What You CAN Take With You

I saw a production of You Can’t Take It With You Saturday night, at the Alden Theatre. This was a play with which I was unfamiliar.

It’s definitely a character piece. The cast of a nearly twenty features a ditzy playwright, a dancer with two left feet (oblivious the fact, naturally), firework enthusiasts who nearly destroy the basement, and a son-in-law who may or may not be an accidental communist. The IQ of most characters in the show is… questionable, which made for some funny moments.

Bringing us back from the edge of the ludicrous are the only two sane people in the house-- Alice Sycamore and ‘Grandpa’ Vanderhof. (Everyone calls him Grandpa, regardless of blood-relations; he’s the pater familias if ever there was one.)

Plot-wise, the show left something to be desired. There’s only so many wacky characters you can take in the same show, and this one had an over-abundance. Sara Joy Lebowitz was charming as the talent-less dancer Essie, who demonstrated the one clear message I came away from the show with: You don’t have to be good at something to enjoy it whole-heartedly, nor do you have to like doing something to be good at it.

McCall Farrell did good work as Alice, helping to hold the family together despite their, ah, unique personalities; and she enjoyed some very real chemistry with on-stage fiancée Brian Doyle. They worked very well together.

I have to tip my hat, however, to Roy Potter, who played Grandpa. He was resolutely calm throughout the increasing madness of Act Two into Act Three, and his comic delivery was flawless. He got the biggest laughs out of me, that’s for sure. I can’t say that he stole the show, as it was clearly his to begin with. Everyone else kept making their entrances and exits, Grandpa was always there, in the eye of the storm.

I enjoyed it. There’s little point in recommending it, however, as it closed Saturday night to a packed house of satisfied customers. Well done, guys.