You know, you really can't

Extended through February 22nd

Rose Byrne as Alice Sycamore and James Earl Jones asMartin Vanderhof in George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's
"You Can't Take It With You" at the Longacre. Photo by  Joan Marcus.

In the zany Sycamore clan, Alice (Rose Byrne) seems to have fallen farthest from the tree. She's a level-headed girl who holds a conventional job as a secretary in a Wall Street firm. In a pleasing turn of events, she and the boss's son, Anthony Kirby, Jr. (Fran Kranz) have fallen madly in love.

 James Earl Jones, Kristine Nielsen, Fran Kranz, Reg Rogers,
Annaleigh Ashford,Patrick Kerr and Mark Linn-Baker.
Photo by Joan Marcus

Will the antics of her charmingly eccentric family spoil her engagement?

Kaufman and Hart's Pulitzer Prize-winning "You Can't Take It With You," at the Longacre Theatre, is a very American comedy. It's about freedom and the pursuit of happiness.

Alice's father, Paul (Mark Linn-Baker) constructs elaborate fireworks in the basement with the aid of Mr. DePinna (Patrick Kerr), who has taken up residence in grandpa's home with them. Grandfather Martin Vanderhof (James Earl Jones) walked away from his office one day years ago, and spends his days at Columbia commencements and his evenings with the neighborhood cop on the corner.

Alice's mother, Penny (Kristine Nielsen) is a serial artist currently writing steamy plays.
Essie, Alice's sister, (Annaleigh Ashford) breaks into dance while her husband Ed Carmichael (Will Brill) plays Beethoven --with a little more he's composed-- on the xylophone. Her tutor, the boisterous Boris Kolenkhov (Reg Rogers, who seems to have been born for this role), indulges her despite her deficiences as a dancer. Rheba (Crystal Dickinson), the family's maid who lives in with her beau Donald (Marc Damon Johnson) takes a keen interest in the household's businesses, which include Essie's candy-making enterprise.

"You Can't Take It With You" is both profoundly subversive and sweetly innocent. Charming, well-acted, beautifully constructed, and fabulously staged with Scott Ellis at the helm and David Rockwell (sets) and Jane Greenwood (costumes) designing. "You Can't Take It With You" is as irrestible as Olga's (Elizabeth Ashley) blintzes, but that comes later.

Elizabeth Ashley as Olga. Photo by
Joan Marcus.

Rounding out the cast are Byron Jennings as Tony's father, Anthony Sr., and Johanna Day as his wife and Tony's mother, Miriam. Also stopping by the Vanderhof-Sycamore home are Henderson, an IRS agent (Karl Kenzler) and some Justice Department fellows (Nick Corley, Austin Durant and Joe Tapper.) Gay Wellington (Julie Halston) spends her time there mostly in a madcap drunk.

"You Can't Take It With You" is a romantic comedy. Expect to see the triumph of good sense.

Every performance, in minutest detail, is perfect in "You Can't Take It With You." In fact the cast are all entirely impressive. James Earl Jones subdues that big voice to play an amicable, wise and peaceable Martin Vanderhof . Rose Byrne is delightful. Elizabeth Ashley makes the most of her Olga, as Reg Rogers does with his Kalenkhov. Kristine Nielsen, Annaleigh Ashford, Patrick Kerr, Marc Damon Johnson and Mark Linn-Baker are understatedly screwball.

To learn more about "You Can't Take It With You," please visit http://youcanttakeitwithyoubroadway.com/. Hurry, tickets should be hard to get.
For additional commentary,  http://lnkd.in/d7rJpzy

Let's begin with "Act One"

Tony Shalhoub as Moss Hart, Andrea Martin as Aunt Kate and Santino Fontana as Moss Hart in LCT's "Act One," adapted by James Lapine from the memoir by Moss Hart. Photo by Joan Marcus.

Each of us is the hero of our own story. In "Act One," Moss Hart may have mythologized his ascent in the theater. Cut him some slack, his memoir has been an inspiration to generations of aspiring theater-folk. James Lapine, who also directs, has turned Hart's book into a thoroughly theatrical event. 

"Act One," at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater through June 15th, everything as it should be. From the brilliant multi-layered set by Beowulf Boritt to the superb ensemble and smart direction, "Act One" sings with aspiration and 

success.

Tony Shalhoub as George S. Kaufman and Santino Fontana as Moss Hart in a scene from "Act One."
Photo by Joan Marcus

As James Lapine's "Act One" opens, Moss Hart (Tony Shalhoub) looks back on his life and career. His Aunt Kate (Andrea  Martin) comes home from the theater and argues with Moss's father, Barnett (Shalhoub again) over money, while Moss's mother Lillie (Mimi Lieber) placates their borders.  Aunt Kate and young Moss (Matthew Schechter, who later also plays Moss's younger brother Bernie) hatch a plan for Moss to skip school and join her at Thursday matinees. Schooling is a moot issue, since by the time Moss is sixteen, he is apprenticed to a furrier, a job he hates. Instead Moss (now played by Santiino Fontana) makes his own way to Broadway and the work for which he yearns. clerking for theatrical booking agent Augustus Pitou (Will LeBow.)

Chuck Cooper as Max Siegel (one of several roles he undertakes) and Bob Stillman as Sam Harris (he also plays other parts) and Company in a scene from "Act One." Photo by Joan Marcus.

Hart's first play, written in 1925, when Hart was just 21, to help fill Pitou's road circuit, "The Beloved Bandit" flopped in Chicago. In the meantime, Hart was directing small theater companies all over the New York area,  from the Borscht Belt to New Jersey. By 1930, "Once In A Lifetime," co-written with George S. Kaufman (Shalhoub), and Hart's first theatrical success, opened on Broadway, after many fits and starts out of town. Hart and Kaufman would continue to work together on many a show after this original collaboration. 

Andrea Martin-- like Tony Shalhoub, who is a nominee as Best Leading Actor in a Play for his work here-- adeptly handles three parts. She is Aunt Kate, eccentric theater producer Frieda Fishbein, and Kaufman's wife Beatrice. Shalhoub and Martin each give distinct and nuanced lives to each of their characters. In this cast, you risk looking like a slouch if you only have one role to play. Santino Fontana does just that, and he's outstanding as Hart at his youthful prime. 

"Act One" is a perfectly beautiful production.

To learn more about "Act One," please visit www.lct.org.