Harvey

As I mentioned, I had flown out to Michigan to see my only nephew in his school play. The play was “Harvey”. It is the same story as a movie made long ago (same name) starring Jimmy Stewart. His character and my nephew’s was Elwood P. Dowd. The story is about a man, Elwood, who sees a large white rabbit named Harvey. Not only does he see him, but he talks with him. He is a pooka. A spirit animal from Celtic mythology that has special powers and is seen by certain people. The story is a comedy because Elwood’s family (sister and niece) cannot see Harvey and are deeply ashamed that Elwood can see him. The story takes place in the 1940’s so the clothing, mannerisms aand culture is based on that era.

I went to all three performances (much to Joshua’s – my nephew – surprise). My thought was that I flew all the way out there, why wouldn’t I go to all three performances? Each performance had it’s uniqueness about it.

First of all, it was a high school production so it wasn’t quite on the level of a Broadway production but it was closer than I thought it would be considering the age of the actors. Some of them spoke a little fast, some ran their lines together, and some had inflections in the wrong spots. But overall, they did a wonderful job and I really enjoyed it….each and every time.

There were a few slip ups at each of the performances and it was interesting watching the actors recover from them or cover them up. The first night, when the actor playing Dr. Chumly sat in a chair, the chair collapsed under him. At the moment, he was sitting down in surprise at something that had happened so I thought it had been on purpose. They moved the pieces of chair to the back of the set and at one point, the actress playing the maid came out and carried the chair off. But while it sat there, I kept looking at it trying to figure out how they had fastened the chair together so that other people could use it but it would break at that point in the play. I found out later that it was an accident, the chair was not supposed to break and the actors just played around the chair as if it was on purpose. Pretty quick recovery!

The second night, because of complaints from some of the audience attending the first night, the actors all had microphones on and that led to some static problems, volume control and actors not used to wearing mikes trying to do their part while dealing with this new piece of equipment. They did manage pretty well and it was much easier to hear them. There was another moment when one of the actors forgot his next line. Luckily, someone improvised a little and helped him remember where he was going. Again, a quick recovery by all on stage and, unless you saw the previous nights performance, you wouldn’t have known it wasn’t part of the play.

The third performance was Sunday afternoon and it was equally as well done as the previous two performances. There were some flubbed lines but, unless you had seen it before, you wouldn’t have known. The actors who had troubles with inflections or running their lines together seemed to have improved by this time and that was nice to see.

I do want to mention Joshua’s performance. I really am not biased at all in saying this but he really was magnificent. This isn’t just my opinion. Others told him how wonderfully he had done portraying Elwood. Someone sitting behind me Saturday night commented to the person sitting next to him that he looked forward to Elwood each time he came on stage because he was just so funny. The director told my brother-in-law (Joshua’s father) that when he was looking for a play for the kids to do, he thought if he could get Joshua for the lead, “Harvey” would be a perfect play to do. Because, as he went on to explain, if you don’t have the right person in the lead for “Harvey”, the play won’t work. The director also explained that he saw the gentleness in Joshua’s eyes and his kind manner that reminded him so much of Elwood. But, he said, Joshua didn’t just drop into the role. When they first started working on it, he had to ask Joshua to tone it down. He was playing it way to boisterous. It wasn’t until the Tuesday before the final dress rehearsal that he played it consistently as Elwood throughout the play.

It really was wonderful to watch. This kid who I have known his whole life, who is thoughtful and kind but also has a mischievous streak, transformed into a whole different character. As someone posted on Joshua’s Facebook page, it was like watching Jimmy Stewart when Jimmy Stewart was young. I even had the privilege of seeing him transform himself when he was talking to his mother and I last night. All of a sudden, he slipped into Elwood and did a few of the lines from the play. It made us laugh! But it also made me appreciate what a good actor he has become…that he can embody a character at will and then change back into himself. Not biased here at all (since I am his aunt) but he is incredibly talented.

I’m not sure if or when I will have the opportunity to see him perform in a play again. But I am so glad I went to see him do this performance. It was well worth the cost of the plane ticket, the time off of work and all the traveling.

Now I need to see the movie….to see if Jimmy Stewart was as good as Joshua!!