Just out of the show? All summer long, J. Kelly Nestruck will be filing opening-night impressions of major productions at The Shaw Festival and The Stratford Shakespeare Festival. His reviews will appear online within 30 minutes of the curtain dropping, and in the A section the next morning. And after that, a full review of every play will appear in the Review section.
Harvey Written by Mary Chase Directed by Joseph Ziegler Starring Peter Krantz At the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake
Play at a glance: In this 1944 comedy, congenial alcoholic Elwood P. Dowd (Peter Krantz) walks around with a six-foot rabbit named Harvey visible only to him. After the embarrassment of it all becomes too much, Elwood's sister Veta (Mary Haney) attempts to have him committed at a sanitarium - setting off a chain of comic events that raise questions about who is really sane and who is not.
First impression: Krantz is perfectly cast as the charming, chivalrous Elwood in Ziegler's warm-hearted production. With the voice of Stuart McLean and the bearing of the Friendly Giant, Krantz is absolutely loveable - and makes the play's whimsical and possibly harmful misrepresentations of alcoholism, mental illness and psychiatry easier to stomach.
Highlights: Haney and the ever-reliable Gray Powell as Dr. Sanderson are in fine form, while Norman Browning provides the biggest laughs as a psychiatrist nuttier than any of his patients.
The nitpicks: The attraction between Powell and Diana Donnelly's Nurse Kelly is as invisible as Harvey, and there are a couple of very weak supporting performances that grate. Also, Krantz occasionally seems to forget the height of his pooka companion and looks him straight in his giant bunny belly button, but that's a real small nit to pick.
Audience instant reaction: Charmed and delighted.
Critic's instant reaction: Three stars (rating subject to change overnight - for full review, see Monday's Globe and Mail Review section)
Post-show questions for over dinner: Harvey won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1944 over Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie - good call or bad call? A whitewashed portrait of alcoholism revived in the heart of Ontario's wine country - coincidence?
Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Guy Bannerman as the actor who plays pyschiatrist Dr. Chumley.