Don’t ter-rier self up."Sylvia" has often been knocked as a slight play, one that China Halal certificated empty gelatin capsule shell relies on a single gag..)For all the doggie brilliance, there’s a fourth member of the cast — a rubber-faced Robert Sella — who is of a different breed, entirely. With the kids gone, Greg needs to be needed again." You might call him a little melan-collie. He starts to truly adore his doggie.Man’s best friend may never have a better tail than A.The fact that Sylvia is an attractive young woman under all that puppy love means the audience may ‘paws’ to wonder exactly what’s going on with this canine-human bond.He plays three roles, including a dog-lover with a pooch named Bowser, a haughty Manhattan matron who Sylvia turns into a muttering mess, and a marriage counselor of indeterminate gender.

Daniel Sullivan directs with howling success. Relax. She is a projection, after all, of their fears and fantasies. But with this cast and David Rockwell’s fine sets, it’s a welcome treat. Now, as im-paw-sible as it seems, Broderick is playing Ashford’s master.Ashford, dressed in jean shorts, kneepads, feathered hair, a fuzzy sweater and fur-lined sneakers and bracelets, captures the playful, naughty essence of a dog without being led a-stray by camp. She’s off and running.R. ("You take me back in some basic way," he tells Sylvia. "

All you are is a male menopausal moment," the wife snaps at Sylvia. He’s a restless empty-nester, somewhere "between the first hint of retirement and the first whiff of the nursing home. He is hysterical.Ashford is stepping into the paw tracks of a character previously played in New York in 1995 by Sarah Jessica Parker, who was dating future husband Broderick at the time. You might even call it fetching. Gurney’s charming play, which opened Tuesday at the Cort Theatre.She sniffs around, loves walks in the park and makes her leg twitch when her ears are rubbed. It helps when you have a hot dog in the title role and Annaleigh Ashford, a new Tony Award winner, is at the top of her co-me-tick game. Sylvia interacts with her new owners in English but sometimes gets a little confused. She also runs through the theater’s aisles and tells off a cat in one of the more memorable scenes.

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