Johanna Day, Will Brill, Fran Kranz & More Join Cast of YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU Broadway Revival

Producers of the upcoming Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's Pulitzer Prize-winning play You Can't Take It With You announce more cast members for the production which begins rehearsals on Monday, July 21st. The cast will include: Will Brill (Act One) as Ed Carmichael, Fran Kranz (Death of a Salesman) as Tony Kirby, Johanna Day (August: Osage County) as Mrs. Kirby, Nick Corley (The Mystery of Edwin Drood), Austin Durant (War Horse) and Joe Tapper (Witnessed By The World, 59 E 59) as the three G-Men as well as Barrett Doss, Ned Noyes, Pippa Pearthree as understudies. The complete and final cast list will be announced next week.

They join previously announced: Tony Award and Outer Critics' Circle winner James Earl Jones (Gore Vidal's The Best Man, Fences, The Great White Hope) as Martin Vanderhof, two-time Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Rose Byrne ("Damages," Bridesmaids, Neighbors) as Alice Sycamore, Elizabeth Ashley (Take Her, She's Mine, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Gore Vidal's The Best Man) as The Grand Duchess Olga, Tony Award nominee Annaleigh Ashford (Kinky Boots, Wicked, "Masters of Sex") as Essie Carmichael, Byron Jennings (The Merchant of Venice, Inherit the Wind) as Mr. Kirby, Mark Linn-Baker (A Funny Thing...Forum, "Perfect Strangers," My Favorite Year) as Paul Sycamore, Tony Award nominee Kristine Nielsen (Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike) as Penelope Sycamore, Tony Award nominee Reg Rogers (Holiday, The Royal Family) as Boris Kolenkhov, Theatre World Award winner Crystal A. Dickinson (Clybourne Park) as Rheba, three-time Drama Desk nominee Julie Halston (Anything Goes, The Divine Sister) as Gay Wellington, Marc Damon Johnson (Lucky Guy) as Donald and Patrick Kerr (Stage Kiss, The Ritz) as Mr. De Pinna.

Previews will begin on August 26, 2014, at the Longacre Theatre (220 West 48th Street), with an opening night set for September 28, 2014. The production will be directed by six-time Tony Award-nominee and Drama Desk Award winner Scott Ellis (The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Twelve Angry Men, 1776) and will play a limited run for 19 weeks only. Tickets are on sale by calling (212) 239-6200 or by visiting Telecharge.com.

Three-time Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown (two 2014 Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Orchestrations, The Bridges of Madison County; Parade), will write original music for the production.

The design team includes: set design by Tony Award nominee David Rockwell (Kinky Boots, Hairspray), costume design by 2014 special Tony Award recipient, Jane Greenwood (Act One, Waiting for Godot), lighting design by two-time Tony Award winner Donald Holder (South Pacific, The Lion King), sound design by Jon Weston (The Bridges of Madison County) and hair and wig design by Tom Watson (Act One, Waiting for Godot.

You Can't Take It With You will be produced by Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Jam Theatricals, Dominion Pictures, Gutterman & Winkler, Daryl Roth, Terry Schnuck, Jane Bergere, Caiola Productions, Rebecca Gold, LaRuffa Hinderliter, Gabrielle Palitz, Spisto & Kierstead, SunnySpot Productions, VenuWorks Theatricals, Jessica Genick and Will Trice.

Family can do crazy things to people. And the Sycamore family is a little crazy to begin with. James Earl Jones heads the wackiest household to ever hit Broadway in Kaufman and Hart's Pulitzer Prize-winning classic You Can't Take It With You. He plays wily Grandpa Vanderhof, leader of a happily eccentric gang of snake collectors, cunning revolutionaries, ballet dancers and skyrocket makers. But when the youngest daughter brings her fiancé and his buttoned-up parents over for dinner, that's when the real fireworks start to fly.

The original production of the play opened at the Booth Theater on December 14, 1936, and played for 837 performances. The play won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Photo by Walter McBride