On Sunday, December 7th, the Honors Program attended a matinee of the Broadway show You Can’t Take it With You at the Longacre Theater. Set during the Great Depression and considered a classic of the modern American theater, this revival of the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1936 comedy written by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman starred James Earl Jones, Kristine Nielson, Rose Byrne, and Annaleigh Ashford, among other notable Broadway performers.
The plot focuses on the eccentric Sycamore family, whose daughter Alice is about to bring home her suitor, Tony Kirby, who is the handsome, patrician son of her company’s president. Although Tony comes from a successful and rather straight-laced family, which Alice believes will prove an impediment to their relationship since their families are so different, Tony succeeds in convincing her that as long as they love each other nothing can stand in their way.
Mayhem ensues, however, when Tony accidentally brings his parents to the Sycamores for dinner on the wrong night, starting off a series of embarrassing mishaps that threatens the future of their relationship and Tony’s marriage proposal.
Although many of the scenes in the play were purposely awkward and cringe-worthy, there were plenty of genuinely funny laugh-out-loud moments to break up the tension.
Most impressive, perhaps, was the revolving set designed by David Rockwell, which included the exterior of the Sycamore house as well as an elaborate interior showing their living room, entrance hall, and a staircase leading to the second floor bedrooms, as well as a door leading to the kitchen.
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