{"id":88539,"date":"2026-03-26T09:46:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T16:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/?p=88539"},"modified":"2026-03-26T09:48:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T16:48:37","slug":"theater-news-long-beach-playhouse-questions-reality-with-an-invisible-rabbit-in-harvey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/eat-see-do-2\/do\/theater-news-long-beach-playhouse-questions-reality-with-an-invisible-rabbit-in-harvey","title":{"rendered":"Theater News: Long Beach Playhouse questions reality with an invisible rabbit in \u2018Harvey\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome to Theater News, a regular column by longtime reviewer Anita W. Harris. Look for it most Thursdays. Or\u00a0sign up<\/a>\u00a0for our Eat. See. Do. newsletter to get it in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When reality is not livable the way it is, living in your imagination may help. We saw this recently with Don Quixote\u2019s unshakable idealism in Musical Theatre West\u2019s \u201cMan of La Mancha<\/a>,\u201d and we\u2019ll soon see it in a different way in \u201cHarvey\u201d at the Long Beach Playhouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u2014 a 6-foot-3-inch-tall white rabbit named Harvey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elwood\u2019s sister Veta has known about Harvey in private, but when Elwood introduces his invisible friend to the women in Veta\u2019s social club, she is beyond embarrassed and decides to have Elwood committed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVeta works hard to maintain the family\u2019s social status,\u201d says Sean Gray, the theater\u2019s producing artistic director. \u201cShe likes to entertain at the family\u2019s mansion. Elwood\u2019s one-sided conversations interfere with her plans, and in her mind, could interfere with her efforts to find a suitable husband for her daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Link<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe fails to see the charm in Elwood\u2019s behavior and never imagines others might wish to get to know the invisible rabbit better,\u201d Gray says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019t real, says Madison Mooney, the Playhouse\u2019s executive director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe play \u2014 comedy that it is \u2014 brings up serious considerations about the nature of reality, and maybe our need to believe in things we cannot see,\u201d Mooney said. \u201cThere\u2019s a reason this 82-year-old show remains popular.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat is the definition of sanity?\u201d the Playhouse asks. \u201cOr reality? Or friendship and family?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hmm\u2026 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Mooney, \u201c\u2018Harvey\u2019 is the show we all need at this time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHarvey\u201d 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 <\/em>LBPlayhouse.org<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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