Published: Friday, January 11, 2008 - 2:00 am in The Greenville News

By Ann Hicks
Arts Writer
ahicks@greenvillenews.com

I wouldn't be surprised if Thursday night's opening performance of A.R. Gurney's "Sylvia" at Centre Stage -- South Carolina caused a stampede by middle-aged men to pick up stray dogs in Cleveland Park.

Let me explain myself.

Gurney's play, directed by John Fagan, which is terrific in the first half, and drags like a reluctant puppy on a leash in the second half, makes a convincing case for a love triangle between a man, his dog and his woman.

Here's what happens.

Greg, a middle-aged New Yorker in midlife crisis (Tom Scott), brings home a stray dog, Sylvia (Debra Capps), to his Upper West Side apartment.

His wife (Connie Lanzl), into a new career -- teaching Shakespeare to inner city kids -- is totally not OK with having a dog in the home after the kids have gone to college and she finally has hubby all to herself.

Well, as things go to the dogs, or dog in this case, she's got plenty to worry about for sure. Greg is bonkers over the frisky, cuddly, loveable canine, and as fellow dog lover young Tom (Brock Koonce), says to the older man, Sylvia is "someone to hold onto on the way down."

Scott is wonderful as the wound-up Greg, who happily uncoils in love with the endearing Sylvia, who snuggles up to him and howls "Nearer My God to Thee."

Never mind Lassie and Mr. Ed the talking horse -- when it comes to Capps' Sylvia "with the cute behind," she can out-wiggle and outdo any creature known to man. In this role, Capps sets a new benchmark for comedic acting on the Greenville stage.

Koonce chews the scenery to shreds as the upper-class matron friend of wife Kate, but way overshoots delivering the androgynous marriage counselor Leslie, creating a caricature instead of a character.

Lanzl as Kate does a good job with her rather thankless role as a shrewish wife.

The play is crammed with hilarious one-liners, enough to satiate an audience out for a night of lightheaded entertainment.