You Can't Take It With You

A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

You Can't Take It With You

Full-Length Play, Comedy  /  7w, 9m, 3any gender (adult)

One of the most popular and successful plays of modern times, You Can't Take It With You is Kaufman and Hart's hilarious, delightful portrait of a charmingly eccentric family.

Image: 2014 Broadway Production (Joan Marcus)

You Can't Take It With You

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    7w, 9m, 3any gender (adult)
  • Duration
    Duration
    More than 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Farce, Romantic Comedy
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Appropriate for all audiences
Accolades
Accolades
  • 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

Details

Summary

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 girl who is still embarrassed by her family’s idiosyncrasies. When Alice falls for her boss, 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...

History

You Can’t Take It With You opened on Broadway at the Booth Theatre on December 14, 1936. A smash hit, the show ran for 838 performances and returned to Broadway five times, most recently in 2014. That production, directed by Scott Ellis, earned the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress for Annaleigh Ashford as Essie.

Penelope Sycamore
Essie Carmichael
Rheba
Paul Sycamore
Mr. De Pinna
Ed Carmichael
Donald
Martin Vanderhof (Grandpa)
Alice Sycamore
Wilbur C. Henderson
Tony Kirby
Boris Kolenkhov
Gay Wellington
Anthony W. Kirby
Miriam Kirby
G-Man 1 (The Man)
G-Man 2 (Jim)
G-Man 3 (Mac)
The Grand Duchess Olga Katrina

Small amount of doubling possible. An alternate version, which allows for more racially diverse casting choices, is available upon request.

Small amount of doubling possible. An alternate version, which allows for more racially diverse casting choices, is available upon request.

  • Time Period 1930s
  • Setting

    New York City

  • Features Period Costumes
  • Duration More than 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • Cautions
    • No Special Cautions

Media

“One of the most persuasive works of pure escapism in Broadway history.” – The New York Times

“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

Photos

  • You Can't Take It With You

    Image: 2014 Broadway Production (Joan Marcus)

  • You Can't Take It With You

    Image: 2014 Broadway Production (Joan Marcus)

Licensing & Materials

  • Licensing available for professional groups only. Some restrictions apply.

Scripts

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Authors

Moss Hart

Moss Hart (1904-1961) began his career as a playwright, director and producer in 1930 when, with George S. Kaufman, he wrote Once in a Lifetime. Subsequent Kaufman and Hart successes include Merrily We Roll Along, You Can't Take It With You and The Man Who Came To Dinner, amo ...

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George S. Kaufman

George S. Kaufman was born in Pittsburgh in 1889. During his early career as a reporter and drama critic , he began to write for the theatre. For 40 years, beginning in 1921 with the production of Dulcy, there was rarely a year without a Kaufman play — usually written in coll ...

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