the social pages.
It would be easier for Veta if Elwood didn’t own the house they
live in and turn up, with Harvey, at inopportune moments. Their mother
left the house and money to Elwood, so he doesn’t work. He and
Harvey hang out at bars.
Elwood is a very polite fellow with a quizzical smile who is nice
to everyone, especially the ladies, with whom he gallantly flirts.
Jim Parsons’ performance has the appeal of Matthew Broderick’s
permanent persona, if you like wide-eyed sweet and bland. They even
look alike.
Elwood’s threat to Myrtle’s marriage plans persuades Veta
to try to get him, with the help of a family friend judge (Larry Bryggman),
committed to a local psychiatric hospital. She is so nervous on arrival
that Elwood wanders off, and the admitting doctor thinks she is the
one the judge called him to commit. A minor disaster ensues, giving
Hecht the opportunity to perform her best comic bit as she makes a
melodramatic ascent of a staircase.
 |
| Carol
Kane as Betty Chumley and Jim Parsons as Elwood P. Dowd. Photo
Joan Marcus. |
The head of the hospital (Charles Kimbrough) learns
of the mistake only when his wife Betty (the incomparable ditzy Carol
Kane) tells him that Elwood has returned looking for his friend, who
is a very tall fellow named Harvey. By the way, Harvey is invisible
to us as well as to the other characters, presumably aside from Elwood.
When there’s a chance to give Elwood medication
that will turn him into “a normal human being” instead
of a good-natured but disturbed fellow with hallucinations, Veta must
consider whether that’s what she really wants.
It’s a feel-good play which left people in the
1940s smiling. Although it seems dated, it raises some laughs in today’s
audiences. Especially thanks to Hecht and Kane.
Visit Lucy Komisar’s website http://thekomisarscoop.com/.
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