"'Sylvia,' despite being one of Mr. Gurney’s more popular plays — the woman-plays-dog conceit probably helps — feels tediously overextended and repetitive at two hours and two acts. Although it has a certain silly charm, a sweet message about making connections both human and non- and some nicely turned jokes, ultimately the play has all the heft of a teacup poodle."
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"Broderick, perkier than he’s been lately, gets crucial voltage from Ashford and White, both endlessly inventive comedians. Ashford has the showier role, dashing about in fanciful doggy couture and keeping up a sassy stream-of-consciousness. She sniffs strangers’ crotches with impunity; she butt-scoots on the carpet; she swears viciously at cats. What a joy to see Ashford unleashed."
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Unfortunately, this fantastic comic challenge is a dramaturgical disaster... A play that already seemed 20 years behind the times in 1995 now seems not just tired but icky... I left the theater — after the sappy post-curtain slide show — feeling pretty much like Kate, peeved and disapproving but unable to suppress a smile over the adorable doggy proceedings."
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"'Sylvia' is one of the very best small-cast comedies of the past quarter-century, and this revival, directed by Daniel Sullivan, is so funny that I can’t see how it could fail to ring the box-office gong... Mr. Sullivan’s production may not get everything there is to be gotten out of 'Sylvia,' but it’s totally successful on its own broad-brush terms. It’s been a long time since I heard a matinee audience laugh as hard. I laughed, too—and so will you."
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"Think too hard and the whole thing falls apart, or into a kind creepiness as Greg’s affections turn obsessive and just this side of sexual (I hope)... Robert Sella plays three increasingly annoying characters whose comic relief is vulgar, unnecessary and overdrawn. So leave the deep-thinking cap at home, and settle in for some pleasurable laughs. A lot of them."
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"It’s just a cute and clever conceit. But not quite enough to sustain two hours. Director Daniel Sullivan has a light touch with his a tightknit ensemble, but the play is undercooked and overlong."
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"The shrewdest thing about this Broadway revival of 'Sylvia' was the decision not to update the comedy to the present day, when it would probably be stoned to death by feminists. Not because the title character, a dog, is played by a woman, but because the villain of the piece is the wife of the dog’s besotted owner. If you can put such thoughts out of your head, it’s a perfectly charming show."
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"What makes the one-dimensional play even more annoying, however, is its questionable sexual politics... The natural conclusion is followed by an unnecessary coda that goes on to spell out the obvious, turning it into pure schmaltz. No one would blame even the most nonmilitant feminist from snarling both at self-absorbed Greg and his manipulative bitch."
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