This coming spring, a figment of another complexion will come to the space when Roundabout Theatre Company in association with Don Gregory presents a new Broadway production of Mary Chase's Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy Harvey beginning May 18, 2012. The revival will be directed by Scott Ellis.

The play, a gentle-spirited celebration of whimsy and eccentricity, is about the kind but looney Elwood P. Dowd, whose best friend is Harvey, a bunny nobody sees but himself. It premiered in 1944 and became a massive hit, running four years and reviving the career of one-time star Frank Fay. (If you ever wonder what the Tonys namesake Antoinette Perry did, well, one of the things she did was direct the premiere of Harvey.) Jimmy Stewart took the property and made it into a very popular film. He then played the part on Broadway in a brief 1970 production. Since then, the play has been the near exclusive property of regional and community theatres, where it had never offended a soul.

If you're going to do Harvey, you better have a good, and bankable, Elwood lined up. Roundabout does. It's Jim Parson, the lovably geeky actor who has helped turn the sitcom "The Big Bang Theory" into a hit. He proved last season on Broadway, in The Normal Heart, that he can sketch an expert stage portrayal. Joining him on stage will by Jessica Hecht (as Veta Louise Simmons) and Charles Kimbrough (as William R. Chumley, M.D.), Roundabout announced this week.

	Laura Osnes and Jeremy Jordan in Bonnie & Clyde.
	photo by Nathan Johnson

Frank Wildhorn, the Energizer Bunny of Broadway musicals, returned the Main Stem this week with his latest work, Bonnie & Clyde, his and Don Black's (remember him?) tale of the Depression-era American outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. It opened Dec. 1 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre with two very appealing stars: Laura Osnes, the original Hope Harcourt in Roundabout's Anything Goes, and Jeremy Jordan, recently the recipient of excellent reviews as Jack Kelly in Newsies at Paper Mill Playhouse.

The reviews, by normal standards, were not great. But by Wildhorn standards, they were not at all bad.

Ben Brantley in the New York Times, gave what has to be considered a sort of a rave when he called the show "a modest, mildly tuneful musical." The post wrote, "The first act, where our anti-heroes meet and begin their illegal activities, is the best. Director Jeff Calhoun moves the action swiftly, combining a wood-slate set, projections and moody lighting to create period atmospherics." The Daily News reported, "In short order, this musical vehicle steers straight to the middle of the road." Hollywood Reporter said, "three exciting performances and a better-than-usual score from Frank Wildhorn combine to make this an arresting if problematic new musical."

And the AP's resident Pollyanna, Mark Kennedy, said, "Jordan, who was in Rock of Ages, is charisma in person, a ball of swaggering arrogance with a sad boy underneath that's catnip to Bonnie (and many of the women in the audience). Bonnie, we are told, was a ravishing redhead, and Osnes is just that… This is a killer combination: They will slay you, literally."

Of course, there were negative comments, as well. Critics thought the musical too safe, that the central relationship did not gel, and the second act wandered. But the overall reactions was, a Time Out put it, "not great, but not that bad." If I were Wildhorn, I'd be buying a round of drinks at Sardi's.