Fans of Matthew Broderick yowled and yipped when it was announced that the Tony winner and film star would return to Broadway in AR Gurney’s canine/human comedy Sylvia, which opens on 27 October. Broderick plays Greg, a lost middle-aged man who finds a frisky pup, Sylvia, at a local park and embarks on an affair of the kibble and heart, which troubles Greg’s wife, Kate.
Broderick’s own wife, Sarah Jessica Parker, probably wouldn’t mind. She originated the role of Sylvia when the play debuted 20 years ago. The Tony-winning comedian Annaleigh Ashford plays the hound now. On the phone before a preview performance, Broderick, who once voiced a border collie in Good Boy!, spoke of dogs past and present and why he does his dreaming onstage.
Do you have a dog?
I do. A rat terrier. A little white dog. A very tough little New York dog. She also spends time in the Hamptons with us, too. She’s on the beach a lot in the summer.
What is her name?
Kissy. She was named by a two-year-old.
Have you always had dogs?
When I was little I was allergic to them. I always wanted them, but I never had them. When I got older I finally tried it out. The first dog I got was a border collie. Her name was Sally. When my wife first did this play, Sylvia, I had Sally. So the original Sylvia was very much based on Sally.
Did Sarah Jessica Parker give an accurate portrayal of your dog?
Very much so. I even have a picture of the two of them next to each other. It’s eerie. She really got the essence of Sally, who was a rather lazy dog, a really good dog. She would hold her head crookedly and look at you the way Sally did. She would point her ear toward whatever she was listening to. The playwright Pete Gurney said there was something she did about sniffing. He said it always freaked him out, it was so doglike.
How many times did you see that Sylvia?
I saw it a lot. I loved that play. When suddenly out of nowhere it came up this time, I read it and it all came back to me. I’d never considered playing that part.
What did you love about it?
I’ve liked Pete Gurney’s writing always. Very funny and subtle and actually profound. I’ve seen great performances of his plays so I’d always kind of wanted to do one. I did Love Letters a long time ago, where you sit and read. I’ve never done an actual Pete Gurney play where you know the lines until now.
I’m surprised that you never thought of playing Greg. From Ferris Bueller to Leo Bloom in The Producers, you have a natural way with dreamers. Greg is another.
Well, when I first saw Sylvia I was 30 or something. I never really thought I would be Greg’s age. But once it got sent to me it did seem like a natural fit.
Do you know why you’re drawn to dreamers and idealists?
I don’t know. I never thought of it that way, but suddenly you look back and maybe there is a trend. I started out as a smart aleck in all those Neil Simon things and then I moved into dreamer land.
Are you dreamy in your life? Do you have time with three kids?
No, I don’t have time for dreaming. I only do that in plays. Not in real life.
The marriage in this play is not happy ...
That’s true. They’re very connected, but it’s definitely not a pleasurable ride doing it. There are some hard truths discussed in this play. The play says that Greg is in the dangerous years between the first hint of retirement and the first whiff of the nursing home, which is not a pleasant thought. This man is in a middle-management position that he doesn’t like any more. His kids are gone. He’s in a difficult moment in life.
And Sylvia rescues him. Can you describe Annaleigh Ashford’s Sylvia?
She’s sort of a petulant teenager at times and then also occasionally very intelligent, which is confusing to Greg. She is brilliantly doglike. Her dog sometimes reminds me of Harpo Marx. The way that Harpo could come into a room and make everything into madness, she can do that. Her dog can really wreck a stateroom.
Greg does often relate to her as if she were a woman.
It can also be looked at as an affair in lots of ways. There’s nothing sexual about it. I don’t meet that. That would be revolting. She’s his midlife crisis – this young woman, this young dog.
Has the play made you think more about your relationship with your own dog?
A little. It’s made me notice my dog more. I had sort of forgotten about my dog. I’m not the best dog owner. My first dog, Sally, I would take endless walks at night with her. But my dog now, I’m more like, “Goddammit, I have to walk it, I have to feed it.” But the play has made me remember that I really love my dog, though lately seemed to have forgotten about her. Now I’m getting more involved again.
