Press and Reviews

For those of us of a certain generation, the songs of Linda Ronstadt burn brightly in our memories. In her show Heart Like a Wheel: A Tribute to the Music of Linda Ronstadt, the wonderful Rita Harvey delivered those songs in a performance that would've made Ronstadt herself proud! - NiteLife Exchange

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"Fun Home" the Tony-winning musical, based on Alison Bechdel's autobiographical graphic novel, is a serious show about a serious topic, showing how members of a dysfunctional family come to terms - sort of - with their sexuality, and their place in the world. Spoiler: some of them deal with it better than others. - Broadway World

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Broadway veteran Rita Harvey is Ren's mom, Ethel McCormack, and I will shamelessly say I'm a huge fan. This troupe was so fortunate to have such a personage in their midst. Her lilting, extraordinary soprano voice, paired with the loving, playful relationship she portrays with her son is an important and sustaining element to the story. - Pillow Talking

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TheatreSquared's new musical Next to Normal continues this weekend in Fayetteville. The show, which our reviewer Tobias Wray called the "best of its breed, in a class with only a few gritty peers" runs through May 12th at Nadine Baum Studios. Todd Taylor, a third-year University of Arkansas MFA playwright, recently caught up with Rita Harvey, who plays "Diana" in the show for this interview. - Fayetteville Flyer

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TheatreSquared continues to offer up the most challenging, sensitive theatre of the region with their season's glittering capstone, Next to Normal, a rock musical that explodes with emotion and never lets up. This ambitious production marks new ground for the company, I believe. The cast is one of the strongest the Nadine Baum stage has seen. Amy Herzberg's direction is precise and unencumbered. Thursday night was the preview performance, but T2's Next to Normal came out of the gates fully fledged. - Fayetteville Flyer

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Rita Harvey makes a great deal out of her role as Christine's landlady, gossipy and malicious in a very artful manner. - TheaterScene.net

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'Closer Than Ever' adds new cast members beginning September 25. Broadway veterans James Moye, Rita Harvey and Jamie LaVerdiere will join the cast of the acclaimed off-Broadway musical Closer Than Ever on September 25. - Broadway.com

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The York Theatre Company in association with Edward Negley, Neil Berg and Adam Friedson, will welcome James Moye (Dogfight, Million Dollar Quartet) to the cast of Closer Than Ever with Lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr. and Music by David Shire. - BroadwayWorld

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Casting changes have been announced for The York Theatre Company's critically acclaimed revue Closer Than Ever, which spotlights the songs of Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire. - Playbill

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Rita Harvey, Jamie LaVerdiere, and James Moye will join the York Theatre Company's acclaimed revival of Closer Than Ever on Tuesday, September 25. - TheaterMania

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When Berg got to New York, it didn't take long to join up with a Broadway baseball team - the Phantom of the Opera gang where he met Rita Harvey. He played piano for her audition and then married her. She performed a poignant "Far From the Home I Love." - Times Square Chronicles

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Enter the one member of the company who actually is related to Berg, his wife, Rita Harvey, who lends her sweet, clear voice to "Far From the Home I Love," from "Fiddler on the Roof." Harvey's voice is like cooling cream, effortless rising. A highlight is Harvey's introduction to the "Fairytale," a tender, earnest and unapologetically sentimental song from Berg's "Pollyanna." In Harvey's story, Dolly Parton and Berg's father figure prominently. "When I was just a girl. / I'd sit on daddy's knee. / And together we would read. / About Knights. / About Queens. / About Jack and his beans." Just charming. - LoHud.com

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Harvey makes a vivacious Betsy matched in intensity by the mellifluous William Thomas Evans. They have the best love songs, the haunting "Here In My Arms" and pretty "Bye and Bye." Betsy also gets to defend the female stake in war when her sweetheart tries to tell her it only "men's business." - New York Newsday

Rita Harvey (as Elizabeth, the fiancè) has a sweet sound. Her voice is beautiful, very easy on the ears. - Amazon.com

Rita Harvey makes a fine impression as the young - though certainly world-wise - Rose Maurrant. She sings with great beauty and conveys a sense of grace to this persevering character. - The Des Moines Register

"Seventy-five years from now," Kurt Weill told writer and librettist Arnold Sundgaard, "Street Scene will be remembered as my major work." ... so powerful was the impact made by Des Moines Metro Opera's production of Street Scene, presented at Blank Performing Arts Center in Indianola, that it made one reevaluate previously mixed impressions of the work... As Rose Maurrant, Rita Harvey stood out for the sensitivity of her acting, as well as her fine, light soprano, movingly conveying the plight this strong yet sympathetic young woman who refuses to let family tragedy destroy her determination to escape the tenement. - Opera News

Director Thomas Sabella-Mills has cast two spirited and charismatic leads in Michael Mahany as the hero and Rita Harvey as his love interest... As Jamie and Maeve, Mahany and Harvey, respectively, are both personable and persuasive performers with beautiful singing voices and help focus the somewhat loosely structured storyline. Mahany offers the blarney while Harvey's heroine is grounded in reality. - TheaterScene.net

Rita Harvey is a lovely and centered Maeve, doing well by the score's most interesting-and virtually only-character song, the soliloquy "What Do I Know?" - Backstage

Rita Harvey (a former Christine in Phantom) turns in the best musical performance with her disarmingly strong rendition of "Ethel's Lament, " about bitterness over her unsatisfying relationship with a married man... Harvey, Jody Madaras and Melissa Hart are the excellent Chichester trio, embodying their disgust with Peg (or Margaret, as they insist on calling her) with melodramatic facial expressions and haughty line deliveries, making their focus on money and sophistication all the more ridiculous and hilariously unsympathetic. - Broadway.com

Rita Harvey followed, and gave a beautiful performance with Alex [Santoriello] of the duet "Tonight" from "West Side Story". Rita performed the role of Christine on Broadway and in the National Tour of "The Phantom of the Opera" from 1993-1998. She has also performed the role of Laurey in "Oklahoma"... A tiny, pixie-like creature with fine, pretty features, Rita opens her mouth and blows her viewers away with her very big voice. Her best performances of the night were as Christine for "The Phantom of the Opera," with Alex as the Phantom, and of a lovely song called "Fairytale," written by her husband and pianist for the night, Neil Berg, from the score he is composing called "Golf: A Musical in 18 Holes." - The Broad Street Journal

Especially notable was soprano Rita Harvey as the young voice pupil, Nellie, who grows into a perfect match for John. Harvey sings with freshness, remarkable flexibility and beauty of tone. - The Des Moines Register

To the role of Marzelline, soprano Rita Harvey offered youthful exuberance and lyrical tone... - San Diego Union Tribune

"Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street" has set up shop at Marriott's Lincolnshire Theatre, where he's offering his inimitable close shave to anyone who dates takes a seat. The sharp, mordantly funny and magnificently sung revival now at Marriott's is a bravura effort on every count - from its superb direction and exceptional cast to its lush costumes... Rita Harvey deploys her silvery soprano (and winning sense of humor) as the damsel in distress. - Chicago Sun Times