Hey, Hey, HEY!
Sylvia is alive and well on Broadway, and it’s absolutely fantastic.
A bit about the show –
Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, and Daryl Roth proudly present the Broadway revival of SYLVIA, a play by two-‐time Pulitzer Prize-‐nominee A.R. Gurney (The Dining Room, Love Letters), directed by Tony Award-‐winner Daniel Sullivan (Proof). SYLVIA stars two-‐time Tony Award-‐ winner Matthew Broderick (Brighton Beach Memoirs, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying), Tony Award-‐winner Julie White (The Little Dog Laughed), Drama Desk Award-‐ winner Robert Sella (Stuff Happens), and 2015 Tony Award-‐winner Annaleigh Ashford (You Can’t Take It With You) in the title role. SYLVIA is currently playing a strictly limited, 16-‐week Broadway engagement at The Cort Theatre (138 W. 48th Street). Funny and heartwarming, SYLVIA is about what happens when a smart, sassy, captivating canine befriends a New Yorker in Central Park and changes his life -‐ and his wife’s life -‐ forever. This wonderful look into the complexities of love and commitment asks what does it truly mean to be devoted to your partner . . . and how do you choose between the love of your life and man’s best friend? 
SYLVIA stars two-‐time Tony-‐winner Matthew Broderick (It’s Only a Play, Nice Work If You Can Get It, The Producers, How to Succeed…, Brighton Beach Memoirs) as Greg, 2015 Tony-‐winner Annaleigh Ashford (You Can’t Take It With You, Tony-‐nominee for Kinky Boots, Hair) as Sylvia, Tony Award winner Julie White (The Little Dog Laughed, 2015 Tony-‐nominee for Airline Highway, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike) as Kate, and Drama Desk Award winner Robert Sella (Stuff Happens, Sleepy Hollow, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) as Tom/Phyllis/Leslie.
The creative team for SYLVIA includes scenic design by Tony Award-‐nominee David Rockwell (You Can’t Take It With You, On the Twentieth Century), costume design by Academy Award-‐ winner Ann Roth (The English Patient), lighting design by Tony Award-‐nominee Japhy Weideman (The Visit, Airline Highway), sound design by Peter Fitzgerald (All the Way, Movin’ Out), and music by Greg Pliska. SYLVIA has wig and makeup design by Campbell Young Associates. James Fitzsimmons is the Production Stage Manager. Casting by Telsey + Company/William Cantler, CSA.
SYLVIA was first produced in 1995 at the Manhattan Theatre Club, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, where it received Drama Desk Award nominations for Outstanding Play, Outstanding Actress in a Play (Parker), and Outstanding Costume Design, and ran for 167 performances. It has since played countless times, leaving its mark all over the world.
Things about this revival that you must know:
ANNALEIGH ASHFORD.
Say it again, ANNALEIGH ASHFORD.
She is the comedic brilliance behind this play. She is the one who has the audience in stitches. She. Is. Phenomenal.
Ashford’s comedic timing and candor is the driving force behind this show, there is no doubt about that. But, one must also marvel at the brilliance of Gurney’s words. For this isn’t a show about a dog. It’s a show about life. About marriage. About relationships. About friendship.
There is a refreshing honesty about the dialogue of Sylvia, and it is delivered with skillful grace and remarkable talent.
I brought my father to see this show, and he loved it as much as I did. There’s a thirty year difference between the two of us, so, needless to say, Sylvia is a show that will transcend generations.
Bottom line?
Get thee to the Cort.
Sylvia is a show that will make you laugh, but it will also make you think. It illuminates the simple fact that so many of us forget – that the most important thing in life is not money or a fancy job or a lavish home – it’s our relationships. It’s the people we spend time with that matter most…so cultivate those bonds. Spend time with them, listening to them, loving them, enjoying this life with them.
I would put money on the fact that after you come out of the theatre, you’ll regard the people who you love with a little more attentiveness; you’ll hold their hearts with a little more care.
Tickets to Sylvia are available via SylviaBroadway.com.
Live, Love, Learn,