Harvey

by Mary Chase

April 17 - 18 & 24 - 25 at 7:00 pm

April 19 & 26 at 2:00 pm

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Pulitzer Prize-winning Harvey is one of the longest-running comedies

in Broadway history, charmingly presenting amiable Elwood P. Dowd’s

friendship with a tall white rabbit which only he can see. 

 

Harvey premiered on Broadway at the 48th Street Theatre, New York City, on November 1, 1944. It was produced by Brock Pemberton and directed by Antoinette Perry, with settings by John Root. The production ran for 1,775 performances. The role of Elwood Dowd was at points played by Joe. E Brown, Jimmy Stewart and Bert Wheeler.

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When Elwood P. Dowd starts to introduce his imaginary friend, Harvey – a very tall rabbit – to guests at a society party, his sister Veta, can no longer tolerate his eccentricities. She decides to have Elwood committed to Chumley’s Rest, a sanitarium, to spare her family from future embarrassment.  Problems arise, however, when Veta herself is mistakenly assumed to be on the verge of lunacy when she explains to doctors that years of living with Elwood’s hallucination have caused her to see Harvey as well! Veta is committed instead of Elwood, but when the truth comes out, the search is on for Elwood and his invisible companion. When he shows up looking for his lost friend, it seems that the mild-mannered Elwood’s delusion has had a strange influence on more than one of the doctors. Only then does Veta realize that maybe Harvey isn’t so bad after all.

 

 

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