Home  Entertainment Reviews Review: Harvey by Mary Coyle Chase (March 22)
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Review: Harvey by Mary Coyle Chase (March 22) |
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Written by Barry Gaines
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Saturday, 22 March 2008 |
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"Harvey" by Mary Coyle Chase won the Pulitzer Prize for 1944. Pulitzers were also presented to Joe Rosenthal for his photograph of Marines raising the American flag on Mount Surabachi at Iwo Jima and to Sgt. Bill Mauldin for his war cartoons “Up Front With Mauldin.” War-weary Broadway welcomed the innocent hero of “Harvey,” Elwood P. Dowd, and his best friend, the six and one-half foot tall invisible (well, generally) white rabbit in the title role.
The play ran for over four years and was immortalized in the 1950 film version that featured one of Jimmy Stewart’s most endearing performances. Under the direction of Kenneth Bennington, the Adobe Theater is presenting an appealing production of this theatrical favorite. For those who don’t know the story, Elwood P. Dowd is a mild-mannered, even courtly, man of 47 who lives with his older sister, Veta Louise Simmons, and her daughter Myrtle Mae (naming is not a family strength). Elwood and Harvey are favorites at the local bars where he (they) easily make friends. Veta sees Harvey as a threat to her social prominence and her daughter’s marital prospects, and she tries to have Elwood committed to a psychiatric sanitarium. Elaborate complications ensue and Veta ultimately chooses to leave her brother’s eccentricities alone. Through it all, Elwood maintains his dignity, self-respect, and appeal. There is a range of performance styles in the Adobe production. Some of the actors approach the play’s farcical situations with exaggeration. Bill Derringer as Veta’s lawyer and Freddy Vargas as the asylum attendant employ excessive volume and gesture. Michael Girlamo, on the other hand, is subdued as psychiatrist Sanderson. Pete Alden gains confidence in the role of Dr. Chumley, and JoAnne Blackstone does what she can with the character of Myrtle, who is little more than a plot device. I enjoyed watching the expressive and inventive Jennifer M. Lloyd struggle to make sense of Nurse Kelly and her 1940s passive-aggressive courtship of Sanderson. The two leads, Cyndy Noll as Veta and Vernon Poitras as Elwood, delightfully demonstrate the power of underplaying. Noll captures the perfect tone for Veta, doing and saying ridiculous things without being ridiculous. Poitras plays Elwood with understated charm and a bit of magic. “Harvey” explores imagination and personal freedom—and presents quite an Easter bunny. If You Go WHAT: “Harvey” by Mary Coyle Chase WHEN: Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. through April 13 WHERE: The Adobe Theater, 9813 Fourth NW HOW MUCH: $12 general public, $10 seniors and students. Call 898-9222 for ticket information
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About Reviewers D.S. Crafts (Website) Composer Daniel Steven Crafts came to New Mexico from San Francisco where he had hosted a classical music radio program on KPFA. His first commission from opera star Jerry Hadley, "The Song & the Slogan" based on texts by Carl Sandburg, was made into a TV program for the PBS network and aired nationally in 2004 and won an Emmy for Best Music. His latest opera La Llorona is a collaboration with novelist Rudolfo Anaya based on his play "The Season of La Llorona." Mr. Crafts is currently working on another commission from Jerry Hadley for a piece about the American Southwest which includes texts by Rudolfo Anaya and V.B. Price. Two CDs of his music, Contemporaries (short, satirical keyboard works) and ARIAS (excerpts from his various operas) have been released on the BACAT label in San Francisco.
David Steinberg David Steinberg has covered state government, the courts, city and county government in Santa Fe for the Albuquerque Journal. He's been an arts writer for the past 20 years, and serves as the book editor, for the Journal. Over the years, he's also acted in plays, sung in choruses and played trumpet.
Jennifer Noyer Jennifer Noyer has been writing dance reviews for the Albuquerque Journal for 17 years, as well as contributing articles for Dance Magazine and other art journals. She trained in dance with Hanya Holm in New York City and Colorado Springs, and studied several dance techniques at the graduate level at the University of Michigan. After teaching dance at Wayne State University she entered and completed a Masters Degree in Humanities there. In New Mexico Ms. Noyer has taught, directed, and choreographed contemporary dance for several years. Her writing on dance includes a monograph accompanying the video of choreographer Bill Evens’ ballet “The Legacy.” An overview of Evans’s world wide career, it was written and published during his tenure at the University of New Mexico. Ms. Noyer’s studies in the humanities, and her studio dance work influence her approach to dance as an integrative art form in the United States.
Barry Gaines Barry Gaines has taught Shakespeare in the University of New Mexico English Department for over twenty-five years and has received two outstanding teaching awards. He has written theater reviews for the Journal since 2000. He has attended theater all over the world including Shakespeare productions in Russia, South Africa, Denmark, and Poland. He has also served as literary advisor for two professional theater companies and written performance reviews for Shakespeare Quarterly. Gaines has taken two years of acting with Paul Ford and appeared in small parts in three plays at the Albuquerque Little Theater. He believes that he is probably a better reviewer than actor.
Joanne Sheehy Hoover Joanne Sheehy Hoover, music critic emeritus of the Albuquerque Journal, has written for NPR, PBS, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Symphony, among others. She has also been a music lecturer for the Smithsonian Associates and a music critic and arts writer for The Washington Post. She was director of the Levine School of Music, one of the country’s largest community music schools, in Washington, D. C. 1980-1993. She and her husband moved to Corrales, New Mexico in July 1993. Also a poet, her fifth collection, “Einstein in New Mexico,” was published in 2002.
Marissa Greenberg Marissa Greenberg is a member of the faculty of the University of New Mexico English Department, where she teaches Shakespeare and early English literature. A prior guest reviewer for the Albuquerque Journal, Greenberg will be reviewing theater while Barry Gaines is out of town. She also composed and edited the program notes for last year’s Albuquerque Shakespeare Festival and has written performance reviews for Shakespeare Bulletin. A graduate of Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania, Greenberg has been performing and studying drama for most of her life. She is thrilled to have this opportunity to review for the Journal.
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