photo credit: Ernest Peralta

Written by Patrick Chavis

Harvey is playing now at the Whittier Community Theatre from May 30 to June 14, 2025.

This silly one-joke stretch of a comedy stays past its welcome for a more modern audience, but it is charming and thoughtful, and that joke is a zinger!

The Pulitzer Prize-winning play Harvey, written by playwright Mary Chase in the 1940s, follows Elwood P. Dowd (Justin Patrick Murphy), a very friendly and wealthy individual who is friends with an invisible 6-foot rabbit named Harvey that only he can see. Elwood has been friends with this pooka for some time, even before the play begins. A pookah is a creature of English folklore that is thought to bring good and bad luck and can have many forms. In the case of Harvey, he is a tall, well-dressed rabbit. When his sister Veta Lousie Simmons (Patty Van Empel) has finally had enough, she attempts to send him to a sanatorium, and hilarity ensues.     

Story:

This two-act farce has plenty of laughs, and the show plays between the lines of fantasy and reality. Some might see a show like Harvey as possibly too light and cavalier when handling a serious topic like mental health. I think there’s some truth in that, and if not thought through critically and worked through with people who know what they’re talking about, people who really need psychological help could be harmed, through misinformation, which does happen all the time. 

While the main point of the play is to entertain, with the over-the-top theatrics that go on, multiple things can be true simultaneously. I believe Mary Chase makes a point about how just because someone is different or sees the world differently, it doesn’t make them any worse or better than anyone else; it just makes them human. When you contrast Elwood’s quirky but kind and courteous nature with some of the other characters in this play, it raises crucial questions: are we helping people, or are we punishing others for being different? Elwood seems to be a pretty swell guy who likes rabbits. The show does get a little repetitive, especially in the first half, but the stronger second half, with the growth seen in the characters, made it all worth it in the end for this reviewer. It goes maybe a little deeper than your typical farce.

Set Design/Lighting:

This was my first time at Whittier Community Theatre, and I hope it’s not my last. They have a sizable space and stage. The play transitions between the Dowd Family Mansion and Chumley’s Rest, the sanatorium, using movable backdrop panels, and lighting transitions from Suzanne Frederickson.

Acting:

Justin Patrick Murphy’s performance made even the bleaker parts of the play a little sunnier.

Jeremy Krasovic (Lyman Sanderson, M.D.) and Lauren Velasco (Ruth Kelly, R.N.), prattling on like a married couple, brought a much-needed side story line that merged quite well with the play’s overall message.

And the play has a delightful ending that would put a smile on even the pickiest of theater goer.

Review

8 Overall

0 Users (0 votes)

Story8.2

Set & Design8.3

Entertainment7.9

Acting8

Costumes7.8

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• Story
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Good Show! LA Theatre Bites Recommended! May 30 – June 14, 2025.

Extra Note: Please remember to read the playbill. Harvey has his own bio in the cast.