
BY TAMARA BECK
THERE is a timeless charm in watching mildly unbalanced but essentially lovable folk go about their business.

Elwood P. Dowd (Jim Parsons), like the deadlier aunts Brewster in another zany comedy of the period, “Arsenic and Old Lace,” is agreeably delusional. The titular character is Elwood’s invisible constant companion. Harvey, incidentally, is a Pooka in the form of a 6-foot-tall white rabbit. Elwood seeks guidance from Harvey on all matters, large and small. In turn, Harvey's advice is invariably well placed.

While Elwood is a gentle and generous soul, his sister, Veta Louise Simmons (Jessica Hecht), is not. Forced by the privations of divorce to live under his roof, Veta feels thwarted in her social ambitions for her daughter Myrtle Mae (Tracee Chimo), by Harvey and her brother’s general eccentricity. Her not-so generous solution to removing these impediments is to enlist the help of family friend Judge Omar Gaffney (Larry Bryggman) in getting Elwood committed to the sanatorium run by Dr. William H. Chumley (Charles Kimbrough).
There is no one who does apoplectic better than Chas.K, and he has plenty of opportunity to sputter at the mistakes in identity and cross purposes in “Harvey.” Under Scott Ellis’ direction, the pacing of “Harvey” is as leisurely and genteel as JP, who is superb as the well-mannered Elwood. “Here’s my card,” Elwood says with intense sincerity to everyone he meets. The sets by David Rockwell bring life to both the Dowd family home and the waiting room at Chumley’s Rest. Jane Greenwood’s costumes are perfectly timely and lovely.

The one slightly false note in this wonderfully staged and acted production is TC whose Myrtle seems out of character with the ensemble. She is simply too flatly modern. On the otherhand, it is completely believable that LB’s Judge Gaffney was called away from his golf game by a distraught Veta.
Visit http://www.roundabouttheatre.org to learn more about “Harvey.”
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