By Dale King
The venerable George S. Kaufman-Moss Hart comedy You Can’t Take It With You holds a pretty important place in the annals of film and television. The three-act play from the late 1930s was “the first-of-its-kind situation comedy,” said Randolph DelLago, the play’s director and artistic boss at the Delray Beach Playhouse, where Can’t Take It is now playing.
That doesn’t mean you won’t be able to differentiate it from, say, The Honeymooners, M*A*S*H or the Big Bang Theory. But You Can’t Take It With You did, according to DelLago, establish the sitcom genre that is still going strong in the 21st century — with very little change to its simple structure.
This play does arrive with considerable oomph. The show’s stage version and subsequent movie starring Jimmy Stewart and Lionel Barrymore piled up a lot of awards, including a 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Academy Award wins in 1939, for Best Picture and Best Director, Frank Capra.
You Can’t Take It With You is a quietly comic show, a detail-oriented affair that presents characters with oddball traits and suspect hobbies. This isn’t Eddie Munster’s family domicile, but wild eccentricity does seem to receive its mail at this address.
The plot — more of a rack for characters to hang their mad hats on – revolves around Alice Sycamore (Ani Vanlenten) and Tony Kirby (Peter Fernandez), who want to get married. Alice is very, very apprehensive about bringing her intended home to have dinner and meet the rest of the crazy Sycamore family. Before the inevitable meeting, she tries to shake all the nuts from her family tree. But as fate would have it, the elder Kirbys (Paul Chuzi and Karen Sands) arrive one evening too early — and catch the Sycamores in full bizarro array.
It’s not hard to figure out what happens next. The Kirbys run like rabbits and put the kibosh on the children’s plan for marriage. But Tony knows that under their crazy behaviors, the Sycamores are filled with love and caring — more than his own family cares for each other. In the end, Kirby Senior is converted to the hypnotic Sycamore madness after he walks in during a visit by the ex-Grand Duchess of Russia (Elli Murray), who is currently earning her living as a waitress.
The play does deliver the goods, but in smatterings. There is no really sustained laughter, but a bit here and some more over there. Also, age has not been terribly good to You Can’t Take it With You. Some references have been lost to time. Donald (Kevin Lotharp), the Sycamore family handy man, keeps saying he is “on relief,” which in those days meant welfare.
The ancient three-act formula is no friend of this production either, giving the audience too much dawdling time in between. Still, the show has staying power, and continues to be a powerful franchise, showing up as it has through several TV reincarnations and a late-’80s television sitcom starring Harry Morgan.
In Delray’s thought-provoking production, love stands out among the Sycamores and their extended family, the Carmichaels and Vanderhofs. Actually, there is only one Vanderhof, Grandpa, the clan’s patriarch. Jim McConville infuses this character with charm, humor and tenderness, planting his two feet on the ground more so than most others on stage. Pay attention to his unique relationship with the Internal Revenue Service and Jay Underkofler’s small but comedic role as IRS agent Henderson.
Grandpa’s daughter is Penny Vanderhof Sycamore, played by Delray Playhouse regular Charlotte Sherman. This character flips back and forth between portraiture and playwriting, but clearly, she doesn’t have a real job. Sherman is good at keeping the role interesting while cushioning Penny’s desire to intrude.
Penny’s husband, Paul (Bill Manikas) is a tinkerer who manufactures fireworks in the basement with the help of his assistant Mr. DePinna (Norman Steinthal), who used to be the family’s iceman until he made his last delivery and never left. Both actors offer solid performances, even though their avocations are a bit unorthodox.
Vanlenten and Fernandez seem perfectly matched as the potential marrieds. Chuzi has to bear the weight of pivoting from dismayed to acquiescent in his role as Tony’s father. Sands is a fine choice for Tony’s mom.
Rounding out the cast are Jacqueline Toth as Essie Sycamore Carmichael, a childish candy maker who dreams of being a ballerina, but is actually a terrible dancer; Kolenkhov (Dante Marielli Jr.), her so-called dance instructor; her husband, Ed Carmichael (Jake Howard), a xylophone player who also has a home printing press; and Rheba, the maid (Evelyn Russell). Audiences may remember Russell for her excellent performance as the title character in last year’s one-person show, Ethel Waters: His Eye is on the Sparrow.
You Can’t Take It With You is playing through Feb. 16 at the Delray Beach Playhouse, 950 NW 9th St. (Lake Shore Drive), Delray Beach. For tickets, call 561-272-1281, extension 4.