What better way to spend the dog days of summer than with Denver’s favorite piddling pet? Sylvia’s back.
One of the region’s all-time legendary theatrical draws, “Sylvia” is bounding with as much energy and laughs as always at the Avenue Theater through Sept. 6. Better hurry.
It’s easy to see why both dog owners and those barren of beasts are equally enamored with this pet production of A.R. Gurney’s comedy. The show is about a man treading in a middle-age crisis and finds a stray dog in the park, Sylvia. There is nothing like the odd connection between people and dogs, and “Sylvia” exploits that for endless laughs.
The Avenue revival is a tribute to the veteran cast that’s been drawing laughs across the state with this show for 15 years now. Denver theater dean John Ashton is back as Greg, a man whose kids have gone off to school and he’s left to squirm in his lackluster job and marriage. Amie MacKenzie is back as the boisterous, barely housebroken four-legged best friend. It’s a role Denver cherishes when she plays it as much as she seems to love to bring it.
Long before the gags in “Up!” were getting yucks, Sylvia was playing up the ubiquitous culture of canine-human friendship and its quirky connections. You don’t realize how odd the bonds and habits between masters and dogs are until you’ve seen them inflicted on a human pretending to be a dog. Ear rubs, butt pats, eye gunk, leg humps and “the stare” are exposed for how strange they really are in this intimate, introspective comedy.
Ashton’s Greg may have mellowed some, but the palpable angst of floundering toward the golden years is still sharp and fresh. MacKenzie’s Sylvia is still spot on, from bark to biting sarcasm. By not overplaying the canine sight gags, she’s able to build the role into something much more than a series of dog jokes.
New to the production are Abby Apple Boes as Greg’s wife, Kate, and Tupper Cullum as Tom, then Phyllis and then Leslie.
Boes’ Kate is a strong foil to Sylvia’s out-of-bounds romp through Greg’s apartment and his id. And Cullum merrily steals scene after scene in hilarious tall-blonde drag and then as androgynous Leslie near the finale. It’s still a part of the play that gets some of the most laughs but wobbles toward comedy skit instead of binding a play together.
But the cast and show keep the audience laughing while easing them into the idea that people are pretty much annoying, self-centered and self-indulgent creature, and that in this society, it really is a dog’s life.
Sylvia plays through Sept. 16 at the Avenue Theater, 417 E. 17th Ave. in Denver. Fri./Sat. at 7:30 p.m.; Sun., Aug. 24 at 4 p.m.; Thur. Aug. 28 and Sept. 4 at 7:30p.m. Tickets start at $23.50. Call 303-321-5925 or visit www.avenuetheater.com
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