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When reality is not livable the way it is, living in your imagination may help. We saw this recently with Don Quixote’s unshakable idealism in Musical Theatre West’s “Man of La Mancha,” and we’ll soon see it in a different way in “Harvey” at the Long Beach Playhouse.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning 1944 play by Mary Chase features a grown man named Elwood P. Dowd who happens to have an invisible best friend — a 6-foot-3-inch-tall white rabbit named Harvey.
Elwood’s sister Veta has known about Harvey in private, but when Elwood introduces his invisible friend to the women in Veta’s social club, she is beyond embarrassed and decides to have Elwood committed.
“Veta works hard to maintain the family’s social status,” says Sean Gray, the theater’s producing artistic director. “She likes to entertain at the family’s mansion. Elwood’s one-sided conversations interfere with her plans, and in her mind, could interfere with her efforts to find a suitable husband for her daughter.”
Ironically, when Veta and Elwood are at the sanitarium, the doctors find it is the hysterical Veta who may need treatment rather than her brother.
“She fails to see the charm in Elwood’s behavior and never imagines others might wish to get to know the invisible rabbit better,” Gray says.
While Harvey is never visible, a hat with two holes for ears and doors that open and close with no one visibly present may begin to make the audience wonder if he isn’t real, says Madison Mooney, the Playhouse’s executive director.
“The play — comedy that it is — brings up serious considerations about the nature of reality, and maybe our need to believe in things we cannot see,” Mooney said. “There’s a reason this 82-year-old show remains popular.”
Director Bob Fetes, a former stage actor and currently managing director of the Newport Theatre Arts Center, says the play is not simply about an invisible rabbit but about how we treat each other.
“What is the definition of sanity?” the Playhouse asks. “Or reality? Or friendship and family?”
Hmm… maybe attend the show to find out! To make it easier, the Playhouse is offering pay-what-you-can community tickets on Thursday, April 2 and $10 preview tickets on Friday, April 3, before the show officially opens Saturday, April 4 with a champagne gala sponsored by the Port of Long Beach.
According to Mooney, “‘Harvey’ is the show we all need at this time.”
“Harvey” runs April 4 to May 2 at the Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., with shows Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $27 or $20 for students and seniors. Free parking is available in the lot behind the theater. For tickets, call the box office at 562-494-1014 or visit LBPlayhouse.org.