In 1984 I was more active in going to Duffy Square in Manhattan and seeing what plays I could get tickets to on Broadway. One that I saw was YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, which (as I had seen productions of it in the past) I was acquainted with. I decided to see it again because this production had gotten good reviews, and it starred Jason Robarts, with Ellis Rabb and Colleen Dewhurst in the cast. Actually while it was exciting to see a play with Robarts and Dewhurst in it the latter had a small cameo role and only appeared in the final act (where she did a comic bit about dancing with Rabb). But watching Robarts (the only time I saw him on stage) was wonderful. I was so close to him that I could see his character (Grandfather Martin Vanderhof) perusing his "stamp collection" (the small collection book actually did have stamps in it!). <br /><br />It is fortunate that a video record of the production still exists, complete with performances by Robarts, Dewhurst, Nicholas Surovy, Bill McCutcheon (as Mr. DePinna), Jack Dodson, and others of the original cast. Only Raab was not in it - ironically his role of Boris Kolenkhov the Russian dance master is played by George Rose, who I also saw on stage in other plays. But Rose was a fine comic performer and gave proper distinction to the Russian's famous put-down ("It stinks", said with a friendly dismissive air).<br /><br />The story by Kaufman and Hart is about the eccentricities of the Vanderhof - Sycamore clan, which does not pay taxes (why should it? taxes are only used to support the Navy, and the last time it was of use was in 1898!), which gives free room and board to several people like DiPinna and Kolenkhov, and which encourages freedom (Penelope writes stories because a typewriter was once delivered to the house by mistake, her daughter paints DiPinna as a discuss thrower, her husband makes illegal firecrackers in the basement,and her son-in-law earns his living with his small printing press (unfortunately printing Communist posters). When her more staid daughter falls for a normal boy, and the family of the boy is invited over, all hell breaks loose.<br /><br />The movie version of the play (directed by Frank Capra) expanded the philosophy of enjoying life into another assault on the super-rich, with Edward Arnold as Mr. Kirby...not as a stockbroker as he is in the play or in this video production, but as a banker and empire builder, who gets emotionally twisted and lost, and then finds himself again. While certainly an interesting variant on the original play it was unnecessary. The original has a lot of nuttiness and common sense mingled into it, and is one of the few comedies of the 1930s that are still capable of revival. The production here keeps the single stage production of the Broadway revival (which is possibly a mistake - they could have shown say the basement of the house). On the other hand the single set keeps the record of the original revival production in tact. I can only say it is worth watching.