“I suppose every man has his hobbies,” says Mr. Anthony Kirby Sr. Trying to be polite, Kirby of Wall Street has entered the home of the madcap Sycamore clan. He notices snakes in a cage, a father obsessed with fireworks, a mother passionate about playwriting, a daughter mad about ballet and a son-in-law mesmerized by the xylophone.
Alarmed at what he sees, Kirby (played wonderfully at dress rehearsal with stoic formality by Robert Harrington-Megason) stalls out. He’s thinking about the consequences of his well-bred son marrying into this menagerie. It’s a Depression-era nightmare as only playwrights George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart could imagine.
The critical family confrontation comes well into the Kaufman-Hart comedy about hard times, class conflict and young love. And it’s appropriate for Fort Lewis College to challenge drama students to explore an American period piece.
“You Can’t Take it With You” opens tonight and will run for two weekends at Fort Lewis College. If you haven’t seen the 1936 classic in a Broadway revival or in the 1938 Jimmy Stewart movie, now’s your chance.
Director Felicia Meyer has kept close to the original script. The text punches up mid-’30s issues: recovery from a devastating depression, immigration and the Red Scare. The play summons Roosevelt’s first term and the beginnings of the sexual revolution as seen in a parlor game that goes awry.
The heart of the comedy lies in the romance between Alice Sycamore and Tony Kirby. She’s a working girl who is supporting her crazy, creative and anarchic family. He’s her boss, Anthony Kirby Jr., vice president of his father’s financial firm.
Alice (played with smart sweetness by Brianna Devore) loves her quirky family and Tony (a persistent and winning Scott Smith). She’s the realist in the play and wisely senses familial conflict.
When the two families meet, all frankfurters and Kellogg’s Corn Flakes break loose. The Sycamores have survived the Depression by eating simply and dropping out. The Kirbys have survived by making money and securing class privilege.
But this is not a crass tale of woe. This is not a contemporary play full of anger and obscene language aimed at a dysfunctional Congress or a government shutdown. Look to David Mamet or Neil LaBute for that. Instead, we have an affectionate response to hard times and a celebration of the human ability to cope.
Mr. Kirby’s assessment about the value of hobbies is accurate. Every Sycamore has an engrossing hobby or two, and each encourages the others. The sequestered life of hobbies stuns Mr. Kirby and may just lead to a transformation.
Keep in mind, this play is a period work. It’s what your parents and grandparents escaped to in the Depression – a nutty family drama with clear class lines and news-of-the-day references.
A Russian ballet master (ebulliently played by Bradley Abeyta) brings international politics into the mix. At the end, Mr. Kolenkhov brings in a second Russian émigré. The Grand Duchess Olga Katrina (charmingly, if lightly played by Camille Libouban-Gunderson) functions as a deus ex machina, a convenient device to wrap things up. She adds a soupçon of elitism to the blintzes being served for supper.
Director Meyer stays true to the tone, text and farcical exaggerations. As a whole, her large, young cast does well. Vocal production, however, varies with some players projecting better than others. That can be fixed.
Grampa Martin Vanderhof (played by the highly nuanced, veteran actor Charles Pike) adds weight to the production. With a few wonderful speeches, Grampa philosophically grounds the enterprise and knits together many frayed edges
The elegant set is oddly upscale for a down-and-out family supported by a daughter’s secretarial salary. With its high ceilings, multiple white doors, an entryway, a staircase, nice furniture and a chandelier, it’s too fancy – more appropriate for a Noel Coward comedy. It needs to be a bit worn.
All in all, with wonderful period music before, during and after, this work continues to live and tells us something about American humor and hard times.
jreynolds@durangoherald.com. Judith Reynolds is a Durango writer, artist and critic.
If you go
“You Can’t Take it With You,” a comedy by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, Fort Lewis College Theatre Department, directed by Felicia Meyer, 7:30 p.m. Oct 18, 19, 24, 25 and 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20. Tickets: Adults $12, FLC faculty and staff $10, free to students. Available at the downtown Welcome Center at 802 Main Ave., by phone at 247-7657 or at the door.
