Harvey, Starring Jim Parsons, Ends Limited Broadway Run Aug. 5 With Benefit Performance

By Kenneth Jones
05 Aug 2012

Jim Parsons
Jim Parsons
Photo by Joan Marcus

Roundabout Theatre Company's critically acclaimed Broadway production of Mary Chase’s Harvey, which stars Emmy winner Jim Parsons, end its limited engagement, as originally announced, on Aug. 5. A benefit performance has been added at 7 PM.

When the production closes, it will have played 32 previews and 62 regular performances at Studio 54 on Broadway (254 West 54th Street). All proceeds from the final performance benefit Roundabout's Education Department, which works extensively in the New York City public school system

The cast comprises Parsons (Elwood P. Dowd), Jessica Hecht (Veta Louise Simmons), Charles Kimbrough (William R. Chumley, M.D.), Larry Bryggman (Judge Omar Gaffney), Carol Kane (Betty Chumley), Peter Benson (E.J. Lofgren), Tracee Chimo (Myrtle Mae Simmons), Holley Fain (Ruth Kelly, R.N.), Angela Paton (Mrs. Ethel Chauvenet), Rich Sommer (Duane Wilson) and Morgan Spector (Lyman Sanderson, M.D.). Scott Ellis directs.

Harvey was first brought to the Broadway stage in 1944 and was directed by Antoinette Perry. The play won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1944, and its initial run lasted for four years — 1,775 performances.

"Charming and kind, Elwood (Jim Parsons) has only one character flaw: an unwavering friendship with a 6-foot-tall, invisible white rabbit named Harvey," according to the Roundabout. "In order to save the family’s social reputation, Elwood’s sister Veta (Jessica Hecht) takes Elwood to the local sanatorium. But when the doctors mistakenly commit his anxiety-ridden sister, Elwood — and Harvey—slip out of the hospital unbothered, setting off a hilarious whirlwind of confusion and chaos as everyone in town tries to catch a man and his invisible rabbit."

Parsons now heads back to Los Angeles to continue shooting the TV comedy series "The Big Bang Theory," for which he won the Emmy Award. Read the spring 2012 Playbill magazine feature on Parsons.

For ticket information visit roundabouttheatre.org.