Home is where they take in: ‘You Can’t Take It With’ and ‘Country House’

The new theater season has begun with a pair of wondrous new shows that are “musts” to rejuvenate your spirits.
Comedy tonight: Who says ‘You Can’t Take It With You’
A visit to the New York home of one Martin Vanderhof (the magnificent James Earl Jones) scion of a candy-box assortment of family, friends who came and stayed, some who drift in and out, help that rule the house — and finally adult daughter Penelope (a dotty, delicious Kristine Nielson), her firework’s addicted spouse (Mark Linn-Baker) and their fetching grown daughter (Anna Leigh Ashford) who complete the in-house clan. Together they deliver some of the most hilarious hi-and low-jinks to ever explode a Broadway theater with non-stop laughter.
Then, with your jaws already aching, further comic nirvana explodes in the arrival of suitor Tony Kirby (Fran Kranz). He quickly becomes Penelope’s “intended” —occasioning a riotous meet and greet visit from the youth’s stuffy, rigid upper-crust parents (perfection in the elegant posturing of Johanna Day, and especially Byron Jennings — in a more pivotal role. The pair become touchstones for the play’s title as they experience a new mind-opening world. One that delivers the powerful life lesson of smelling life’s roses — and opting for liberating changes in one’s own time on this small planet.
The two-and-a-half hours of breathless giggles, is a comedy set in 1936. When life seems crazy — as it often does these days, George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s “You can’t Take It With You” insists laughter may be the only medicine strong enough to combat whatever crises come our way.

The explosive (sometimes literally) mayhem that pervades the Vanderhof domain demands a brilliant director to keep this zany comedy from wallowing into farce — and Scott Ellis’ genius does that hat trick here. Perfection also describes David Rockwell’s warm, worn, cluttered period set and Jane Greenwood’s witty costumes. Final kudos belong to Elisabeth Ashley, whose late hilarious appearance as a Russian countess fallen on hard times becomes the comedy’s besotted heroine, leaving our audience not only in tears of laughter as we exit the Longacre Theater — but with the ongoing joy of blissful belly laughs you can take with you to savor when reality looms too large (220 W. 48th St., Telecharge.com 212-239-6200)
‘The Country House:’ Home is where they take you in?
Some plays evoke a nostalgia that color your vision. Was I enthralled by Donald Margoulies “The Country House” because it brought back blissful memories of annual visits to summer theater in the bucolic Berkshires? Maybe that enhanced my appreciation of this brilliantly acted tale of an extended “family” re-united on the first anniversary of the passing away of the beauteous famed actress daughter of Anna Patterson, the still diva, if faded icon owner of the family manse (Blythe Danner) drew cheers and applause before she even uttered her first “dahl-ing”—and remained the glowing still glam force who focused “The Country House.” And for anyone who enjoys an enlightening tale of the underbelly of show business and the lives and fortunes of actors (stage and screen), directors, would-be playwrights and challenged offspring who have endured the by-products of “life upon the wicked stage “The Country House” is pure voyeurs delight.
If Margulies candid, revealing and sometimes comic behinds the scenery sojourn into the current past fortunes of now Grandma Anna bring Chekhov’s explosions of the trauma of privileged family lives gone to ruin and un-repairable at summer abodes — so be it. This critic chose to appreciate the wit and wisdom of Margulies insights into the hearts and minds of folk who’ve chosen a line of work often fraught with insults to the ego as time alters the appreciation of their wares.
Granddaughter Susie Keegan (scene stealer Sarah Steele) adores Grandma Anna but the small crowd who eventually show up for her late mom’s memorial — not so much. Already in residence is Susie’s Uncle Eliot Cooper (Eric Lange, as a disgruntled would-be playwright, once mad for Nell McNally (Kate Jennings Grant) the gorgeous new girlfriend of Anna’s son-in-law Walter Keegan (David Rasche—the latter a successful suave director now disgruntled at having to coast on his laurels as time has eroded his opportunities. Arguably most interesting is hunk Michael Astor (moving turn by Daniel Sunjuta) star of stage, screen and TV, who’s the object of would-be affection from every woman in the house. And the play’s sole “good guy.”
The wounds that open in “The Country House” evoke emotions from rage to grief and many shades in-between, but the excellent cast make us feel their players frustration giving a special dimension to Margulies insightful play. And the next time you go to the theater you may well reflect on the singular lives behind the roles actors take on in “what they do for love” — with special kudos to Ms. Danner. Final appreciation to director Daniel Sullivan for his spot-on direction of a subject surely close to his own soul and purpose. (Manhattan Theater Club production at the Samuel J.Friedman Theatre. (212-239-6200, thecountryhousebway.com.