REVIEW BY KATIE GILLIGAN

I will admit -- through my teeth -- that my mother is right. Nine years ago she attempted to make me watch the black-and-white film of Harvey, starring Jimmy Stewart. I promptly fell asleep, utterly confused by a rabbit that was supposed to be there but wasn't. She told me the storyline was "classic" and "inspiring." The Showboat Majestic's production of Harvey proves my mother correct.

Danny Davies portrays Elwood P. Dowd, a local citizen of the Midwest, prone to the midday, mid-evening and late-evening foray to the tavern. After a death in the family, Elwood "meets" a six-foot-plus white rabbit who happened to be leaning against a lamppost. Discovering the rabbit's name to be Harvey, Elwood befriends him, and the two are inseparable. The only problem is that no one -- well, almost no one -- else can see the rabbit. In a series of funny, plot-twisting and sentimental moments, Elwood's sister Veta Louise (Joan McElfresh), and his doctors, Lyman Sanderson (Dan O'Keefe) and William Chumley, (Allan Karol) are forced to examine their own reality.

Although I never saw -- or remembered, rather -- Jimmy Stewart's performance as Elwood P. Dowd, I cannot imagine a more believable performer than Davies. Dowd is a character that epitomizes the happy dumb person, overly exuberant and talkative -- in other words, someone who under normal circumstances would become very annoying very quickly. In the approximate two-hour show, I never once rolled my eyes at Davies's exhortations. The audience warmed to the scene each time Davies walked onstage and the supporting cast seemed to regain some consistency and flow whenever Davies performed.

Additional peak performances were given by McElfresh, as Elwood's sister; Sunshine Cappelletti, as nurse Ruth Kelley; and O'Keefe and Karol as the doctors. Cappelletti and O'Keefe create a wonderful team, with Cappelletti's pronounced emotions and eager vocal tone contrasted against O'Keefe's distant and professional portrayal. McElfresh was a perfect doting mother -- persistent in finding her daughter a mate, yet ready to proclaim her weariness at doing so. In scenes with these four supporting cast members, the generally quiet audience was quick to laugh out loud.

The Showboat Majestic is an old boat, the theater is small and narrow and the median age is likely to have seen the Jimmy Stewart film when it was originally released in 1950. In the production of Harvey, the characters excelled against a minimal set design and basic use of lighting and sound technology. Director Jhon Marshall created a fluid, dynamic performance that centers around a character the audience never actually sees.

Of course, there are things that could be improved about the production of Harvey: better lighting and some stronger performances, to name a few. But the story remains strong and this performance is engaging, thanks to the actors noted. It's the story that's really the best thing: It reminds us that the people who are happiest, like Elwood, are those who never really lose their childhood. They never think twice when beckoned by a white rabbit leaning on a lamppost.

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