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Little Theatre keeps classic Depression-era play relevant
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By Bob Watson
bwatson@newstribune.com
Even though the title says “You Can't Take It With You,” director Barry Beach wants mid-Missourians to take a good feeling, and a lot of laughs, home with them after watching the Little Theatre's production this weekend.
“I hope that the audience just enjoys getting to know the Sycamore family, and their little quirks and eccentricities,” Beach said, “and just fall in love with them and have a good time.”
Over the years, the play has become one of the most-performed of all time.
George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart wrote “You Can't Take It With You” in 1936, and it premiered on Broadway on Dec. 14, 1936.
“It's a tribute to individualism,” Beach said. “Kaufman and Hart wrote this back then, in hopes to lighten America's mood during the Depression, because individualism had been almost obliterated.”
The three-act play captured audiences for 837 performances and, in 1938, Frank Capra turned it into an Academy Award-winning movie (it won the “Best Picture” prize).
Some in the audience may have trouble with parts of the play - many of the comedy's points are tied to the nation's Great Depression and its politics.
“Some of the jokes and the humor are not going to be as funny to the younger audience, because some of them won't understand them,” Beach said. “There's a lot of references to Eleanor Roosevelt and New Deal politics and things like that, that are just going to go right by them.
“So, I'm mostly relying on body language and physical humor, and a lot of the jokes will still be funny.”
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, June 12-14.
Where: Miller Performing Arts Center, 501 Madison St.
Tickets: $12 for adults, and $10 for children under 12 and can be purchased at the door.
More information: (573) 681-9400.
“I hope that the audience just enjoys getting to know the Sycamore family, and their little quirks and eccentricities,” Beach said, “and just fall in love with them and have a good time.”
Over the years, the play has become one of the most-performed of all time.
George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart wrote “You Can't Take It With You” in 1936, and it premiered on Broadway on Dec. 14, 1936.
“It's a tribute to individualism,” Beach said. “Kaufman and Hart wrote this back then, in hopes to lighten America's mood during the Depression, because individualism had been almost obliterated.”
The three-act play captured audiences for 837 performances and, in 1938, Frank Capra turned it into an Academy Award-winning movie (it won the “Best Picture” prize).
Some in the audience may have trouble with parts of the play - many of the comedy's points are tied to the nation's Great Depression and its politics.
“Some of the jokes and the humor are not going to be as funny to the younger audience, because some of them won't understand them,” Beach said. “There's a lot of references to Eleanor Roosevelt and New Deal politics and things like that, that are just going to go right by them.
“So, I'm mostly relying on body language and physical humor, and a lot of the jokes will still be funny.”
‘You Can't Take It With You'
What: Little Theatre's performance of the 1936 play ‘You Can't Take It With You'When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, June 12-14.
Where: Miller Performing Arts Center, 501 Madison St.
Tickets: $12 for adults, and $10 for children under 12 and can be purchased at the door.
More information: (573) 681-9400.
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