Photo Flash: First Look at HARVEY at Walnut Street Theatre

Walnut Street Theatre continues its landmark 207th season with the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway and Hollywood comedy, HARVEY. Directed by Bob Carlton, the play is currently in previews and opens on January 27th for a run through March 6th on the Walnut's Mainstage. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast onstage below!

HARVEY pulls laughter out of the hat at every turn. Elwood P. Dowd is charming and kind with one character flaw: an unwavering friendship with a 6-foot-tall, invisible white rabbit named Harvey. When Elwood starts to introduce his friend to guests at a society party, his sister Veta can't take it anymore. In order to save the family's social reputation, Elwood's sister takes him to the local sanatorium. But when the doctor mistakenly commits his anxiety-ridden sister, Elwood and Harvey slip out of the hospital unbothered, setting off a hilarious whirlwind of confusion and chaos as everyone in town tries to catch a man and his invisible rabbit. Everyone needs a best friend, and ours is HARVEY!

The cast includes Philadelphia's own Ben Dibble as the lovable Elwood P. Dowd. Dibble's Walnut credits include 9 To 5: The Musical, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Hairspray and LES MISERABLES. Most recently, he was seen as Mike Connor in High Society. Mary Martello (Memphis, 9 To 5: The Musical) returns to the Walnut as Dowd's concerned sister Veta Louise Simmons with Ellie Mooney (A Christmas Story, Mary Poppins) playing Veta's daughter Myrtle Mae.

The medical team is made up of actors familiar to the Walnut, including Greg Wood (Shipwrecked: An Entertainment, Private Lives) as William R. Chumley, M.D., Ian Merrill Peakes (An Ideal Husband) as Lyman Sanderson, M.D., and Lauren Sowa (Private Lives) as Ruth Kelly, R.N.. Susan Riley Stevens (The Prescott Method, God of Carnage) joins the cast as Betty Chumley and Ethel Chauvenet and Dan Olmstead returns as Duane Wilson. Olmstead was last seen at the Walnut in High Society and Arsenic and Old Lace. Fran Prisco (A Christmas Story, Memphis) will play the cab driver EJ Lofgren. Judge Omar Gaffney will be played by H. Michael Walls in his Walnut debut.

The entire creative team from last season's beautiful Private Lives comes together again to create an elegant set laying the background for a whirlwind of hilarity. Set designer Robert Koharchik will be joined by costume designer Mark Mariani (Noël and Gertie), sound designer Elizabeth Atkinson (Beautiful Boy, Sophie Tucker: The Last of the Red Hot Mamas), and lighting designer Stuart Duke.

HARVEY runs at the Walnut now through March 6. Open captioning will be available for the 7pm performance on Sunday, February 14. For tickets and information, call 215-574-3550 or 800-982-2787. Tickets are also available online 24/7 by visiting www.WalnutStreetTheatre.org or Ticketmaster.

Photo Credit: Mark Garvin