Review: YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU at Searcy Summer Dinner Theatre

One of my favorite things to look forward to in the summer is going to The Searcy Summer Dinner Theatre, 409 Remington Drive, Harding University, in Searcy. Their program is booming. They know how to sell out a show and feed you unbelievable food to go with it. This past weekend’s offering was the 1936 Pulitzer Prize-winning comedic play YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. This crowd-pleasing classic had us laughing and possibly reexamining our relatives. 

First, we start with dinner. As you get to the table, there is a delicious salad and cake waiting for you. Our choices were carrot cake and chocolate cake. The carrot cake was so good. I tried not to eat all of it before the main meal, but I would be lying if I said I only took one bite. It was moist and the yummy cream cheese icing was delectable. On the buffet for the evening were chicken, steak, green beans, broccoli, mashed potatoes, rolls, and blueberry muffins. I filled my plate and ate every bit of it. The dinner was flavorful, seasoned to perfection, and worth the ticket price alone. Chartwell is the campus caterer, and if the school was wanting to recruit through bribery, the food would win me over, for sure. While dining, we listened to the piano styling of Dave Robison. He kept the music going from the time we entered the theatre, until it was time to begin the show. He could obviously play anything and covered a lot of 40s music, which was fitting for the play. 

YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU joins Grandpa Vanderhof (David White) and his eccentric family, the Sycamores: Penelope (Mary Margaret Fish), Paul (Seth Fish), Alice (Marisa Lytle), and Essie Carmichael (Kaylynn Robison), who is married to Ed (TJ Brown). They go about their lives pursuing what makes them happy, including having pet snakes, building fireworks in the basement with Mr. De Pinna (Patrick Reilly), writing plays and inviting random actress Gay Wellington (Jenny Roberson) to read for a part in a play that may never get published, and taking ballet lessons from Kolenkhov (Cassie Renee Bennett). Taking care of the family is Rheba (Reba Oglesby) and her beau Donald (Davis Buckley). They are blissfully leading their lives, but then new people are introduced to the family that cause concern. 

Grandpa has a visit from the IRS man Henderson (Jake Brownfield). Evidently, grandpa has back taxes from many years ago, but he refuses to pay them, because he doesn’t want his money going to funding that he doesn’t approve. Also, Alice is being pursued for marriage by her boss Tony Kirby (Ben Bingham) and has his parents, Mr. And Mrs. Kirby (Gabriel Foust and Karen Alford) come for dinner on the wrong night. To finish out the visitors, The Grand Duchess Olga Katrina (Sally Paine) comes over for a family meal and ends up cooking. The Kirbys struggle to blend in with the Sycamores, causing Alice to say no to Tony’s proposal. How does this end? Unfortunately, they have finished their run, so you can’t see it to find out.  

Directed by Kylie Jones, this cast worked well as an ensemble. The quirkiness and their reactions were great, and watching each particular character commit to their oddity was fun. Robison’s Essie kept on and on with her ballet. Every time she entered and exited the room, she was twirling or leaping. I loved Reilly’s Mr. De Pinna accent and seeing his eyes light up when Bennett’s Kolenkhov joined the family insanity. In fact, Bennett was really commanding every time she took the stage. I caught myself getting excited to see what she would do next. Lytle’s Alice was poised amongst the craziness, and the chemistry between her and Bingham’s Tony was swoon worthy. Also, you could see the caring she had for her family and what it looked like to the outside world. Foust’s Mr. Kirby made an impression on my table mate Quinn. He commented that he thought the rich man was sinister and possibly hiding something...and that obviously you can’t trust rich people. I went ahead and agreed with him.  

The set (Britt Lynn) was amazing! The details they put into the house were so well constructed, it really did look like what a 1940s mansion would be. It was beautiful and looked very sturdy.     

Coming up next, THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES begins July 20 and runs through August 5th. For more information and tickets, visit their website at https://www.harding.edu/events/ssdt. If you would like to be part of this wonderful theatrical community in a Christ-centered environment, Dr. Steven Frye would be more than happy to speak with you. Check out their website at https://www.harding.edu/events/theatre or give them a call at 501-279-5315.  

Broadway World would like to thank Jeff Montgomery for the use of these fabulous pictures! 

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