The American Way
Moss Hart
You Can't Take It With You
by Moss Hart, George S Kaufman
Broadway
Awards & Recognition
Drama Desk Award Drama League Award Outer Critics Circle Pulitzer Prize Tony Award
Winner! 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Drama Winner! 2015 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Revival of a Play Winner! 2015 Drama League Award for Best Revival of a Play Nominee: Five 2015 Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Play Nominee: Two 2015 Drama Desk Awards
Synopsis
The family of Martin Vanderhof lives “just around the corner from Columbia University – but don’t go looking for it.”
Grandpa, as Martin is more commonly known, is the paterfamilias of a large and extended family of charming eccentrics.
His granddaughter, Alice, is an attractive and loving young woman who is still embarrassed by her family’s idiosyncrasies.
When Alice falls for Tony, a handsome scion of Wall Street, she fears that their two families – so unlike in manner, politics and finances – will never come together.
But why be obsessed by money?
After all, you can’t take it with you.
Press Reviews
"It's an over-the-top, old-fashioned comedy and feel-good crowd-pleaser."
— AM New York
"Naïveté is this show’s oxygen and its strongest selling point, and Hart and Kaufman conjured it with master craftsmen’s shrewdness. A portrait of tax-dodging, rule-defying, work-evading, goodhearted folk who live only to please themselves and suffer no serious consequences, You Can’t Take It With You is one of the most persuasive works of pure escapism in Broadway history."
— The New York Times
Characters
| Character |
|---|
| Essie |
| Rheba |
| Paul Sycamore |
| Mr. De Pinna |
| Ed |
| Donald |
| Martin Vanderhof |
| Alice |
| Henderson |
| Tony Kirby |
| Boris Kolenkhov |
| Gay Wellington |
| Mr. Kirby |
| Mrs. Kirby |
| Three Men |
| Olga |
| Penelope Sycamore |
Videos
James Earl Jones Performs a Scene From Broadway's 'You Can't Take It With You'
Publication
You Can't Take It With You is a comedy play written by Moss Hart and published by Samuel French .
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Performance Rights
Available for Licensing
Amateur & Professional
Fee: Licensing available for professional groups only. Some restrictions apply.
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