The Milwaukee Rep presents "Harvey"

An oh-so-pleasant night at the theater

Through December 21st, 2014, the Milwaukee Repertory Theater is charming audiences with Harvey. If you've seen the movie from 1950 starring Jimmy Stewart, you know it's not easy to get his portrayal of protagonist Elwood P. Dowd out of your head. Stewart's delivery of Mary Chase's sweet, funny words is serene and dreamy — perfectly suited to a man whose best friend is a 6-foot-tall invisible white rabbit named Harvey. Harvey is a pooka, a trickster creature from folklore — or is he just a figment of Mr. Dowd's imagination?

As for this Milwaukee Rep production, Jonathon Gillard Daly had a tough act to follow — but he succeeded. He succeeded in pushing Jimmy Stewart from my mind for at least a few hours, delivering a performance with a touch more gusto and plenty of sincerity. And it worked. The audience chuckled in all the right places, and maintained a captivated silence during some of the most enchanting lines in the play, like: "Years ago my mother used to say to me, she'd say 'In this world, Elwood, you must be' — she always called me Elwood — 'In this world, Elwood, you must be oh-so-smart or oh-so-pleasant.' Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant."