It’s telling that Mary Chase’s Harvey won the Pulitzer Prize in 1945, the final year of World War II. The previous winner had been a metatheatrical chronicle of apocalypse, The Skin of Our Teeth; the next would be a satire about political corruption, State of the Union. But as Allied forces advanced on Berlin, the gentlemen of the Pulitzer committee chose to honor a light comedy centered on one Elwood P. Dowd, a wealthy small-town tippler whose best drinking buddy happens to be an invisible six-foot-tall rabbit. Clearly, folks were ready for a break.
De Mayo’s production has its problems, mostly having to do with the contradictory ways in which she approaches the play’s period conventions. On the one hand, she accepts sexist tropes from the 40s (“dollpuss,” “beautiful and dumb”), not to mention a backward characterization of alcoholism. On the other, she asserts progressive values by casting black actors in roles for which they would never have been considered back then. The result is an occasionally jarring time warp. Still, given the overall command of everyone involved, and the deep sweetness of Chase’s comedy, it’s easy not to worry and just be happy. v
Through 6/11: Wed-Thu 7:30 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 3 and 8 PM, Sun 2:30 and 7:30 PM Court Theatre 5535 S. Ellis 773-753-4472courttheatre.org $48-$68
