Review: Man's Best Friend Triumphs in SYLVIA at 710 Main Theatre

Man's Best Friend Triumphs at 710 Main!

A man and his relationship to his animal.... This notion has formed the basis of many books , TV sitcoms, and plays. There is the imaginary rabbit in Mary Chase's HARVEY, the goat in Edward Albee's THE GOAT, and most recently man's best friend, a dog named Sylvia in A.R. Gurney's hysterical 1995 play SYLVIA.

710 Main Theatre is presenting Buffalo Laboratory Theatre's production of SYLVIA, and this 20 year old play is as fresh and funny as ever. We meet a middle aged man who encounters a stray dog in the park, just at a time when he has moved from the suburbs to the city, his job is going no where and his children have left for college. His wife is engaging on a new journey in her career and adopting this dog seems like the perfect solution at the perfect time. The spin is that the dog, named Sylvia, is played by a human and the hilarity ensues. This role was originated off Broadway by Sarah Jessica Parker, and the most recent Broadway revival stars her husband, Matthew Broderick, as the husband Greg.

Casting by director Taylor Doherty is superb. Asking an actress to play the part of a dog sounds demeaning, but in the capable hands of Marisa Caruso, Sylvia jumps to life (quite literally). Caruso has mastered the comedy in this role without being too cliched. Forced to pant, growl, howl, sniff and go into heat, Ms. Caruso so fully embodied this juicy role that to think of Sylvia as anything but a real dog seems impossible. Besides Ms. Caruso's physical comedy she is given some great one liners, as well as some foul mouthed dialogue, that lets us humans in on what a dog is thinking. Caruso's gleeful run, pig tail hair do and curvacious figure make her the physical desire of all the dogs at the dog park, but also becomes alluring to her owner.

Todd Benzin, as Greg, has the neurotic job of becoming the man that can't see how his unhealthy relationship with a dog may be abnormal and putting a strain on his marriage. Benzin begins mentally stable enough, but unravels psychologically to the point of being unable to delineate pet from human. As his wife Kate, Wendy Hall was the ever exasperated spouse who can't fathom how her husband loses all sense of reality. Hall's disdain for the dog was palpable and she showed the gamut of anger, incredulousness and resentment for what she calls Greg's "male menopausal moment."

When we meet an old college friend of Kate's, named Phyllis, the comedy truly gets rolling. As Gurney is wont to do, Phyllis embodies the upper East Side socialite who graduated from Vassar and works for all social causes. Katie White, who also plays two other roles, shone as this well bred white woman whose social obligations have her booked for months. The swiftly directed scene between Kate and Phyllis discussing Sylvia, and then Sylvia's eventual entrance, had the audience howling. Ms. Whites' facial expressions and body language were priceless, as Sylvia's physicality was too much for Phyllis to handle.

Ms. White also plays a man who shares life stories about his own dog and wife with Greg in the dog park. In the final scenes she is called on to play Leslie, the sexually ambiguous psychologist who offers couples counseling. As one can imagine, when Greg suggests bring Sylvia into the counseling session, the psychologist can take no more. White brings great comedic timing to this odd character and her professional suggestions regarding how to solve the rift that Sylvia has caused in their marriage are as farcical as a talking dog.

The simplistic set was augmented by film of New York City streets and sites, which gave the appropriate air of what it would be like to raise a dog in the city, while jazzy music gave an urban edge to the hustle of New York. Direction by Doherty encompasses all portions of the stage and used exits and entrances through the audience mostly for Sylvia to run wild in the park scenes.

A.R. Gurney has always been Buffalo's own home town hero, and later this season we get his LOVE LETTERS starring Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw. Meanwhile, whether you're a dog lover or not, don't miss the brilliant performance of the talking Labradoodle mutt being given by Marisa Caruso as a spunky, yet instigating dog named Sylvia.

Performances are Nov. 5-15: Thursdays at 7:30 PM, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 PM, and Sundays at 2:00 PM at 710 Main Theatre. For tickets and information, go to www.sheas.org/710main

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