Overview
Synopsis
Grandpa Vanderhof and his wacky family, the Sycamores, have been happily living their zany lives in his house by Columbia University in New York for many years. This family (and their friends) are a madcap group of eccentrics, marching to the beat of their own drum, with pride and joy. Their hobbies include collecting snakes, building fireworks in the basement, writing a myriad of plays that never get published, and taking ballet lessons. Things like stress, jobs, and paying taxes to the government are for other people, not for them! But when practical young Alice Sycamore becomes engaged to her company’s Vice President Tony Kirby, the Vanderhof/Sycamore clan must straighten up to meet the new in-laws. Disaster ensues when the Kirbys arrive at the wrong time and, despite the best laid plans, see Alice’s family in all of its crazy glory. The evening ends with everyone in the house getting arrested, and Alice ending the engagement. It isn’t until Grandpa’s wise speech to Mr. Kirby about the importance of living life to the fullest that the two families find a way to accept each other, and love conquers all. You Can’t Take It With You is a madcap, idealistic comedy that reinforces the idea that you can only live life to the fullest by doing whatever makes you happy.
Show Information
Context
When You Can’t Take It With You opened on Broadway on December 14, 1936 it was an instant hit. It eventually played 838 performances on Broadway and earned the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The uplifting comedy, with its life-affirming credo and madcap humor, struck a chord with American audiences recovering from the Great Depression.
You Can’t Take It With You succeeded as a welcome addition to the crop of screwball comedies on Broadway that allowed audiences to escape from their troubles.
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Act One
As the play opens, we are introduced to the Vanderhof/Sycamore family, a lovable group of screwballs who live together in Grandpa Vanderhof’s house by Columbia University in New York City. Every person in the house has his or her own eccentricities: Grandpa turned his back on commerce 35 years ago, so he could happily do things like collect snakes and attend commencement speeches; his daughter, Penny, despite having no previous playwriting aspirations, has written eleven different
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Character Portrayals
See StageAgent members who have performed roles in You Can't Take It With You.
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Monologues
Key Terms
A political ideology often depicted or explored in 20th-century epic or protest theatre for social critique.
A historic economic crisis dramatized in plays to explore poverty, resilience, and social upheaval.
A prestigious U.S. award for achievements in journalism, literature, and drama. Many modern plays that reflect social and political themes have received this honor.
Slapstick is a type of physical comedy that relies on exaggerated actions, pratfalls, and humorous accidents to provoke laughter. It often includes broad movements, funny sound effects, and comic violence, such as someone slipping on a banana peel or being hit with a harmless object. The style originated in commedia dell’arte and became popular in vaudeville, silent film, and stage comedy.
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