Harvey was first brought to the Broadway stage in 1944 and was directed by Antoinette Perry. The play won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1944, and its initial run lasted for four years—1,775 performances. James Stewart assumed the role of “Elwood” from Frank Fay in the 1944 production and originated the role in the 1970 production as well as the film adaptation in 1950. Helen Hayes played “Veta” opposite Mr. Stewart in the 1970 production. Jim Parsons stars as one of modern theatre’s most lovable characters, Elwood P. Dowd. Charming and kind, Elwood has only one character flaw: an unwavering friendship with a 6-foot-tall, invisible white rabbit named Harvey. In order to save the family’s social reputation, Elwood’s sister Veta (Jessica Hecht) takes Elwood to the local sanatorium. But when the doctors mistakenly commit 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.
Harder heads than mine may find “Harvey” to be a trifle sappy in sentiment, but I find it endearing, especially when the comedy is served so well by Ellis and his excellent actors. Never intimating that his character is a lush, Parsons lends the gentlemanly Elwood a calm and slightly dreamy manner that contrasts against the other characters, who more or less are driven into a frenzy by his chum Harvey’s unseen presence. Parsons’ open, friendly countenance and genial nature as Elwood are unassuming yet sufficiently engaging to provide the production with its glowing focal point.
The Pulitzer Prize committee may have never erred more egregiously than it did in favoring “Harvey” over Tennessee Williams’s first masterwork, “The Glass Menagerie.” But handled with care, as it has been in this Roundabout Theater Company production, this winsome comedy about a lovable eccentric can cast a satisfying spell. Mr. Ellis’s amiable staging—which features expert supporting performances from Jessica Hecht, as Elwood’s dithery sister, Veta, and Charles Kimbrough, as the eminent psychiatrist she hopes will lock her troublesome brother up for good—strikes the right, gently dizzy tone. Most important, Mr. Parsons carries the weight of a role immortalized on film by the inimitable James Stewart as lightly as Elwood does the hat and coat he keeps on hand for his furry companion. Mr. Parsons possesses in abundance the crucial ability to project an ageless innocence without any visible effort: no small achievement for an actor in these knowing times.
1944 | Broadway |
Broadway |
1970 | Broadway |
Broadway |
2012 | Broadway |
Roundabout Theatre Production Broadway |
West End |
West End West End |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
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2013 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Jessica Hecht |
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