By SASHA PAULSEN
Register Features Editor
Andy Rooney once observed "If dogs could talk it would take a lot of the fun out of owning one."
In "Sylvia," the dog does talk, and it makes for great fun
Dreamweaver's "Sylvia," which opened last weekend, is both an amusing and acute look at dog-human relationships, raising questions about the human condition, including the one posed by Rooney's quote: Does anyone really own a dog or is it possibly the reverse?
Dan Monez, in one of his finest performances at Dreamweavers plays Greg, a middle-aged modern everyman. His kids are gone to college, and his job has morphed into a meaningless occupation. He is wondering where are the real connections in life when he finds an abandoned dog in Central Park and brings her home.
Did he find Sylvia or did she find him? Sylvia, played by Krisi Pilkington, has a forthright, no-nonsense attitude of a survivor dog who finds the perfect friend in Greg. His poignant wish for meaning and attachment in his life is more than answered by a dog who thinks he is a god -- and tells him so straight-away. Sylvia is an irresistible canine: spirited, opinionated and devoted. Pilkington has hilariously mastered familiar dog mannerisms from scratching fleas to nestling into the forbidden sofa. Monez is utterly believable as the guy who is reduced to a bowl of Jell-O by a pair of large brown eyes and a fetching wiggle.
The meeting of these two lonely hearts create a irresistible duo -- irresistible to everyone, that is, except Greg's wife, Kate (Debbie Baughman).
Unlike Greg, Kate is on a upward path. Free for the first time to focus on her career -- teaching English to inner city kids -- she is gaining notice for her work. There's no emptiness in her work; teaching middle-schoolers to love Shakespeare is an absorbing challenge for her. She has no need for a dog in her life.
If Greg had brought home a human mistress and installed her in the house, Kate could not have been less enthusiastic. As the bond between the man and dog grows, it's clear that Kate regards Sylvia as just as much of a threat to her marriage.
Like Monez and Pilkington, Baughman is superb in her role, completing a menage a trois that has Greg caught in the middle, the classic dilemma of any man who tries to love two females.
How is it resolved? As anyone who has ever stumbled out of bed on a Saturday morning at a dog's urgent summons knows, you can never underestimate the power of a dog to carry the day.
Robert Silva, Rose Marie Sweeney, Jessica MacMillan and Mark Mautner round out the cast of this delightful show, directed by Carla Poggemeyer. It's a show for every dog lover -- and everyone who wonders just what really matters in the busy, often crazy life we all live.
One note: Even if she is possibly one part French poodle, Sylvia is a street-wise dog, with a vocabulary honed in a hard-scrabble life before she met Greg.
For anyone thinking of taking kids (who will doubtlessly be entertained by Sylvia's antics) Dreamweavers is presenting family matinees on Sundays, in which Sylvia cleans up her vocabulary a bit, Poggemeyer has announced.
Show dates are June 24-26 and July 1-3, 8-10, 15-17, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $18 general, $15 students and seniors. For reservations, call 255-LIVE (5483).
From the Napa Register's website - © 2003, Pulitzer Newspapers, Inc.
