Review: YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU at Guild Hall Players

Guild Hall Players ends its current season with Kaufman and Hart’s venerable classic comedy You Can’t Take It With You, which runs July 24th through July 26th at 8:00 p.m. and July 27th at 7:00 p.m. in the St. James Episcopal Church Guild Hall. Director Phil Speary has assembled a marvelous cast full of familiar and new faces to delight audiences of all ages. His experienced hand is evident in everything from the characterizations to the well thought out blocking. He is in top form.

You Can’t Take It With You premiered at the Chestnut Street Opera House in Philadelphia on November 30, 1936. The production moved to Broadway’s Booth Theater on December 14, 1936, where it played for 838 performances winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. The 1938 movie version starring James Stewart and Jean Arthur won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Director. It is one of the ten most produced stage plays by high schools since it became available.

Headlining the cast is Joe Parrish as family patriarch, Grandpa Martin Vanderhof. Having given up work thirty-five years ago, Grandpa enjoys the everyday activities of his large household and will never miss a graduation at Columbia University. Parris is a delight. He is quick with a smile, a twinkle of the eye and is full of wisdom. Deanne Zogleman has created a performance that makes Penny’s ability to shift focus on a moment’s notice fun to watch. Her Penny is a fully realized character who goes from one project to another, who accepts people as they are, and loves her family deeply. Her partner is this life is husband Paul, played by Nick Pope. Nick is believable as a man devoted to his wife, his children, making fireworks and living each day as he finds it. Their daughters are played by Lydia Pirilli as Alice and Chelsie Penner as Essie. Both are perfectly cast in their roles. Parilli’s Alice works on Wall Street and has a very serious demeanor. Her turmoil over how to introduce her straight-laced boyfriend and his parents to her eccentric family creates special moments in the show. Penner’s Essie is so stinking cute to watch – frenzied in her dancing, adoring to her husband, and happy to meet each day with a smile. Her cohort, Ed, as played by Owen Balman, is a man full of over the top energy while entering or leaving a room, playing his xylophone, or reacting to events as they unfold. He is someone you watch whenever he is on stage. Not yet a member of the household but Alice’s boyfriend is aptly played by Chris Welborn. His Tony is so infatuated with Alice that he wants to be with her as much as he can. Welborn does a fine job playing the leading male love interest.

Rounding out the Vanderhof household are three characters who add enormously to the evening’s entertainment. Mr. DePinna, played by John Dalton-White, is the ice man who delivered ice one day, decided to stay and is now Paul’s partner in firework production. Dalton-White provides real depth to DePinna through his soft spoken, friendly demeanor and his desire for things to work out for his adopted family. Dawn DeProspo and Jeremy Buoy play Reba and Donald, the family’s housekeeper and her boyfriend. Both have very convincing Irish accents that are very easy to understand, which is not an easy task. DeProspo has a good time with Reba. She is spot on. Buoy gives a strong performance as Donald. His delight at being on the dole is infectious.

Husband and wife team, Diane Tinker Hurst and J.R. Hurst, ARE the Kirby’s, Tony’s upper crust parents. Watch how they expertly play off of each other when they show up for dinner on the wrong night. From their upper East side accents to their discomfort during the game, they make the Kirby’s a wonder to behold. You’ll have fun watching Daniel Wilson as Essie’s ballet teacher, Mr. Kolinkhov. He is physically commanding, full of opinions, and truly likes this family that has brought him into the fold.

In small but important roles are Crystal Meek as Gay Wellington and Mary Tush Green as the Grand Duchess Olga Katrina. Gay Wellington is an over the hill alcoholic actress who Penny met on the bus and brings home to read her plays. Meek is great in this role. You’ll remember her after you leave the theater. Down on her luck and practically penniless, Olga is a cousin of ill-fated Tsar Romanov. Now working as a waitress at Child’s in Times Square, she accompanies Kolinkhov for dinner. Tush Green’s Olga has the haughtiness you would expect from royalty, but she is more than that. When Tush Green begins to spread a bit of gossip and volunteers to help cook dinner, you see a real multi-faceted woman. Both ladies did great work.

Filling out the cast are Gilbert Pearce as IRS Inspector Henderson along with Gene Carr, Bobbi Green and Chris Carlson as the J-Men. All four play their characters with aplomb.

The set is chock full of great props and furniture appropriate to the family and the time period. Louise Brinegar and Gene Carr have made the set a true character in the show. Kirk Longhofer does his usual great job with sound as does Tony Applegate with lights.

Because the show only runs for a single weekend, you’ll want to call 316-683-5686 for reservations as soon as possible. Light refreshments will be served at intermission for a donation.

Next up for the players is Witnesses, a new adaptation of Speary’s script from 2007, October 16th to October 19th, 2025.