Grandpa Vanderhof enjoys hanging out at the zoo and attending graduation ceremonies. His daughter, Penelope Sycamore, has been trying to write a play ever since a typewriter was delivered by mistake eight years ago. Her husband, Paul Sycamore, makes professional-grade aerial fireworks in the basement. The extended family includes the Sycamores’ daughter, Essie Carmichael, a thunderously untalented would-be ballerina, and Essie’s husband, Ed, who stores his xylophone in the living room and enjoys printing things that catch his eye — even Communist Party propaganda fliers.

Welcome to Hawaii Pacific University’s spring production of a classic American comedy, "You Can’t Take It With You," by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman. American perceptions of "shocking" and "eccentric" have changed tremendously since the show opened on Broadway in 1936 — having snakes as pets doesn’t seem particularly strange these days — but Grandpa Vanderhof’s explanation of why he doesn’t believe in paying income tax is as insightful in 2015 as it was in the 1930s.

Reality intrudes into the Sycamores’ abode when their other daughter, Alice, announces that she has just become engaged to Tony Kirby, the wealthy son and heir apparent of the owner of the company she works for. Tony’s wealthy and presumably conservative parents want to meet her parents. Will they take one look at her family and end the engagement? Or will the Sycamores and their equally unconventional friends win them over?

The production is director Joyce Maltby’s final show at HPU, and it is something of a "greatest hits" project for her. Four members of the cast from her 2002 production of "You Can’t Take It With You" are playing the same characters this time: Larry Bialock is a big and broad presence as an expatriate Rus­sian ballet instructor and refugee from Stalinism; Jan McGrath is regal but warm as a refugee Rus­sian aristocrat who works in a restaurant; Virginia Jones as Mrs. Kirby personifies tightly wound social propriety; and Becky Maltby, director Maltby’s daughter, gives a marvelous hana hou performance dancing ballet badly as Essie.

HPU regulars Peter Clark (Grandpa Vanderhof) and Melinda Maltby (Penelope Sycamore) are engaging in major roles, and a third "frequent flier," David Starr, shines as a no-nonsense IRS agent who comes off second best arguing with Grandpa about income taxes.

Although the Sycamores’ eccentricities aren’t as shocking as they probably seemed in 1936, this vintage play about love, family ties and the importance of making time to enjoy life is beautifully crafted entertainment.