by Mark-Brian Sonna of John Garcia's The Column

Director Peter Ray chose to focus on the comedic aspects of the script to full tilt and maximized the talent and abilities of everyone on the stage.

GARLAND — Garland Civic Theatre has produced a delightful Harvey (now playing the Patty Granville Arts Center), Mary Chase's famous play about a man who has as a best friend an imaginary six and a half foot rabbit. This comedy, though it is decades old, still feels fresh and new: The humor hasn't aged one bit.

What makes this an American Classic is that it still speaks to us about the possibility of goodness, kindness, generosity, and even a sense of nobility that all of us have within ourselves if we allow our imagination to take flight. This sunny play, if done right, will leave the audience smiling. GCT has done this play justice.

The plot is simple and straightforward. Veta Louis Simmons is worried about her brother Elwood P. Dowd because he has an imaginary friend. When she goes to the sanitarium to have him committed she inadvertently comes across as a loon to Dr. Sanderson ends up committing her instead. After the error is discovered, Dr. Chumley, the head of the psychiatric clinic, releases her. The goal at hand is then to try and find Elwood and get him locked up. Meanwhile the "invisible" Harvey begins to make appearances making everyone question their own individual sanity.

This set up allows for virtuosity in comedy. And it is here that the cast at GCT delivers. While some are stronger than others, Jon Morehouse as Dr. Chumley; Susan McMath Platt as Veta; Melissa Hartman Couture as nurse Ruth Kelly; and Jayne Anderson as Mrs. Ethel, Betty Chumley, and EJ Lofgreen (she deliciously plays three roles) all give superb comic and at times nuanced performances.

Reg Platt delivers a heartfelt and very genuine Elwood P. Dowd. The rest of cast have their moments, but tended to play their characters without much growth. While this disparity could cause problems in the show, it doesn't detract from this play because Director Peter Ray chose to focus on the comedic aspects of the script to full tilt and maximized the talent and abilities of everyone on the stage.

I only have a few minor quibbles with the show. By playing up the comedy to such extremes, we lose the profound depth that also is present behind the marvelous dialogue. The blocking itself seemed at times out of focus; in other words, the stage composition wasn't always accentuating the action or the relationship of the characters in the scene.

Also, by having the play set in Charleston, the very heavy South Carolinian accents sometimes garbled the words that were spoken in the scenes requiring rapid fire dialogue. The action was still easy to follow, but to my ears, and to people sitting around me there were moments of "What did he say?" As the performers relax into their roles during the run, hopefully this enunciation problem will go away.

The set is quite clever. The action goes back and forth between Veta's home and the sanitarium. Scenic designer Clare Floyd DeVries has created panels along the walls of the room that would rotate, so that during the blackouts the walls would "flip." Creating a completely new room. This made the scene transitions delightfully quick so as to keep the momentum of the play.

Jeulet Noyes created an appropriate and delightful costume plot that served the characters well.

Donna Covington's lighting captured the mood of each scene perfectly.

Kudos as well to Peter Ray and Alyson Sterner for creating a sound design and choice of music that flowed into the play effectively.

Lastly, I must say, that this was my first Harvey. I've managed to go through life never having seen the play. Even though I had never seen it, the characters of this classic play have become part of the vernacular and thus are familiar to all if us.

I was very happy to see them realized so well in this production. I truly want to congratulate Garland Civic Theatre for making my first Harvey such a joyous experience!

What do you think?