You Can't Take it with You garnered a Pulitzer in 1936. It was the longest-running work (837 performances) of playwrights George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart (their third collaboration). The '38 film version won an Oscar for best picture. It has had two (1965 and 1983) highly successful Broadway revivals, and it established a formula in which a loveable but chaotic family overcome obstacles, resolve all their problems, and everybody lives happily ever after. Now doesn't that sound like today's sitcoms on television? OnStage Playhouse went back 72 years for this classic.
With a cast of 17 -- more than most contemporary musicals we have opportunity to meet several families. The free-spirited Sycamores include Penelope and Paul (Jolene Saiyad and James Steinberg) and their children Essie, who makes candy, and Alice, a bit of a pessimist, (Hope Rosemary and Bea Gonzalez). Essie is married to Ed (Daniel Ludwig), a xylophone player and amateur printer, whose specialty is printing of family dinner menus with little quotes on them. The Sycamores' maid, Rheba (Carol Cabrera) is dating Donald (Ryan Payne). Gaye Wellington (Janny Li), a guest, is an actress Penelope met on a bus.
This extended family also includes Martin Vanderhof (Paul Schaeffer), Penelope's father. Although not a family member, Mr. DePinna (Nathan Plummer) is always at the Sycamores making fireworks with Paul.
The prim and proper Kirbys consist of Anthony and Miriam (Steven Jensen and Jeannette Carrillo) and their son Tony (Paul Rossi) who is engaged to Alice Sycamore. The contrast between the families is apparent almost immediately.
Aside from the two clans are Henderson, an IRS agent, and G-Man, both played by John McLean. A second G-man is played by Sean O'Hara. The final characters are a couple of Russians, Boris Kolenkhov (Cody Shoberg), Essie's ballet instructor, and his friend, The Grand Duchess, Olga Katrina (Anya Singleton). They both are excellent. He has his Russian accent and manner down perfect and she is totally convincing. (It may have helped that she comes from Russia.)
While getting on in age, this Kaufman-Hart hit still has vitality. The OnStage audience was amused.
