The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons to Lead Broadway Revival of Harvey
Confirming earlier speculation, Emmy winner Jim Parsons will star as Elwood P. Dowd in the Roundabout Theatre Company's upcoming Broadway revival of Harvey. Joining Parsons will be Jessica Hecht as Veta Louise Simmons and Charles Kimbrough as William R. Chumley, M.D. The Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy by Mary Chase will begin performances at Studio 54 on May 18, 2012, and officially open on June 14. Scott Ellis directs.
The title character in Harvey is a six-foot-tall rabbit invisible to everyone except Elwood, much to the exasperation of his sister, Veta. In order to save the family’s social reputation, Veta 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.
Two-time Emmy winner and Golden Globe Award winner Parsons is best known to TV audiences as Sheldon Cooper on the CBS hit The Big Bang Theory. He made his Broadway debut in the 2011 revival of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart and received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance.
Hecht was last seen on Broadway in the 2010 revival of Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge, for which she earned a Tony nomination. Her other Broadway credits include After the Fall, Brighton Beach Memoirs and The Last Night of Ballyhoo.
Kimbrough has been seen on Broadway in The Merchant of Venice, Accent on Youth, Hay Fever, Sunday in the Park With George, and Company, which garnered him a Tony Nomination. He was nominated for an Emmy for his work in Murphy Brown.
Harvey opened on Broadway in 1944, starring Frank Fay and Josephine Hull and directed by Antoinette Perry. Jimmy Stewart took over the role from Fay, and went on to star in the 1950 movie opposite Hull. Stewart reprised his star turn in a 1970 Broadway revival that co-starred Helen Hayes as Veta.
The limited engagement, produced in association with Don Gregory, is scheduled to run through August 5, 2012.
