‘You Can’t Take It With You’ @ Theatre Arlington

Photos courtesy of Theatre Arlington and Jacob Oderberg

—Jan Farrington

They don't make 'em like this any more, with a cast so big the curtain call lineup is almost too wide for the stage.  

For musicals? Maybe, sometimes--if you're Hamilton, or adapted from a Russian novel. 

But these days, that kind of theatrical crowd for a straight-up play is something to see, and a pleasure: a stage so full of life you can't find a dull moment, packed with George S. Kaufman’s and Moss Hart’s always-human (and often hilarious) dialogue, and enlivened by Theatre Arlington’s dandy cast. It’s impossible not to get roped in right away by You Can’t Take It With You, one of the classic American comedies of the 1930s.

In YCTIWY, someone's always dancing, someone's setting the table, someone's typing a play, someone's teasing the tax man, someone's shooting off fireworks in the basement...and someone's falling in love. This is the Sycamore/Vanderhof household, three generations living in an old family home in Manhattan (when Manhattan had old family homes.).

Grandpa Vanderhof (David Coffee) is the clan’s elder, a sensible but quirky gent who follows his own rules, though they’re not always a good fit for modern American life. The other sensible resident is his granddaughter Alice Sycamore (Hailee Dyer), who has a good job in the city (a real trick in the middle of the Great Depression) and a thoughtful head on her shoulders. Together (and not too obviously), Grandpa and Alice keep gentle, guiding hands on the rest of the family, who are, to put it mildly, a handful.

The plot, like the cast, is just about too big to talk about. Suffice it to say that there are two main threads—a love story for Alice, and a “the government’s looking for you” story for Grandpa. Both give us lots of fun and some scares, though we have a sense things will turn out fine.

As always, the magnificent David Coffee is, well, magnificent. You want to dive into Grandpa’s arms for comfort, advice, and maybe the smell of bay rum on his collar. (Look it up.) But playing the adorable Old Guy only covers a fraction of Coffee’s talent. He never wastes a line or a moment onstage, and the tiny details of his performance (even a laugh-inducing shift of his shoulders) gather up into an amazingly complete and unforgettable person.

Hailee Dyer’s Alice is a lovely, quiet presence onstage, the calm and practical center of the action. Alice subtly keeps the place going: planning, organizing, calming the chaos, bossing them all without seeming bossy. But she’s also interested in a life of her own—and her romance with kind-natured boss Tony (Joseph Tully), son of the tycoon who owns the company, is something she thinks hard about. Could her eccentric, half-broke family possibly get along with his rich, stuffy one? Whoever Alice loves will have to love her “people” too—and we like her for it.

Maybe the rest of the crew would be calmer if there wasn’t a Depression. Nobody but Alice has a real job, and they’re all trying to make a little money and fill their time with oddball pursuits. Alice’s sweet, slightly ditzy Mom Penny (Laurel Collins) writes plays but (as far as we know) never sees them onstage. Penny is cuddly with husband Paul (David Young), and a caring mom to her children, Alice and Essie (Donovan Marie Lawson). Essie makes candies to sell, and studies ballet with a stray Russian teacher. (Theatre Arlington AD Steven Morris is exhuberant—and hungry—as Kolenkhov.) Essie’s xylophone-playing husband Ed (Landry Beckley) prints flyers for cash when he can—but doesn’t care what words go on them.

Seen-it-all cook and housekeeper Rheba (Mattie Lillian Davis) and her dim but willing boyfriend Donald (Maximilian Swenson) take care of the unseen kitchen; they set tables and run to the store for sad, penny-pinching food items: canned fish, beans, frankfurters and such. Mr. De Pinna (Edward Cannady) helps Alice’s dad Paul make the fireworks, and is happy to pose for paintings.

Alice’s boss Tony is clearly crazy about Alice (Tully and Dyer have great chemistry onstage), and he’s not afraid to make risky moves to get the girl. Tony wants the two families to meet, but plans the visit in his own way—and on his own timetable. His parents, though—upright Tony Kirby Sr. (Harry Parker) and stiff-necked Mrs. K (Sarah Powell)—will be hard nuts to crack. How does the evening go? Crazier by the minute, that’s how.

Throw in a mystified and exasperated IRS agent (Randy Jordan), a Russian Grand Duchess who cooks (stately and bright-eyed Deborah Brown), some noisy G-men (Prem Desai, Zeke Fayble, Scott Eddins Jr.) tracking danger and only finding Ed, a blitzed actress on the sofa (she’s auditioning for a Penny play)—and you’ve got the whole set.

Speaking of which, Bryan Stevenson’s the-more-the-merrier set design takes up every inch of floor and wall on TA’s sizeable stage. It’s a red-velvet vintage room with a high ceiling, space for lots of living, and walls covered by mementos of the family’s long history. (Scenic painting by Sydney Dormire.) Doors lead here and there, and stairs pass by glass cases for snakes and climbing plants plotting a takeover. A family-sized dining table draws people like a magnet, and at center (where else?) is a comfy chair that lets Grandpa keep an eye on everything. Saul Ortiz costumes are nicely period, well-tailored for some characters, and way out there for others.

Co-directors Larry Cure and Sharon Kaye Miller have done a great job bringing this sprawling play to life. Go for the fun, go for the warmth, go for the lively dialogue—or go for what I’ve just decided to call a “Coffee break.” He’s a treasure, and always worth seeing.

WHEN: Septenber 12-28, 2025
WHERE: 305 W. Main Street, Arlington TX
WEB: theatrearlington.org