'You Can't Take It With You' Is Back Again and As Dazzling as Ever

Kristine Nielsen and Mark Linn-Baker are oddballs who live under a strange roof in "You Can't Take It With You." Photos by Joan Marcus.

BY TAMARA BECK

LONG before the sitcom came into everyone's living room, there was a great American comedy deeply ingrained in theatrical tradition.

"You Can't Take It With You," in a beautifully staged and spectacular revival at the Longacre Theatre through 4 Jan. 2015, is a bright and shining part of that heritage.

"#YCTIWY," as it is widely advertised, is George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's Pulitzer-winning play, written in 1936 and first produced at the Booth Theatre from December of that year until December 1938.

The show has been on Broadway stages often over the years since, most recently in 1983. As reincarnated here with a gorgeous set by David Rockwell and under the expert guidance of Scott Ellis, "#YCTIWY" is as sparkly and modern a rom-com as any seen in years. (See video below).

Rose Byrne is the face of normalcy and James Earl Jones is the indulging patriarch in "You Can't Take It With You."

The Sycamores, mother Penny (Kristine Nielsen), father Paul (Mark Linn-Baker), daughter Essie (Annaleigh Ashford) and her husband, Ed Carmichael (Will Brill), live under Penny's father's beneficent roof. Grandpa is Martin Vanderhof (James Earl Jones) who indulges all their eccentricities and has some of his own.

Penny writes plays. Paul builds fireworks, with the assistance of Mr. DePinna (Patrick Kerr), another of grandpa's houseguests. Although her talents are limited, Essie dances under the tutelage of the boisterous Boris Kolenkhov (Reg Rogers.)

The household is regulated by the family's maid, Rheba (Crystal A. Dickinson) and her live-in beau, Donald (Marc Damon Johnson.) Only Alice Sycamore (Rose Byrne) seems immune from the unconventional.

Unlike the rest of the gathered brood, she holds an ordinary job as a secretary at a Wall Street firm. There, she and the boss's son, Tony (Fran Kranz), have fallen in love.

When Tony's straitlaced parents, Anthony Kirby, Sr. (Byron Jennings) and his wife and Tony's mother, Miriam (Johanna Day), drop in for dinner the antics of the Sycamore extended clan threaten Alice and Tony's happiness.

Rounding out the assembled visitors and residents is Olga (Elizabeth Ashley), Kolenkhov's friend and a grand duchess. She drops by to make blintzes and add to the madcap. An IRS agent named Henderson (Karl Kenzler) also stops in, along with a few Justice Department chaps (Nick Corley, Austin Durant and Joe Tapper).

Elizabeth Ashley is a grand lady with a recipe in "You Can't Take It With You."

The performances in "You Can't Take It With You" are universally grand. RR and EA provide the over-the-top and slapstick elements. JEJ, especially, gives an affecting and subtle performance as the patriarch. RB and FK are charming lovers.

The teamwork on display in this brilliant ensemble is wonderful to watch.

Visit http://www.youcanttakeitwithyoubroadway.com/ to learn more about “You Can't Take It With You.”

In ‘Harvey,’ Characters – a Delightful Lot of Them

Veta (Jessica Hecht) takes drastic measures against her brother, Elwood (Jim Parsons), to get her way in "Harvey." Photos by Joan Marcus.

BY TAMARA BECK

THERE is a timeless charm in watching mildly unbalanced but essentially lovable folk go about their business.

“Harvey,” the Mary Chase Pulitzer Prize-winning play that was famously made into a film starring James Stewart, features a main character essentially unmoored from reality. In fact, most of the inhabitants of this Denver are slightly out of touch and oddball. The revival is playing at Roundabout Theatre’s Studio 54 through 5 Aug.(See video at http://www.bit.ly/OThkNY)

Elwood P. Dowd (Jim Parsons), like the deadlier aunts Brewster in another zany comedy of the period, “Arsenic and Old Lace,” is agreeably delusional. The titular character is Elwood’s invisible constant companion. Harvey, incidentally, is a Pooka in the form of a 6-foot-tall white rabbit. Elwood seeks guidance from Harvey on all matters, large and small. In turn, Harvey's advice is invariably well placed.

Elwood (Jim Parsons), right, and his sensible and invisible Pooka in "Harvey."

While Elwood is a gentle and generous soul, his sister, Veta Louise Simmons (Jessica Hecht), is not. Forced by the privations of divorce to live under his roof, Veta feels thwarted in her social ambitions for her daughter Myrtle Mae (Tracee Chimo), by Harvey and her brother’s general eccentricity. Her not-so generous solution to removing these impediments is to enlist the help of family friend Judge Omar Gaffney (Larry Bryggman) in getting Elwood committed to the sanatorium run by Dr. William H. Chumley (Charles Kimbrough).

There is no one who does apoplectic better than Chas.K, and he has plenty of opportunity to sputter at the mistakes in identity and cross purposes in “Harvey.” Under Scott Ellis’ direction, the pacing of “Harvey” is as leisurely and genteel as JP, who is superb as the well-mannered Elwood. “Here’s my card,” Elwood says with intense sincerity to everyone he meets. The sets by David Rockwell bring life to both the Dowd family home and the waiting room at Chumley’s Rest. Jane Greenwood’s costumes are perfectly timely and lovely.

Myrtle Mae (Tracee Chimo), Veta (Jessica Hecht) and Judge Omar Gaffney (Larry Bryggman) are a scheming trio in "Harvey."

The one slightly false note in this wonderfully staged and acted production is TC whose Myrtle seems out of character with the ensemble. She is simply too flatly modern. On the otherhand, it is completely believable that LB’s Judge Gaffney was called away from his golf game by a distraught Veta.

Visit http://www.roundabouttheatre.org to learn more about “Harvey.”