You Can't Take it With You
You Can't Take it With You
#1re: You Can't Take it With You
Posted: 10/10/05 at 9:23amIt's a certifiably great play - there are many roles covering an enormous range of ages and character types.
"Love Life. Live." Michael Bennett
#3re: You Can't Take it With You
Posted: 10/10/05 at 9:41amMy daughter just got cast in this show....she is playing Alice. Looks like a funny show, though I'll know more about it in November.
#4re: You Can't Take it With You
Posted: 10/10/05 at 10:10am
Ed would be good for you--there's really not alot there for younger guys--most of the good parts are for older actors--like 30s-50s...
It's an okay play--I saw it at the Utah Shakes. Fest. and it was amazing!
etoile
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/2/03
#6re: You Can't Take it With You
Posted: 10/10/05 at 10:30amMy personal opinion here, but if you can read a message board you can read the play.
Rest in peace, Iflitifloat.
#7re: You Can't Take it With You
Posted: 10/10/05 at 10:35amIt's a good-sized supporting role--he's the one with the snakes and the xylophone...god, is that spelled right? And the James Stewart part...something Kirby is okay--a lead but not as fun as the wacky characters...but you might get cast as an older guy because you are tall if I remember correctly--in which case you should try for Kolakov or something like that--the ballet teacher..VERY good part
bare_nakedlady
Broadway Star Joined: 5/9/05
#8re: You Can't Take it With You
Posted: 10/10/05 at 10:36am
I was in this show playing Paul Sycamore and IMHO this play is extremely dated! You need to be very careful to keep it as a period piece without boring the modern audience. As an actor I had fun with the show, but the Audience didn't really 'get it'. It's too bad, but I just don't think that Kaufmann and Hart wrote a timeless piece! Community theatres and Large Shakespeare Festivals however, do well with these shows because their audiences are used to these kind of shows. Let's face it they lived it! 
But I agree all the characters are quirky and you should really read the play and make your own opinions!
"It's like children's theatre for 40-year old gay people!" - XANADU THE MUSICAL
Updated On: 10/10/05 at 10:36 AM
#9re: You Can't Take it With You
Posted: 10/10/05 at 10:39am
It's a very dated play, I agree, but people still do it--I put it in the same category as Harvey and Arsenic and Old Lace as sort of a trilogy of American Eccentrics...
Updated On: 10/10/05 at 10:39 AM
#10re: You Can't Take it With You
Posted: 10/10/05 at 10:45am
When I was in high school EVERY high school around me did this play -it's one of those. I got to play Essie though, which was tres fun.
it's a fairly funny show, but yeah, crazy dated.
-Anyone want to turn anarchist with me?"Bless you and all who know you, oh wise and penguined one." ~YouWantItWhen????
#12re: You Can't Take it With You
Posted: 10/10/05 at 11:02amWell, if this is for school--def. go for the ballet teacher!
#14re: You Can't Take it With You
Posted: 10/10/05 at 11:51amah well, then it's probably ed or the young kirby role...break a leg!
#15re: You Can't Take it With You
Posted: 10/10/05 at 12:22pm
I just got cast as Gay Wellington in my high school's production of this show which I'm really excited about because it's a fun role. As far as the show is concerned, it is definitely extremely dated but if it's done really well the humor is there. (ours will not be done well but we won't get into that) Unfortunately for you there aren't a lot of fun male roles to play, Ed is about the only one. But there's Tony which is the other young lead, just not as much fun as the 'wacky' family. Break a leg if you're auditioning
"Because what is more like love than the ocean? You can play in it, drown in it. It can be clear and bright enough to hurt your eyes, or covered in fog; hidden behind a curve of road, and then suddenly there in full glory. Its waves come like breaths, in and out, in and out, body stretched to forever in its possibilities, and yet its heart lies deep, not fully knowable, inconceivably majestic."
#16re: You Can't Take it With You
Posted: 10/10/05 at 2:09pm
I did the show two years ago and played Ed. I don't think it is written as a particularly great part, but the great thing about this show is that everyone is supposed to be so quirky and wacky that you can really make the part your own. There wasn't too much for me to go on, so I was really able to find some really funny quirks to add to his personality. I ended up getting a nomination for a local theater award for what I originally thought was a nothing character, so that just shows how much you can do with the part.
(BTW... we changed the xylophone to water glasses played with spoons. I thought that was much funnier).
"I seem to have wandered into the BRAIN load-out thread... "
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"Sorry I am a Theatre major not a English Major"
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mikewood
Broadway Star Joined: 4/7/05
#18re: You Can't Take it With You
Posted: 10/10/05 at 3:48pm
Amazing, amazing fun play with multiple character parts.
I played Ed several years ago....and am planning to apply to direct the show next spring.
BLAH BLAH BLAH
mikewood
Broadway Star Joined: 4/7/05
#19re: You Can't Take it With You
Posted: 10/10/05 at 3:53pm
Dude, do some show prep! Let me get you started:
http://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=1163
Comedy
Full Length
Cast: 9 men, 7 women (3 men extras): 16 total
Setting: INTERIOR
One of the most popular and successful plays of modern times.
Book/Item: You Can't Take It with You
Price: $6.50
FEE: $60 per performance.
THE STORY: At first the Sycamores seem mad, but it is not long before we realize that if they are mad, the rest of the world is madder. In contrast to these delightful people are the unhappy Kirbys. The plot shows how Tony, attractive young son of the Kirbys, falls in love with Alice Sycamore and brings his parents to dine at the Sycamore home on the wrong evening. The shock sustained by the Kirbys, who are invited to eat cheap food, shows Alice that marriage with Tony is out of the question. The Sycamores, however, though sympathetic to Alice, find it hard to realize her point of view. Meantime, Tony, who knows the Sycamores are right and his own people wrong, will not give her up, and in the end Mr. Kirby is converted to the happy madness of the Sycamores, particularly since he happens in during a visit by an ex-Grand Duchess, earning her living as a waitress. No mention has as yet been made of the strange activities of certain members of the household engaged in the manufacture of fireworks; nor of the printing press set up in the parlor; nor of Rheba the maid and her friend Donald; nor of Grandpa's interview with the tax collector when he tells him he doesn't believe in the income tax.
ISBN/Code: 0-8222-1287-0
BLAH BLAH BLAH
#20re: You Can't Take it With You
Posted: 10/10/05 at 4:03pmI've been in the show twice, playing Ed and Mr. Kirby. Though the show is dated, it is fun. I don't think "dated" need be a bad thing. All shows are a product of a certain time in history. What you have to ask, is does it have something to say to a contemporary audience? I believe this show does.
#21re: You Can't Take it With You
Posted: 10/10/05 at 4:33pm
I've been cast as Mrs. Kirby twice and had a blast each time. I wanted to be a crazy Sycamore family member ,but I got plenty of laughs during my one scene
Sunchips: Best Kept Secret in the chip aisle!!
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