Sylvia ***

Twenty years after its debut at Manhattan Theatre Club, A.R. Gurney’s charming but inconsequential play has finally made it to Broadway. It presents the playwright in a much more favorable light than any of the three Gurney plays that Signature recently mounted. Annaleigh Ashford’s performance as the eponymous canine is sheer delight, reason enough to see the show. As Greg, the man with a midlife crisis who is instantly smitten with Sylvia when she plops into his lap in Central Park, Matthew Broderick is the best he has been since “The Producers.” The ever-watchable Julie White strikes all the right notes as Greg’s wife Kate, who does not want a dog to upset their newly-empty nest or her budding career as a teacher bringing Shakespeare to uptown middle school students. Robert Sella is a triple threat as Tom, another dog owner in Central Park; Phyllis, Kate’s friend from Vassar days whose struggle to stay on the wagon is threatened by Sylvia’s enthusiastic attentiveness; and Leslie, the androgynous couple counselor Kate and Greg visit. As Sylvia becomes more entrenched and gets more attention from Greg than his wife does, a showdown looms. I’m sure you can guess the outcome. The play’s conceit is really too slender for a work that runs over two hours, but director Daniel Sullivan does an excellent job of hiding that. The triple casting of Sella is droll, but seems cut from a different cloth than the rest of the play. David Rockwell’s set offer a lovely scene of Central Park with the essentials of a park-view apartment that materialize when needed. Ann Roth’s costumes are excellent; the ones for Sylvia are truly inspired. You may forget the play five minutes after it ends, but you will likely enjoy it while you're watching it. Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes including intermission. 

What I Did Last Summer **

For the second revival in their A.R. Gurney residency, Signature Theatre has chosen this semi-autobiographical memory play from 1981. Charlie (Noah Galvin), the 14-year-old Gurney stand-in, recalls the Summer of 1945 when his father was away at war in the Pacific and his mother Grace (Carolyn McKormick) was trying valiantly to hold their WASP family together in his absence. Charlie, his mother and his older sister Elsie (Kate McGonigle) are spending the summer at their vacation home on the Canadian side of Lake Erie not far from Buffalo. Charlie and Ted (Pico Alexander), a townie two years his senior, both like to spend time with Bonny (Juliet Brett), a girl near their age but much wiser. The rebellious Charlie answers a “Help Wanted” ad placed by the local outcast Anna Trumbull (Kristine Nielsen). A free spirit, she has abandoned her WASP upbringing to live a hermit-like existence on the lakeside property left her by her former lover. She claims to see artistic potential in Charlie and gives him art lessons after his chores are done. He shows no aptitude for painting, sculpture, macrame or anything else she tries to teach him. She also fills his head with anti-establishment socialistic ideas. After one argument too many with his mother, Charlie flees home and moves into Anna’s barn. There is a battle for Charlie’s soul between Anna and Grace who, it turns out, had her own experiences with Anna 20 years prior. Clumsy plot devices intrude and the ending is less than satisfactory. Director Jim Simpson has chosen to introduce a drummer (Dan Weiner) to punctuate the action, a needless distraction. Michael Yeargan’s minimalist set is enhanced by John Narun’s projections of typed characters filling the back wall with stage directions. Claudia Brown's costumes are attractive and appropriate. All the characters save one address the audience to ponder whether the play is really about them. Despite the fine cast (although I found Galvin a bit too hyperactive) and a snazzy production, the play simply did not engage me. So far, the Gurney residency has been underwhelming. “The Wayside Motor Inn” showed him in his Ayckbourn mode and this play has echoes of Wilder. Let’s hope that next season’s Gurney premiere will salvage the residency and display more of the characteristics that made me a Gurney fan. Running time: two hours including intermission.

The Wayside Motor Inn **

Regular readers of this blog know that I am a devoted fan of A. R. Gurney’ plays. I was therefore very pleased to learn that Signature Theatre would present three of his works — two revivals and a new play —  this season. In addition, a Broadway revival of “Love Letters” with star (or stunt, depending on your point of view) casting is forthcoming. The play Signature chose to start the Gurney series is a rarely produced work from 1977. We meet five sets of people staying (or, in one case, working) at a nondescript motel outside of Boston. An elderly couple, Frank (the always fine Jon DeVries), who is suffering from heart trouble, and Jessie (Lizbeth Mackay, also very good) are in town to visit their newest grandchild. Vince, an overbearing father (Marc Kudisch, usually excellent, but stuck here with a one-note role) has brought his long-suffering son Mark (Will Pullen) for a Harvard interview that the father wants far more than his son. Andy (Kelly AuCoin) and Ruth (Rebecca Henderson) are a divorcing couple whose attempt to divide their possessions amicably goes awry. Phil (David McElwee) is a college student who has rented a room for the night to bed his girlfriend Sally (Ismenia Mendes) for the first time. Ray (Quincy Dunn-Baker) is a married traveling salesman who tries to pick up Sharon (an amusing Jenn Lyon), a waitress whose concern for her customers’ health is not appreciated by her employers. (Mendes, Henderson and Pullen appeared together recently in Your Mother's Copy of the Kama Sutra at Playwrights Horizons.) The play’s gimmick is that all five stories take place simultaneously on the same set. (Gurney’s acknowledges Ayckbourn’s similar experiments.) This idea turns out not to be as interesting as it sounds. The set becomes cluttered with characters from different stories who barely manage not to bump into each other. It would have helped if the stories were more compelling and if they somehow enriched each other. Unfortunately, there is only one fleeting moment when two stories connect. Andrew Lieberman must have had fun designing the set; the plaid wallpaper and orange chenille bedspreads raise hideousness to new heights. Kaye Voyce’s costumes are unremarkable. I’m not sure what director Lila Neugebauer could have done to prevent this slender work from making such a tepid impression. Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes including intermission.

Note: The stage is unusually high. Sitting in the third row, my eyes were level with its floor. Those in the first few rows on the right have a partially obstructed view.

Family Furniture ***

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The Bard of Buffalo is back with a lovely new play, now in previews at the Flea Theater. Fortunately for us, A.R. Gurney has found a seemingly inexhaustible font of inspiration in the lives of mid-century WASP residents of that city. Through this prism, he has repeatedly given us a vivid portrait of American social mores circa 1950. The present play is an intimate one, depicting events at the summer home of an upper-middle-class Buffalo family. The father Russell (Peter Scolari), devoted to upholding tradition, is unhappy that daughter Peggy (Ismenia Mendes) is seriously involved with an Italian-American. Son Nick (Andrew Keenan-Bolger), a couple years younger, is working hard all summer to buy a car to have at Williams, so he can drive up to Bennington to visit his girlfriend Betsy (Molly Nordin). The mother Claire (Carolyn McCormick) is busy playing tennis at the club, arranging charity events, and, perhaps, having an affair with a family friend. Peggy is dispatched to Europe for a month to get her away from her boyfriend, with unanticipated consequences. Nick has great difficulty coming to terms with his mother's possible adultery. Two beautiful scenes for father and daughter and another for mother and son were, for me, the highlights of the play. I was puzzled why Russell and Claire seemed much less concerned about their son dating a Jew than about their daughter dating an Italian. A scene in which Betsy tries to help Nick break out of his personal crisis by reading a scene from Hamlet seemed contrived and could have easily been omitted. In fact, I would have omitted the character of Betsy entirely, because the scenes with her diluted the intimacy of the family scenes a bit. The cast is excellent Rachel Hauck's minimalist set, consisting of a few tables, a couple of benches, a chair and a bookshelf, works just fine. Claudia Brown's costumes evoke the period effectively. Thomas Kail's direction is unobtrusive and assured. It's not a major Gurney work, but is nonetheless satisfying. Running time: 95 minutes, no intermission.

The Old Boy ***

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The Keen Company's revival of A.R. Gurney's 1991 play proves once again that no other playwright does the world of WASPs as well as he. Sam (Peter Rini), a politician and diplomat who is considering a run for governor, has returned to his prestigious boarding school to give the commencement speech against the advice of his political aide Bud (Cary Donaldson). Dexter (Tom Riis Farrell), the Anglican clergyman who is second in command at the school, also asks Sam to announce the donation of an indoor tennis court by Harriet (the wonderful Laura Esterman) in memory of her son Perry (Chris Dwan), for whom Sam acted as old boy (mentor) during his first year. Perry's widow Alison (Marsha Dietlein Bennett). whom Sam had dated before Perry, is there for the occasion. The ever-cautious Bud has Perry's demise investigated and reveals to Sam that he died of AIDS. There are several flashbacks to Sam and Perry's years at school, during which Rini and Esterman continue to play their respective characters. Sam's speech at commencement is the play's climax. The play is topical and some of the action seems more driven by political correctness than dramatic impulse. Nevertheless, the characters are well-delineated and the dialogue is sharp. Even second-drawer Gurney is better than most people's top drawer. Rini looks a little too Mediterranean to be plausible as a WASP, but he captures Sam's callow charm. The rest of the cast is fine too. Jonathan Silverstein's direction is unobtrusive. Jennifer Paar's costumes are very good. The wide set by Stephen C. Kemp looked a bit underfurnished. Running time: 75 minutes; no intermission.

Heresy *

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Even as capable a playwright as A.R. Gurney can miss the mark occasionally, as he has with this lame parody at The Flea. It may have seemed a clever idea to transpose New Testament figures into a dystopian America of the near future, but it doesn't work for me. Joseph (Steve Mellor) and Mary (Annette O'Toole) have come to see Pontius (Reg E. Cathey), the prefect of the New American National Guard to plead for their son Chris, who has been arrested in the most recent in a long series of crackdowns. They are soon joined by Phyllis (Kathy Najimy), Pontius's ditsy wife; Pedro (Danny Rivera), the college roommate who betrayed Chris; and Lena -- short for Magdalena -- (Ariel Woodiwiss), a sex worker who has fallen for Chris. The proceedings are being transcribed by Pontius's aide Mark (Tommy Crawford), who has a way with words. Get the picture? It is always fun to see Najimy in action. Cathey gets a few laughs too, but most of the proceedings are leaden and lack bite. The play seemed far longer than its 85 minutes. Kate Foster's set makes a convincing meeting room for high government officials. Claudia Brown's costumes are amusing. The play was directed by Jim Simpson, The Flea's founder and artistic director.