Review: 'You Can't Take It With You' Will Leave You Smiling
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
For its first production, The Center Street Community Theatre chose the light-hearted romantic comedy “You Can’t Take It With You.” As it turns out, the play was a perfect choice because not only may people recognize the local faces up on the Wagon Wheel Theatre stage, they’ll be nicely entertained by the end result. It’s proof enough that you don’t have to leave your backyard to find talent. Under the direction of Jennifer K. Shepherd – who not only taught theater at Warsaw Community High School for a number of years but also has appeared in several Wagon Wheel shows – the production feels wholesome and sweet with only a dab of innuendo. It’s very inviting and will make for a enjoyable two hours of your time this weekend. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $12 each. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.wagonwheeltheatre.org or call the box office at 574-267-8041. The story is about two families meeting after their children have fallen in love and plan to get married. While the Sycamores are on the eccentric side, the Kirbys are wealthy and a bit on the stuck-up side. It’s set in the late 1930s, early 1940s as the Depression is nearing its end. Shepherd, who also served as set designer for the show, establishes the time period right away with the furniture and decorations so that the audience will know the era before any character ever takes a step on the stage. On a deeper level, it’s also a story about being an individual versus conformity – being true to yourself and not forgetting who you want to be. Alice Sycamore (Kayley Herbruck) is very nervous about her fiance’s family meeting hers because she knows that while she loves them with all of her heart, they can be a bit overwhelming. Tony Kirby (Justin Weaver) continously has to reassure his love that everything will be OK. To say that the Sycamores are a bit odd might be an understatement. The mother, Penny Sycamore (Lori Widman), has been writing plays like “Sex Takes a Holiday” for the past eight years after a typewriter was mistakenly delivered to the house one day. The father, Paul Sycamore (Dan Kuhn), manufactures fireworks in the basement with Mr. DePinna (Dave Baumgartner). DePinna delivered ice to the house one day eight years ago and has been there ever since. Sister Essie Carmichael (Tara Akers) is married to Ed (Phil Herbruck). While she takes dance lessons from Russian Boris Kolenkhov (John Conley) and is very bad at it, Ed likes to print miscellaneous quotes and phrases and put them in candy boxes he delivers – which gets him into trouble with the law late in the first act. Ed also plays the xylophone and makes masks of famous people. OK, Ed is a bit of a creepy character, but Herbruck plays him so matter-of-fact that you’re won’t be too creeped out about the character unless you think too much about it. Boris invites his friend the Grand Duchess Olga Katrina (Tammie Robinson) to the Sycamore’s home in the second act. While Conley does a good Russian accent, Robinson nails it. I found myself wondering if maybe she was Russian she did such a great job with the accent and performance. Martin Vanderhof (Gerald Cox) is Grandpa, who hasn’t paid his income taxes in 35 years so the government keeps sending him letters to pay up. An agent of the Internal Revenue Department, Henderson (Jason Dugger), shows up early on in the play to explain the situation to Grandpa and that he must pay. Of course, Grandpa’s response is, “I don’t believe in it.” Henderson goes ballistic and Dugger delivers one of the most animated performances I’ve seen at the WWT. It was fairly humorous. Yet Grandpa thinks Henderson and the government are making too big of a stink over the whole issue. Grandpa can best be summed up when he says, “Life is pretty simple if you just relax.” Also living in the house are the maid, Rheba (Barb Heimbach), and Donald (Kristian DePue), Rheba’s boyfriend who also does odd jobs for the family. In the original story, Rheba and Donald are black and southern. In the Center Street production, both Heimbach and DePue provide legitimate southern drawls that add flavor not only to their characters but also to the play, especially DePue’s performance. He brought an extra layer of humor to the show and stood out without detracting. Penny has an actress, Gay Wellington (Amy Cox), visit to read scripts with her, but Gay is a lush. She’s passed out on the couch most of the time, or just being a drunk. Cox does the role well. Then there’s Mr. and Mrs. Kirby, played by Chris Mahan and Cindy Nash respectively. They’re uptight, nauseated by the eccentricity around them and seem to want to keep their son from being anything but like them. Mahan and Nash are spot on in their performances. When they get into an argument over a game at the Sycamore home, it’s one of their best moments on the stage. Also appearing in the show are Tyler Akers, Curtis Shoemaker and Scott Wiley as G-Men. While I watched the dress rehearsal Wednesday night for this review, I think anyone who goes and sees it this weekend will be entertained and find their $12 well spent. It’s about the same cost as a 3D movie, and you might just know one or two people up on the stage. It is, after all, a community theater group.
