Midwest Theater
The Revolutionary Optimist 
May 23 2013 7:30pm 
Free Admission 

Midwest Theater 
May 24-26
Fri & Sat 7:30 Sun 1:30

Rated: PG-13  Runningtime: 93min 

Beecham House is abuzz. The rumor circling the halls is that the home for retired musicians is soon to play host to a new resident. Word is, it's a star. For Reginald Paget (Tom Courtenay), Wilfred Bond (Billy Connolly) and Cecily Robson (Pauline Collins) this sort of talk is par for the course at the gossipy home. But they're in for a special shock when the new arrival turns out to be none other than their former singing partner, Jean Horton (Maggie Smith). Her subsequent career as a star soloist, and the ego that accompanied it, split up their long friendship and ended her marriage to Reggie, who takes the news of her arrival particularly hard. Can the passage of time heal old wounds? And will the famous quartet be able to patch up their differences in time for Beecham House's gala concert?

 “HARVEY” 

A Family Comedy in Three Acts

by Mary Chase

May 29, 30, 31, June 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 2013  / 7:30 P.M.

When Elwood P. Dowd introduces his imaginary friend, Harvey, a 6-and-a-half-foot rabbit, to guests at a society party, his sister, Veta, has seen as much of his eccentric behavior as she can tolerate.  She decides to have him committed to a sanitarium to spare her daughter, Myrtle Mae, and their family from future embarrassment.  Problems arise, however, when Veta herself is mistakenly assumed to be on the verge of lunacy when she explains to doctors that years of living with Elwood's hallucination have caused her to see Harvey also!  The doctors commit Veta instead of Elwood, but when the truth comes out, the search is on for Elwood and his invisible companion.  When he shows up at the sanitarium looking for his lost friend Harvey,  it seems that the mild-mannered Elwood's delusion has had a strange influence on more than one of the doctors.  Only at the end does Veta realize that maybe Harvey isn't so bad after all.   This classic comedy opened on Broadway in November, 1944 and was made into a movie starring Jimmy Stewart in 1950.  It was revised in 1971.