Roxy’s unleashes romantic comedy ‘Sylvia’

Rhonda LaRue has been working like a dog to play the title role in the Roxy’s Downtown comedy “Sylvia.”

“This is a dream role,” said LaRue, who plays a part-poodle, part-Labrador rescue dog in the play, which opens Friday. “I’ve wanted to play Sylvia for a long time, so I’m really excited to have the opportunity to do it. It’s a lot of fun.”

Written by A.R. Gurney (“Love Letters”), “Sylvia” debuted off-Broadway in 1995, with Sarah Jessica Parker in the title role of a pooch who’s rescued by a middle-aged, upper-class New York City couple. In the Roxy’s version, Greg and Kate are played by Wichita theater veterans Ron Summers and Cindy Summers (no relation).

“I fell in love with the story,” director Michael Karraker said. “It’s not every day that you see a show where the dog tells her owners exactly what she’s thinking.”

Greg and Kate are empty nesters, Karraker said, and Greg’s relationship with Sylvia gives him something he’s missing.

“Pets just trigger something in you that is different than a spouse. Greg almost views her as a daughter, because he’s had that void in his life,” Karraker said.

LaRue and Karraker have several cats – but no dogs – but she said she’s been studying up on her canines.

“I watched a lot of YouTube videos and played with my friends’ pups to see their mannerisms and see what they do when they’re excited and how they sneeze and when they have to pee and fun stuff like that,” LaRue said with a laugh.

“It’s funny to me how the dog communicates, and they have such a wonderful relationship. Sometimes she’s a dog, and sometimes she’s human,” LaRue added.

Ron Summers says the script captures the relationship between pets and humans.

“A lot of people actually think they’re having conversations with their dog. He does ratchet it up a couple of notches, where they have actually conversations,” he said of his character. “It wasn’t difficult, because you know people who do that. You see people having conversations with their dogs, and it’s rather amusing, rather fascinating to watch. To me, that’s a deeper love. I think Greg is looking for something. I think he’s missing something.”

“He’s reached a plateau in his life,” Karraker said of Greg. “He’s not happy, and he fills it more so with the love of a pet. I think anybody can relate to that.”

While Greg nears retirement, his wife got her master’s degree and teaches Shakespeare.

“She sees the dog as an intruder in the marriage,” the actress said.

Rounding out the cast is Kevin Reese, who plays three roles: a stranger Greg meets at the dog park, a female friend of Kate, and an androgynous therapist.

“She likes her patients to select her gender,” Reese said.

Karraker and the cast members say that “Sylvia” rises above the gimmick of an actress playing a dog.

“It goes way beyond that because it’s not a gimmick, it’s not a skit,” Ron Summers said. “This is a funny show, but there’s also a lot of touching, heartwarming things that happen.”

Roxy’s version of “Sylvia” has a limited, two-weekend run because of the actors’ tight schedules. It is not the Wichita debut for the show, having played at the Crown Uptown in the late ‘90s.

Karraker said that the more known the show is, the more likely people are to come out and see it the second time around.

Roxy’s is partnering with several area pet-related businesses to drum up attendance of the show by dog owners, he said, but having a canine isn’t a prerequisite to enjoy the play.

With its set, lighting and background music, Karraker said “Sylvia” will try to evoke romantic comedy films of the 1990s.

“It’s such a heartwarming show, comedy and drama mixed in,” he said. “It’s a thinking, pet-owner’s show.”

This story was originally published August 16, 2017 at 3:42 PM with the headline "Roxy’s unleashes romantic comedy ‘Sylvia’."