Theater Review
“He who would write and can’t write, can surely review.” James Russell Lowell. “Sylvia,” a comedy by A.R. Gurney, is currently running at the Morgan-Wixson Theater, at 2627 Pico Blvd. in Santa Monica. A. R. Gurney is probably one of the nation’s most prolific playwrights. Born in 1930, he received his master’s degree in playwriting from Yale. His first major success was in 1982 with “The Dining Room.” Gurney has won several awards and his plays are produced constantly around the country. They are well adapted to Off-Broadway, regional and college theaters because they have few characters and simple settings. When “Sylvia” opened at the Manhattan Theater Club in 1995 with Sarah Jessica Parker as Sylvia, it was an instant success. It played to sold-out audiences and was subsequently moved to the John Houseman Theater off 42nd Street. “Sylvia” is a romantic comedy that involves a married couple Greg and Kate, “empty-nesters” who after 22 years of raising children in the suburbs have moved to Manhattan. Greg’s career as a financial planner is starting to wear on him, while Kate’s career seems on the rise. As a public school English teacher, she has well-received ideas of bringing Shakespeare to inner-city school students. Sylvia, the dog, played by Wendy Douglas, “adopts” Greg one day while he’s in the park musing about life. He brings Sylvia home and can’t understand Kate’s resistance to her. Kate finally agrees to a trial period, but if it doesn’t work, the dog has to go. Rather than realizing Greg is in the middle of a midlife crisis and trying to sort things out, Kate just wants things to be as they’ve always been. Their conflict pushes Greg to confide and share his musing with Sylvia rather than his wife. A battle for Greg’s affection between Sylvia and Kate ensues. The New York Times had this to say about Gurney’s play: “Dramatic literature is stuffed with memorable love scenes, but none is as immediately delicious and dizzy as the one that begins the redeeming affair in A.R. Gurney’s new comedy, ‘Sylvia”” The New York Daily News wrote: “I can only call it one of the most involving, beautiful, funny, touching and profound plays I have ever seen'” The play is clever and funny at times, but I’m not sure it warrants the raves these New York critics gave it. There are problems with some of the scenes. Kate’s occasional Shakespearean quotes seem forced. The midlife crisis issue gets lost at times with unwarranted “dog” issues like spaying. At one point Sylvia spies a cat, and the foul words being emitted are jarring. The entire play lies on the shoulders of the actress playing Sylvia, and Douglas is superb, sublime and a treat to watch! From the toss of her head as she finds out she’s part French poodle to the time she seductively strolls out to meet other dogs, it’s impossible to take your eyes off of her’the audience wonders what Sylvia might do next. The role is physically demanding, as Douglas jumps from sofa to floor to eagerly “dancing” at the door waiting for Greg to come home. She’s been a dancer for over 20 years, which probably contributes to her graceful and nuanced movement. In the role of Greg, a low-key David Burr is easy to watch. He understands the role, and makes Greg a sympathetic character. The audience believes this is a man going through a crisis. His wife Kate, Georgan George, is one-dimensional. In all fairness to the actress, the role is not written sympathetically, which makes George’s work twice as a hard. Playing three roles’a macho male, a society matron, and a sexually ambiguous therapist’Gregory Blair pulls off two of the three brilliantly. The funniest scene in the play is when society matron Phyllis commiserates with Kate before meeting Sylvia. In costuming a “dog,” Sherry Coon made excellent choices. Although she’s currently directing “All My Sons” at the Theatre Palisades, in the program she explains she wouldn’t normally try to costume one show while directing another, but the once-in-a-lifetime chance to put a cocktail dress on a dog was too much to pass up. In his bio, director Douglas Green talks of the love for his dog. He gets what Gurney is saying about how a dog is a man’s best friend. The cream of the play is brought out in his able hands. Part of the joy of this production is how easy it is to forget Wendy is an actress playing a dog. The play runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m., and there is one Saturday matinee September 24 at 2 p.m. The play runs through October 1. Tickets are $15 for general admission, $12 for seniors and $10 for students. Contact: 828-7519.
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