‘You Can’t Take It With You’: No Camp, Just Laughs

Long before the Addams and the Simpsons and the Bundys, American comedy’s first dysfunctional family was the Vanderhofs. In 1936, when the clan originally materialized on Broadway in “You Can’t Take It With You,” their screwball behavior titillated a Depression-burdened public. But today’s audiences, accustomed to pistol-packing juveniles, find nothing eccentric in a wanna-be inventor’s obsession with making dangerous fireworks in the basement.

Therefore, most revivals of George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s classic tend to camp it up. However, the Colony Studio Theatre has taken “You Can’t Take It With You” straight. Director David Rose refuses to get cute or farcical, leading his first-rate ensemble through the antique three-act format and cluttered plotting as if it were serious business. The result is a beautifully rendered, unexpectedly poignant, Capraesque charmer--the perfect holiday family play.

Resembling a genial Santa Claus, an expert Stuart Lancaster interprets Grandpa Martin Vanderhof as a shrewd philosopher who wisely dropped out of Wall Street long ago.

Granddaughter Alice (a lovely Denise Dillard) hopes to marry the boss’s son Tony (Chris VanVleet, nicely underplayed). Her goal is to keep secret the Vanderhofs’ “un-American” behavior. “My mother writes plays because eight years ago a typewriter was delivered here by mistake,” Alice moans. Her father’s in the basement, making explosives that periodically blow up. And her sister practices ballet continuously and egregiously--in the living room.

When potential father-in-law Mr. Kirby (a sublime William Dennis Hunt) arrives on the wrong night, surprising the Vanderhofs in full zaniness--well, you get the picture. What can go wrong does go wrong.

But it’s not the complex plot that makes this production so compelling. Nor is it the opulent set design by Hap Lawrence, the exquisite period costumes by Ted C. Giammona, or even the stunning dance of 17 actors seamlessly maneuvering an intimate living room. What makes this so warm and inviting is its shameless sentimentality.

“Life’s pretty simple if you just relax,” believes Grandpa. “There’s a bright side to everything.”

No wonder Frank Capra directed the movie version. Just as Kaufman and Hart achieved in 1936--spiritual relief from a debilitating Depression--so has the Colony in 1993. You can take it, insists this revival, and survive the recession. It’s a wonderful life.

* “You Can’t Take It With You,” Colony Studio Theatre, 1944 Riverside Drive, Los Angeles. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m., Sunday matinees, 2 p.m. (No performances Dec. 22-Jan. 4.) Ends Jan. 9. $15-$20. (213) 665-3011. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.