Now You See Him

Harvey hopped across into the twenty-first century a lot better than Fiorella had thought he would. In fact, he was charming.

Fio has vague memories of the movie and was afraid that all the lead actor would do was ape Jimmy Stewart's iconic performance. She also suspected the story, after all this time, would seem--well--silly.

But not to worry. The females in the play over-acted, emoting to the rafters, and the male high school post-grads were miscast, but Michael Rhea, who played Elwood P. Dowd, was perfection. Other stand-outs were Jim Mutzabaugh as Judge Gaffney and Jeff Shaevel as Dr. Chumley.

The costumes were great too. Fio especially liked Veta's outfit in the first act and Myrtle Mae's green number in the last act. The play hit Broadway in 1944, but whoever decided to set it in what Fio thinks was the early 1920s, made a good call.

Two little nitpicks: that stupid wig worn by Myrtle Mae and the poorly-painted portrait over the mantel. Fio found both of them distracting. She wanted to run up onto the stage and jerk that idiocy off MM's head, then grab a brush and fix the painting. (Uh, has Fio ever told you that in a past life she did portraits?)

Anyway, Harvey is playing at Georgetown's Palace Theater. Go see him--if you can.