You Can’t Take It With You

An all-time theater classic came to the Belle Fourche Stage

You Can’t Take It With You opened in New York in December of 1936 to instant critical and popular acclaim. This depiction of a delightfully eccentric family, the third collaboration by playwrights George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, proved to be their most successful and and longest-running work. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1936, the comedy went on to run 837 performances on Broadway and the 1938 film won an Academy Award for best picture. Perenially appealing to audiences, You Can’t Take It With You has become an American classic, regularly produced by high schools, colleges, and community theaters around the country.

You Can’t Take It With You relates the humorous encounter between a conservative family and the crazy household of Grandpa Martin Vanderhof. Grandpa’s family of idiosyncratic individualists amuse with their energetic physical antics and inspire with their wholehearted pursuit of happiness. Kaufman and Hart fill the stage with chaotic activity from beginning to end. Critics have admired the witty one-liners, the visual theatricalism, and the balanced construction of the play’s three acts.