Classic Fun and Classic Themes Abound in PlayMakers' Production of "You Can't Take It With You"

Reez Bailey, Delaney Jackson, and Elizabeth Dye star in You Can't Take It With You. Photo by HuthPhoto, courtesy of PlayMakers Repertory Company.

Some families can be a little . . . eccentric. Take, for example, the free-spirited, loving Vanderhof-Sycamore-Carmichael clan. This big, blended, and definitely offbeat family is the subject of Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman’s classic 1936 play You Can’t Take It With You. The play, onstage now through PlayMakers Repertory Company and under the direction of Nathaniel P. Claridad, explores what happens when Alice (Delaney Jackson), the most conventional of the bunch, falls in love with the strait-laced Tony Kirby (Reez Bailey), who comes from a more conventional, well-to-do family. While her own loved ones juggle tax evasion, snake-keeping, late-in-life ballet dancing, and a host of other passions and problems, Tony’s are dabbling in fashionable spiritualism and profitable gardening. Naturally, Alice has some doubts about introducing the Kirbys to her own family, and when she does, chaos, comedy, and more than a few heartwarming moments unfold.

The melding-of-worlds plays out on Daniel Zimmerman’s beautiful, busy set, which perfectly captures the family’s home and aptly reflects each peculiar personality. There’s a huge xylophone where a bumbling, loving Ed, adorably acted by Matthew Donahue, plinks out the sounds to which his wife Essie, portrayed by a silly, immediately loveable Elizabeth Dye, poorly practices her ballet. In another corner, a typewriter sits, waiting for the family matriarch, Penelope Sycamore, played by a delightfully devilish Julia Gibson, to write her equally poor plays. Plus, you can’t miss the large tank where the out-of-work-by-choice grandfather, Martin (Ray Anthony Thomas), houses his pet snakes or the hatch that leads to the basement where Paul (Trevor Johnson) makes dangerous fireworks. Plus, there’s plenty of room for the family maid, Rheba (Jadah Johnson), and her put-upon boyfriend, Donald, a hilariously sighing Nate John Mark, to dash around madly, desperately trying to fulfill the family’s many odd requests.

Other characters, each more ridiculous than the last, enter into this world of chaos as well. Highlights include Jeffrey Blair Cornell as the over-the-top Russian dance teacher, Boris Kolenkhov, and Jim Bray as Mr. De Pinna, a once-upon-a-time ice man who came inside and never left, having found the place where he belonged in the world. Needless to say, it’s a large cast, but each performer plays their role with great zest, adding a wonderful, fun, and appropriately chaotic energy to the production. There’s also something sweetly appealing about this clan of weirdos having found one another; it’s a theme that resonates and that compels viewers to keep watching, waiting for the next nutty thing to happen and cheering on the characters. 

On the calmer (but less fun) side of things is the Kirby family, who come to dinner on the wrong night—a night when everything hits the fan. Long-time stage star Kathryn Hunter-Williams takes a kindly but offended approach to her Mrs. Kirby character and bounces nicely off of Douglas S. Hall’s uptight, stylized, and uproariously funny take on Mr. Kirby. And, on both sides, Anne Kennedy’s costumes stand out for their time (and character) appropriateness. 

As director, Claridad has a lot to wrangle, but he manages the task gracefully, slipping characters into one topsy-turvy scene after another with surprising ease. The end result is a well-done comedy that, while it may be long in the tooth, has not lost its charm. You Can’t Take It With You is the perfect pick for a little holiday fun and for inspiring a healthy dose of familial love and appreciation when it’s needed most.