Michael Brosilow
“I wrestled with reality for over 40 years and I’m happy to say I finally won out over it.” So says Elwood, friend to the giant rabbit pooka, Harvey, when questioned by psychiatric doctors. Mary Chase’s 1944 hit was conceived to offer levity to the grief-stricken America of World War II, and it has been delighting audience’s with its humorous exploration of magic, sanity and family ever since. The Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s production tells the story with grace and success.
Ensemble work is strong under KJ Sanchez’s direction, with a few standouts. Jonathan Gillard Daly shines as Elwood, imbuing the role with charming eccentricity and the sort of genuine friendliness that makes this character impossible not to like. His interactions with the invisible Harvey are well paced and deftly handled. As his loving but histrionic sister, Veta, Deborah Staples offers sparkling comedy and the manic mannerisms of a 1940s social climber. James Pickering brings an admirable complexity to the role of Dr. Chumley, who starts off a respected psychiatrist and ends up desperate to exploit the pooka.
The storytelling is aided by Dan Conway’s ingenious rotating set, which allows for efficient, visually interesting transitions between the two very different, but equally elaborate, locations of Elwood’s home and the sanitarium to which his sister tries to commit him.
Although Harvey is a renowned comedy, Chase’s ideas are quite deep. In Act I, we find Veta wrongfully committed to the sanitarium because her anxiety and anger over living with her highly unusual brother lead a presumptuous young male doctor to decide she is psychotic. In addition to gender politics, Chase lightly touches on the human cost of alcoholism and mental health care in a time when lobotomies, electroshock and prolonged confinement to water tanks were common practice.
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Harvey remains a beloved classic perhaps because of this deft combination of heavy themes with irresistible comedic situations and dialogue. Moreover, its heartwarming ending never fails to bring a tear of joy as it affirms the power of love and acceptance over a grim and disingenuous “normality.”
Harvey runs through Dec. 21 at the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater, 108 E. Wells St. For tickets, call 414-224-9490 or visit milwaukeerep.com.
