Jim Parsons Plots Broadway Return With 'Harvey' Revival

Jim Parsons is making a return to Broadway.

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The two-time Emmy winner and star of CBS' The Big Bang Theory will topline the new revival of the comedy Harvey, Roundabout Theatre Company in association with Don Gregory announced Tuesday. Parsons, who co-starred in The Normal Heart, will play Elwood P. Dowd.

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Jessica Hecht and Charles Kimbrough will also star in the revival by Mary Chase and directed by Scott Ellis, playing Veta Louise Simmons and William R. Chumley, MD, respectively.

Preview performances for Harvey will begin May 18, 2012 at Studio 54 with an official opening scheduled for June 14. The revival is set to run through Aug. 5.

Parsons has received good reviews for his turn as Tommy Boatwright. "There is no weak link in the ensemble," THR's theater critic David Rooney wrote of this past summer's The Normal Heart.

Hecht is no stranger to the stage; she most recently received a Tony Award nomination for her role as Beatrice in A View From the Bridge. Kimbrough has performed in several Broadway productions, including The Merchant of Venice, Accent on Youth, Sundany in the Park ... and earned a Tony nomination for Company in addition to an Emmy nomination for Murphy Brown.

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Tony nominee Scott Ellis is the associate artistic director of Roundabout Theatre, having directed Twelve Angry Men, The Man Who Had All the Luck, The Rainmaker, 1776, She Loves Me, Picnic, Company and A Month in the Country.

Harvey first debuted on Broadway in 1944 and was directed by Antoinette Perry. The play won the Pulitzer Prize in 1944 and its initial run lasted for 1,775 performances. James Stewart originated the role in the 1970 production and played the role in the 1950 film. Helen Hayes played Veta in the 1970 production.

Harvey tells the story of Elwood's friendship with a 6-foot-tall, invisible white rabbit named Harvey. In order to save the family’s reputation, Elwood’s sister Veta takes him to the local sanatorium. But when the doctors mistakenly commit his anxiety-ridden sister, Elwood — and Harvey — go off on an adventure.