You Can’t Take It With You Was a Blast!

You Can’t Take it With You is a show filled with eccentric characters, heartfelt relationships, and difficult dynamics, making it a tricky show to pull off. Even so, Stuyvesant Theater Community (STC) rose to the occasion and stunned in their production of the play this spring. The entire cast and crew showed commitment to making it the best it could be. Through energetic performances, clever technical design, and genuine chemistry between the actors, the production brought the Sycamore family to life while preserving the warmth at the heart of the story.

The play is a family comedy centered around the eccentric Sycamores: a poor, but lively and welcoming family. It follows the introduction to the family of the older daughter’s new fiancé’s family, the Kirbys, a group of uptight, rich, and boring businessfolk. Each of the characters has their own idiosyncrasies. Grandpa (Henry Santos Hendricks) adamantly refuses to work or to pay any income tax. Penny Sycamore (Lily Wagman), the matriarch of the family, jumps from hobby to hobby, like painting and writing, and enjoys making bawdy displays in front of strangers, like loudly addressing the plot points in her “sex play.” Each character is uniquely and unapologetically themselves, and the actors of STC did a wonderful job portraying that. This proves to be a problem when the older daughter, Alice Sycamore (Claire Stansberry), meets the sensible and charming Tony Kirby (Eamonn Ryan), who comes from a far more wealthy and put-together family. They quickly become enamored with each other until he proposes, causing Alice to become insecure about the way her family acts in comparison to his. She puts a lot of pressure on the family meeting, planning out meals and how best to balance cleaning the house with work, and warns her family to be on their best behavior. When the Kirbys arrive at the Sycamore house a day early, to the sight of Alice’s family’s insanity without any varnishing, hijinks ensue. 

The relationship between Tony and Alice serves as the bridge between the two families. Tony embraces the quirky nature of Alice's family, but Alice worries that their lifestyle is an impenetrable barrier between them. That tension was perfectly portrayed by Claire Stansberry. She showed affection for them in moments, but maintained a sense of embarrassment and resentment when it seemed natural, which made the heart of the show so much stronger. Along with that, the scenes between her and Eamonn Ryan created a sense of devotion that made the entire show possible. He can look past who her family is and love her even more because of them, and that sense of pure adoration makes the show romantic and incredibly fun to watch. 

The acting in not just romantic scenes, but serious ones as well, was what made the show as good as it was. The younger sister, Essie (Jane No), has dreams of being a ballerina (although she lacks the talent to back them up). To express the extremity of her desire, No was constantly moving; dancing, jumping, and skipping across the stage, or clambering onto the couch. It must have been an intense production for No, but she took it in stride, making it look effortless and childlike. Along with that, Lily Wagman made every member of the audience laugh in her portrayal of Penny, with her prodding at the sex lives of the Kirby parents, and her laments on her lack of ideas for playwriting. Wagman was exactly the right level of committed to every bit, and it made Penny one of the most lovable characters in the entire show. One of the best parts of the show was her interactions with the Kirby parents, played by Ada Gordon and Wenzil Hu. The juxtaposition of her open demeanor with Gordon’s buttoned-up, repressed portrayal of Mrs. Kirby was incredibly entertaining and built tension beautifully. Every single actor was so committed to making the show great, and it really showed.

The first thing the audience notices when stepping into the theater is the delicately elaborate set of the Sycamore household. The intricate purple wallpaper across the set has wonderfully weird decorations. From a Minecraft-style painting displayed on the wall, to a bass mounted with a board, each item added more and more to the peculiarity of the family. The set and props perfectly characterized the family before they even entered the stage. The interactions between the actors and the props also contributed to the comedic aspect of the show. From Grampa failing to play darts, to the father, Paul Sycamore (Amanda Greenburg), always entering the stage without some sort of explosive, or even the background interactions like intense glockenspiel playing from the younger sister's husband, Ed Carmichael (Benjamin Tabnick), each prop-actor interaction kept the audience engaged throughout the show. The glockenspiel is just one example of the many sound effects present in the show, though. The sound design was really integral to the production as a whole. From explosions going off, shocking audiences, and comedically interrupting scenes, to music being played to save awkward transitions, the sound was smoothly integrated into the show and immersed the audience. 

Along with being a perfectly punchy and heartfelt show, You Can’t Take it With You was also a testament to the talent of the current senior class. From the executive direction of Sofia Lawrence, perfectly bringing out the beauty and the comedy of the play, to the senior actors bringing their all to the stage one last time, it is clear that the Stuyvesant Theater Community will be sad to see so much of its heart walk across the stage at graduation in a few weeks.