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There's a scene in Sylvia where Annaleigh Ashford gets the audience howling, if you'll pardon the expression, when the so-named canine of the play’s title pulls at her master's leash to get at a feline.
Ms, Ashford is a comedic treasure as those who've seen her in her Tony-winning role last season as the perpetually dancing Essie in You Can't Take It With You will attest; or perhaps before that as the female lead opposite Stark Sands in Kinky Boots (Tony nomination); or on television as Betty DiMello, the receptionist in Masters of Sex.
And, while her playing a dog is a treat all by itself, there!s plenty more to enjoy, thanks to Daniel Sullivan's perfectly tuned and timed direction, balancing both the verbal with the physical comedy, as well as shepherding winning performances from the entire cast. This 1995 play by A. R. Gurney is buoyantly aloft for its entire two-hour running time. If you are not always laughing aloud, then you're watching with an ear-to-ear grin. That's pretty rare for any comedy.
Playwright Gurney is exploring the way we anthropomorphize our pet dogs. For starters, it's giving them human names. Sylvia (as her collar tag reads) is a poodle-type mutt, found abandoned in Central Park by a man having a middle-age crisis. (He hates his job.) His wife, on the other hand, wants to take her career out of mothballs now that they’re empty nested, and tries to talk her husband out of keeping Sylvia. But man and beast have already bonded. And what Mr. Gurney cleverly and primarily does is set up a triangle with Sylvia as "the other woman."
The play is skin deep in delineating a crisis in a long-standing marriage, but it excels in its keen observations on how we deal with our dogs. How they manipulate our emotions. How tight the bonds become. Not to mention a hilarious depiction of canine behavior, randy and otherwise, so deliciously performed by Ms. Ashford.
While Mr. Gurney’s execution of his themes is ultralight, his skill at dramatic construction is masterly, as is his evocative (and very funny) dialogue. There is an unseen character, a golden retriever, slyly named Bowser, who in description seems to actually be in the auditorium. And, then, you have to admire a playwright who can interpolate Cole Porter’s “Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye” as a dramatically pertinent trio for the leads.
Sylvia was first cast with Sarah Jessica Parker some twenty years ago Off Broadway, and then went on to be a popular choice for productions around the county and abroad. Coincidentally, Ms. Parker's real-life husband, Matthew Broderick, plays Sylvia's master (or is the other way around) in this first-ever Broadway production which opens tonight at the Cort Theatre.
For those who may have worried that he had lost the ability to act when watching his zombie-like performance last season in It's Only a Play, let me assure you that Mr. Broderick is back on track. This role does fit him like a glove but he also makes the most of the opportunity, convincingly conveying a man in love who doesn’t quite understand what’s taken over his life. He and Ms. Ashford work wonderfully together with Mr. Broderick often functioning as an ideal straight man to Sylvia’s manipulative powers.
Julie White plays the frustrated wife quite well with grace and pluck. Robert Sella is the fourth actor, essaying three roles: a dog walker (Bowser’s owner), a therapist and, most hysterically, in drag as a prim socialite.
Mention should be made of John Rockwell’s set which moves effortlessly between an apartment living room with views of Central Park and the Park itself.
I’ve shared digs with dogs for a good portion of my life. So I went into the theatre already captivated by the subject matter (and then was impressed with this production). I suppose one could say that you can enjoy Sylvia even if you’ve never lived with a dog. Maybe. Maybe not. I am not sure. But I am convinced that if you happen to have a dog at home right now, when you return from seeing this comedy, your pooch will get a few extra hugs.
★ ★ ★ ½ ☆
- Jesse
SIDEBAR:
PHOTOS: production stills.
VIDEO: short montage (Time 1:08).
VIDEO: Matthew Broderick and Annaleigh Ashford interviewed on NBC’s Today, 10-25-2015 (Time 3:05).
Article: This Pooch Has a Tony: Annaleigh Ashford on Playing a Poodle in ‘Sylvia‘ by Anita Gates, The New York Times, 9-10-2015.
Article: ‘Sylvia’ Playwright A.R. Gurney on Drawing Inspiration from Dogs, Ethel Merman and His 'Fading Culture' by Beth Stevens, Broadway.com, 10-26-2015.
SYLVIA opens Tuesday, October 27, 2015, at the Cort Theatre, 138 West 48th Street, New York City. Seen at a preview on 10-22. Running time: 2 hours, 7 minutes, including a 12-minute intermission. Act I: 63 minutes. Act II: 52 minutes. Limited engagement. Tickets currently on sale through January 24, 2016. Link to website.
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