The Saturday before last, I went to New York for the day. My purpose was to see Harvey, a play about a man with an imaginary friend (a tall white rabbit named Harvey). It was put on by Roundabout Theatre Company, of whose youth ticket program I am a member. They sent an email advertising it a couple of months ago, mentioning that it stars Jim Parsons (who plays Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory), and that along with my general interest in theatre and enjoyment of the last Roundabout show I saw (Anything Goes) was enough to convince me to see it.
I had a ticket to the evening show, but I caught a morning bus, hoping to find something enjoyable to do in New York. Thus bus was an hour late (so they gave us our money back), but there was still time for me to head uptown to get a student rush ticket for Nice Work if You Can Get It.
The show was enjoyable, though I'd rank it fourth out of the four musicals I've seen on Broadway. It was mostly the silly, doesn't mean much action that I like in musicals (witness Anything Goes), but didn't quite have the "bang" that such a show needs to make up for the absence of emotional depth. One problem I found was that the male lead was somewhat of a playboy, and he didn't seem to display much inclination to leave that lifestyle behind upon marrying his latest wife (who turned out to be his half-sister...), or falling in love with the female lead. It made his character a little unsympathetic to me, and I'm not sure why anyone ever wanted to marry him (let along woman after woman!).
The set was spectacular and frequently changing. The singing was generally good.
After some dinner and wandering through a street fair and Central Park, I went to see Harvey. This was by a large margin the more enjoyable of the two shows. Elwood (Parsons' character) was very much the central figure of the show, and he was very well portrayed. I noticed a Sheldonesque literalness to his actions: for example, whenever anyone mentioned that they hoped they'd see him again soon, he'd ask "when?" and try to fix a time, preferably later that day. There is an earnestness to Jim Parsons that was very well suited to the role. Jessica Hecht as his sister Veta was another standout performer. Her obvious frustration with Elwood, and his inability to cope with him, were very effective, and it was unsurprising that the doctors accidentally thought she was the one needing psychiatric treatment.
The show was primarily comedic, but the ending wavered a little. It seemed that the playwright was going for something deeper, about the risk of losing one's warmth and love of life when undergoing treatment. I guess that after two hours of enjoying Elwood's character, the audience might share that concern. But it didn't quite seem to fit the general thread of a complexifying situation where no-one really knew who was mad and whether Harvey was real. I think such a story doesn't really have a clear ending.
An on-time bus took me back to Boston and a late night (well, early morning: the sky was lightening by the time I was going to bed) walk home.
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