Harvey

This classic comedy explores the themes of friendship, loyalty, family, societal pressures, imagination and reality. A whimsical fantasy, it poses the question of who is really more dangerous — the kind but perhaps deluded dreamer, or the people who want to cure him and force him to conform to their own views of reality. The play originally opened on Broadway in 1944 and ran for 1,775 performances before closing in 1949. Harvey earned the playwright, Mary Chase, a Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1945.

The main character, Elwood Dowd, is a gentle, kindly yet eccentric middle-aged man of a good family, whose best friend just happens to be a 6' 1 ½" invisible white rabbit named Harvey. Harvey goes everywhere with Elwood, some of his favorite places being the local taverns, where they delight in meeting and entertaining strangers of all types. This is not only a source of mortifying embarrassment to his sister, Veta, and niece, Myrtle Mae, but they fear Elwood's behavior may threaten their social ambitions as well as Myrtle Mae's chance to make a good marriage.

Finally Veta can stand it no more and decides to have her brother committed to a sanitarium. The ensuing confusion, mistaken identities, and effect of this mayhem on the relationships of the various characters make for one of the most enduring and endearing comedies in American theater.