Review: YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU at Morgan-Wixson Theatre
A Pulitzer Prize-winning 1930s screwball comedy
Now onstage at the Morgan-Wixson Theatre in Santa Monica, You Can't Take It With You is a Pulitzer Prize-winning 1930s screwball comedy authored by Moss Hart & George S. Kaufman about the eccentric Vanderhof-Sycamore family who reject pursuing money to embrace creativity, joy, and human connection, making the play not so much about plot and storyline as the bizarre, never-resting ecosystem inside the house. Due to its popularity offering the public a sense of comedic escapism, in just a few years the play was adapted to the screen, winning the 1938 Academy Award for Best Picture and Director.
Amid the chaos, Alice (Abigail Stewart) and Tony (Erin Galloway) attempt to prevent Boris Kolenkhov (Michael Mullen) from doing anything else to further upset Mr. Kirby (John Combs, seated).
That household is made up of the zaniest, most eccentric bunch of 19 characters you are likely to ever meet in the home of patriarch Martin Vanderhof (Carl Weintraub) affectionately known as “Grandpa” who is a whip-smart, tax-dodging, early-retired, snake-raising, Colonel Sanders look-alike stately old soul living to experience doing what makes him happy.
Dani Angel Bustamante, Perry Shields, and Melodie S. Rivers
Populating the rest of the household are Penelope Sycamore (Melodie S. Rivers) who is an aspiring playwright and painter who happens to be terrible at both, although she lives every day with the joy of creation. As does her husband Paul (Perry Shields) and his sidekick Mr. Depinna (Dani Angel Bustamante) who delivered ice to the family and has stayed with them ever since. He also models to hysterical effect as Cupid for Penny’s perhaps-only painting. The two men work in the basement making fireworks and as you can imagine, accidents happen! The noisy explosions break up many strange scenes going on upstairs above them.
Michael Mullen and Cassidy LeClair
The Sycamore daughters include Essie (Cassidy LeClair), a novice candy-maker and hysterically bad ballerina, taking private lessons from the Russian dancer and choreographer Boris Kolenkhov (played to the hilt by Michael Mullen who designed all the fabulous costumes), while older daughter Alice (Abigail Stewart) seems to be the most sane of the lot, working as a typist where she meets and fails in love with young VP Tony Kirby (Erin Galloway).
Alice Sycamore (Abigail Stewart) and Tony Kirby (Erin Galloway) are in love, but will his parents consent to him marrying her?
But the two are worried that Tony's parents, the Kirbys (stately indigestion sufferer John Combs and spiritual gardener Cindy Shields – ever the perfectly rubber-faced comic) are in for quite a shock when they visit Alice’s family to approve their son marrying her.
(L-R) seated: Cindy Shields, John Combs, Melodie S. Rivers, John Combs. standing: Michael Mullen (in background), Abigail Stewart, Erin Galloway.
So when Tony “accidentally” brings his conservative parents over for dinner a night too early, all hell breaks loose as the polished socialites clash with the chaos and disorder of the Sycamore clan, which raises the roof with laughter thanks to Cate Caplin’s spot-on direction and the impeccable comedic timing instilled in her perfectly-cast ensemble.
Essie’s boyfriend Ed (Bradley James Holzer) plays the xylophone and loves to print any and everything, including the family’s nightly dinner menu while getting into trouble with the government for passing out “communist” pamphlets publicly. His actions cause G-Men (led by Daniel Koh who also plays an IRS agent after Grandpa for tax evasion) to invade the home to arrest him!
John Combs, Cassidy LeClair, and Daniel Koh
Over the course of the play, Kolenkhov (Mullen) invites the very drunk actress Gay Wellington (Amoy Lee) to sleep it off on the Sycamores couch, while former Russian royalty and now Times Square waitress Olga (Patricia A. Lewis in a fetching gown and jewel-encrusted turban).
Patricia A. Lewis (standing), John Combs and Dani Angel Bustamante
Olga makes herself useful in the kitchen by assisting house staff Rheba (Kyrsten Williams) and Donald (Sammie Wayne IV) in preparing dinner for the ever-increasing crowd. Wayne’s dexterity during Donald’s many frantic stage crossings to run out and buy more food earned roars of laughter.
Kyrsten Williams and Sammie Wayne IV
And when Weintraub as Grandpa offers a prayer before that meal, he captivatingly delivers the theme of the play, encouraging everyone to stand on their own two feet, do what makes them feel happy and creative, and stop caring what others think about you and pursuing money for happiness because in the end, “you can’t take it with you.”
Just as folks needed laughter to escape the financial and political turmoil of the 1930s, I guarantee you a fun time laughing to forget your troubles for two hours with You Can’t Take it With You on Friday & Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 2pm through March 29 as part of the 80th season at the Morgan-Wixson Theatre at 2627 Pico Blvd. in Santa Monica, directed by Cate Caplin, produced by Crystal Yvonne Jackson, with cleverly appropriate set and lighting design by Technical Director William Wilday.
For tickets and more information including parking options, visit https://www.morgan-wixson.org/tickets-and-box-office, call (310) 828-7519, send an email to boxoffice@morgan-wixson.org, or purchase at the on-site box office starting thirty minutes prior to each performance.
Production photos by Gabriel Tejeda-Benitz
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