Review: 'You Can't Take It With You' at 2nd Story Theatre

In 2009, I have to muse about how mainstream "crazy" has become. The Sycamore clan, which is depicted in the George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart drawing-room comedy You Can't Take It With You is animated, of course. In the late 1930's, when the play was written, the family may have seemed really nuts, now however, they seem too comfortable, too familiar, to be really nuts. Present-day, they seem only a bit odd. We have seen versions of this family, either in real-life or in entertainment many times. This familiarity tamps the hilarity, but certainly adds to the charm.

At the center of the extended Sycamore clan of family and friends there is Grandpa (Bob Colonna), whose personality can be summed up in the fact he has never paid income tax, since the Federal Income Tax was established.

His daughter Penny (Margaret Melozzi) fancied herself a painter until a typewriter appeared eight years ago. Penny then began writing novels. She has started writing many and has finished writing none. Penny's husband Paul (Walter Cotter) makes, and tests, fireworks in the basement.

Their older daughter Essie (Hillary Parker) makes and sells candies, while studying to be dancer under the tutelage of her Russian teacher, Kolenkov (Tom Roberts). Essie's husband Ed (Jonathan Jacobs) keeps a xylophone and a small printing press in the family room.

It has been years since any of these characters has held a steady job. Yet, the family has a live-in maid. It isn't clear that the maid earns any actual money. The audience surmises that she works for room and board. In 2^nd Story's production, Artistic Director Ed Shea has tweaked the maid character and her husband from a heterosexual, married, African-American couple to a lesbian couple (Laura Sorensen as Rheba and Amy Thompson as Frances) with clearly defined butch-femme roles. The update works quite well.

Penny and Paul's youngest daughter Alice (Erin Sheehan) does hold a respectable job and has fallen in love with Tony Kirby (Dillon Medina), the son of a local, conservative, industrialist. After Tony and Alice get engaged they plan a dinner for their respective families to meet.

In Act Two, the couple's well-laid plans to present Penny's eccentric family in the best possible light are blown to smithereens (almost literally) when Tony and his parents (Eric Behr as Mr. Kirby and Peggy Becker as Mrs. Kirby) show up for dinner a day early. Everything that can go wrong, does. During the impromptu dinner, Federal Agents show up to arrest Grandpa for not paying his taxes. During a search of the house, the agents find Mr. Sycamore's firework supplies and mistake it for bomb-making material. Everyone in the house is taken into custody and spends the night in jail.

All of the misunderstandings are resolved in Act Three and everyone lives happily ever after.

The play is in three short acts, each about 20 minutes long. Building on the collaboration between Kaufman and Hart, Ed Shea has each act directed with different director. Pat Hegnauer directs Act One, Bob Colonna; Act Two. Shea takes the reins in Act Three. The trio have been working together for decades and the production is seamless from act to act.

Trevor Elliot's set design embodies the familiarity of the production. There is an overstuffed sofa, period pieces and the family gathers around a large, but not quite large enough, dining table.

Bob Colonna does a terrific job as the grandfather everyone wishes they had. Erin Sheehan and Dillon Medina are charming an believable as the starry-eyed couple.

Melozzi and Cotter give fine performances and the Sycamore parents. Behr and Becker seem entirely comfortable as the stuffy Kirbys.

Kaufman and Hart have included some quirky neighbor "character" roles in the piece. Tom Roberts, Isabel O'Donnell and Paula Faber are each more than comfortable playing over-the-top.

This production You Can't Take It With You is funny and comfortable. It allows the audience to simply sit back and enjoy.

You Can't Take It With You runs at 2^nd Story Theatre in Warren, RI through Aug. 2^nd. Tickets are $25 each and can be purchased by cat the Box office at 28 Market St. or by calling (401) 247-4200.

PHOTO: Grampa Vanderhof (center, Bob Colonna) imparts pearls of wisdom to the young lovers Alice (left, Erin Sheehan) and Tony (right, Dillon Medina)

Photo credit: 2ndStory/Richard W. Dionne, Jr.