ST. PETERSBURG — Freefall Theatre's new production of Harvey, the classic play about an affable man and his giant invisible friend, is comfort food of the best possible kind: warm, familiar, delicious and gently nourishing.
It is also very funny. Freefall's actors are enjoying themselves so much, you'd have to be a stick not to be thoroughly entranced.
Larry Alexander is a master of gesture and mannerism in defining the lead character Elwood P. Dowd, fastidiously dressed, ever affable, impossible to disagree with and always gaining new friends by expressing sincere interest in the other person's life. For a moment, one thinks this might be a satire on the mid 20th century self-help notions of Dale Carnegie and the like.
But compared to the anxious preening and social climbing of his sister and niece, or the foolish pride of a young psychiatrist, Mr. Dowd's effervescent niceness turns out to be disarmingly pleasant indeed.
Of course, there is the matter of Elwood's friend, a giant rabbit named Harvey whom only he can hear and see. That does seem a bit odd.
And embarrassing, too, for Elwood's sister Veta Louise Simmons and her bony, unattractive daughter Myrtle Mae, who have recently come home to live with him in the family manse. They're so absorbed in themselves and social fears and ambitions that they'd prefer to put Elwood in a mental hospital where he can shame them no more.
This makes for great comedy, too. Bonnie Agan (a friend of mine) establishes Veta Louise's vain, flibbertigibbet character immediately, when she smooths the front of her dress in preparation for answering a call from the town's society editor. Veta Louise is the sort of woman who reveals more than she realizes in her remarks, as when she complains that her brother spends all his time with "riffraff," making friends "with people you've never heard of." She's so unaware that she actually manages to get herself committed instead of her brother.
Brian Shea stands out as Duane Wilson, the white-jacketed orderly, whom he plays with an Igor-ish delight. He leers, he puffs, he galumphs. And when he espies Myrtle May he lets out a lewd, "Hello Myrtle" that has an unexpected comic effect. Fidgety Myrtle, who has despaired of ever finding a husband, begins to sashay across the room, and the mating ritual begins.
It's also fun to watch bickering between Nurse Ruth Kelly (Kelly Pekar) and handsome young Dr. Lyman Sanderson (Chris Jackson). It's a familiar trope — the couple so meant for each other they appear not to like each other at all. But they play it so well, when they finally do embrace (and Nurse Kelly later reappears with her hair and cap askew), you just want to cheer.
Other characters have their moments: Donna Donnelly as the blunt mink-stole matron, Mrs. Ethel Chauvenet; John Lombardi as Dr. William R. Chumley, whose professional hauteur masks a wistful secret; Mimi Rice as his tin-eared wife Betty; Glenn Gover as the Dowd family attorney, and Richard Coppinger as the cab driver who finally makes everyone see the sense in Elwood. Only Gover's agitated portrayal of the lawyer seems overplayed.
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Explore all your optionsAs one expects at Freefall, the costumes and sets are superb, the latter consisting of what appears to be a mansion's fine woodwork at each end of the stage, which is placed between two facing banks of seats for the audience.