September 3.
If this organized mayhem needed a sub-title, an appropriate one might be ‘Live and Let Live’ which is the philosophy of the patriarch of the Sycamore family, Martin Vanderhof, more familiarly known as ‘Grandpa’. Wayne S. Turney is a Grandpa who has added years to his life—and expects to add a good many more—simply by doing exactly what he wants, and encouraging those around him to do the same.
For instance, 35 years earlier, he’d simply walked out of his office one day and never returned. He is now a man of leisure, collecting snakes and stamps, throwing darts and observing college graduations, because they’re there. Those around him contribute to the chaos but he remains staunchly oblivious and perfectly serene.
His household consists of a daughter Penny (Lynn Allison) who has been writing plays for the last eight years because a typewriter was delivered to the house by mistake. No one ever claimed it, so Penny switched from painting to being a writer. Never mind that no one ever reads her plays, she’s a happy writer, nonetheless. Her husband Paul (George Roth) occasionally builds a model kit, or designs fireworks in the basement, with the assistance (or maybe connivance) of their boarder Mr. De Pinna, played by Paul Kiernan.
While delivering ice some eight years earlier, Mr. De Pinna was so taken by the household that he quit the delivery job and moved right in. He’s modeled for Penny in her painting stage, and does errands, but his main function is to help with the fireworks business.
Penny and Paul have two daughters. Essie, the older of them, enchantingly danced by Kathryn Cherasaro, dreams of being a ballerina, and has been taking lessons for the past eight years from the above-mentioned Mr. Kolenkhov, who confesses, ‘she shtinks!’ When not dancing, she makes candy, which is sold throughout the neighborhood. Essie’s husband Ed (Mark Moritz) plays the xylophone and runs a printing press. For lack of anything better to print, he prints short Bolshevik slogans, which are inserted into the packets of candy produced by his wife.
The other daughter, Alice, is the oddball in this family—she’s normal! Alice (Elizabeth A. Davis) actually has a job, and has fallen in love with the son and heir of the owner of The Kirby Company for which she works. Tony Kirby (Jeff Cribbs) returns her affections, and does his best to convince her that they can make it work, if they will but try.
Of course, the night when the Kirbys (Dudley Swetland and Anne McEvoy) come for dinner turns out to be the wrong night (on purpose) and manic mayhem ensues when the house is invaded by agents from the Internal Revenue Service, because of the slips of paper as printed by Ed, and the fact that Grandpa hasn’t paid any income taxes for years. Almost everyone goes off to jail for the evening.
Meg Chamberlain as Gay Wellington (an out-of-work actress) and Sherri Britton as the Grand Duchess Olga (cousin of the Czar and now a waitress at Childs’ Restaurant) demonstrate once again that there are no small actors, merely small parts.
Nina Domingue as the maid-of-all-work Rheba keeps the household purring along, with the able assistance of her gentleman friend Donald, played by E. B. Smith. Scott Plate, Dougfred Miller, Nicholas Koesters and David Hanson round out the cast, which is superbly directed by Drew Barr.
The wonderfully realistic set, depicting a large living room with various alcoves and grand stairway at the rear is by Gage Williams, with lighting by Rick Martin. The marvelous period costumes are by Charlotte Yetman. Delightful 30s music is presented by sound designer Stan Kozak, as are the kabooms of the fireworks!
It’s possible that more people are familiar with the award-winning movie than the stage version. You Can’t Take It With You by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman won The Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1937, after which the film rights were purchased for the then-unheard-of sum of $200,000. The film, directed by Frank Capra, won the Academy Award for Best Film of 1938.
You Can’t Take It With You continues in rep with The Merry Wives of Windsor through September 3 at the Ohio Theater. For tickets to either of these productions or the Fall Rep, (or other information) visit the web-site: http://www.greatlakestheater.org or call (216) 241-6000.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz ArtsWriterATAdelphiadotnet
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