A light-hearted classic, written way before its time, takes the stage this weekend at Cornwall Central High School. You Can’t Take It With You is performed by the CCHS Drama Club, under the direction of Anthony Ravinsky.
This Pulitzer Prize winning comedy, written in 1936, has relevance for today in addressing the main theme of finding one’s own way in today’s complex society, while lightly viewing such topics as distrust of government and fear of foreign conflicts.
“Grandpa” Vanderhof (Cash McLendon) once worked in the competitive business world. One day, he realized he was unhappy, so he stopped working. Since then, he spends his days catching and raising snakes, watching graduation ceremonies, visiting old friends, and doing whatever else he wants. His daughter Penny (Penelope (Finn) Kulic) writes plays simply because a few years ago a typewriter was delivered to the house by accident. His son-in-law Paul Sycamore (Danny Diaz) spends hours in the basement making illegal fireworks and playing with erector sets. His granddaughter Essie (Lucy Scialpi) sells candy and has been clumsily attempting ballet for over eight years. His grandson-in-law Ed Carmichael (Spencer Olsen) plays the xylophone (or tries to) and accidentally distributes communist propaganda.
Joining this free-for-all are Rheba (Emily Whitney), the household cook; her unemployed friend, Donald (Lila Versace); Essie’s opinionated Russian ballet instructor, Mr. Kolenkhov (Noah Padilla); Olga (Amaya Aleman), a Russian Grand Duchess; Gay Wellington (Savannah Lahtinen), a washed-up actress; Wilbur C. Henderson (Miles Busser), a forlorn IRS employee; and Mr. De Pinna (Brenden (Vixen) Munoz), a deliveryman who arrived 8 years ago and decided to stay. He now helps with the fireworks and dresses in Roman togas to pose for Penny’s portraits. All is somewhat calm until government agents (Miles Busser, Brylee Moulton, Mathieu Mannion, Rachel Schwartz) visit to investigate Ed’s flyers.
In this crazy mix of characters, there is also Alice (Signy Johnson), Penny and Paul’s other daughter and, apparently, the only “normal” family member. She met Tony Kirby (Bennett Tolman) at his dad’s Wall Street investment firm, and they’ve fallen in love. Culture shock and fireworks fly when Mr. Kirby (James Lahtinen) and Mrs. Kirby (Shannon Easterlin) come to visit.
But the message is clear: “Life’s pretty simple if you just relax,” as Grandpa puts it.
Stage managers for the show are Brylee Moulton, Mathieu Mannion and Rachel Schwartz; hair and wig crew chief is Olivia Andrews, make up crew chief is Amaya Aleman; wardrobe crew chief is Jayce Solano; costume crew chief is Emily Whitney; Props crew chiefs are Gavin Harris and Brylee Moulton, set crew chief is Abby Mannion, Sound crew chiefs are Jackson Fogarty and Aidan Ward, lighting crew chief is Henry Cha and public relations crew chief is Nina Guglielmucci.
You Can’t Take It With You runs November 13-15; with the Friday and Saturday shows at 7 p.m. and the Sunday show at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at cornwall.booktix.com.