SANTA MONICA—A.R. Gurney himself could not have chosen a better creative team both backstage and onstage for his acclaimed theatrical work “Sylvia.” The play that is directed by the legendary Gary Imhoff and produced by Alexandra Guarnieri is being presented until July 10 at the Edgemar Center for the Arts in sunny Santa Monica, and if opening night is any indication, be prepared to be dazzled by Frederick, Arden, Howard and Ayers.

After seeing the play at the Sierra Madre Playhouse several months ago, I thought to myself, how can it be improved? It was that good. However, immediately upon hearing from the maverick and talented filmmaker, director and writer Henry Jaglom that Gary Imhoff would be directing it, I prepared to be impressed. When I left the theatre on last Friday night along with famous friends Gregory Harrison, Judd Nelson, Golden Globe® Award winning actress Karen Black and child star Corey Feldman, we were all in awe of the brilliant direction this new production has taken, starring the ever overachieving thespian star Tanna Frederick.

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Playing the title role in Sylvia by A.R. Gurney, Tanna Frederick preens and gambols about the stage of the Edgemar Center for the Arts in Santa Monica like she owns the place. And she does. Her kinetic energy fills the theater as she riotously stretches, scratches, sniffs, humps, licks, and hurls herself into something resembling, but thankfully not exactly copying, a dog. Who talks. And who is the Other Woman in the midlife crisis of her new owner. Apologies—this being West Hollywood, he is a guardian.

It’s a role created by Sarah Jessica Parker, who earned rave reviews during Sylvia’s New York Run in the mid-90s. Frederick has the same seemingly zero body fat, skinny yet muscular frame of Parker, and with her tangled curls and general bounciness, she certainly recalls Parker’s scene-stealing turn in L.A. Story with Steve Martin.

Yet she makes the role her own.

A.R. Gurney’s hit play Sylvia has just opened at the Edgemar Center Theater in Santa Monica. It was first produced in New York in 1995 and starred Sarah Jessica Parker as Sylvia, Blythe Danner as Kate and Charles Kimbrough as Greg. It was a hit then and I predict this version of it will be a hit as well.

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Earlier this year, Tanna Frederick was a huge hit with audiences and critics in the enormously popular comedy “Sylvia,” when it was presented at Sierra Madre Playhouse. Now, she brings her starring performance to the Westside, where the play will be given a different directorial perspective by its new award-winning director, Gary Imhoff; and a new look from its award-winning production designer Joel Daavid.

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WHO: Written by A.R. Gurney. Directed by Gary Imhoff. Produced by Alexandra Guarnieri. Presented by Edgemar Center for the Arts.

WHERE: Edgemar Center for the Arts, on the Main Stage, 2437 Main St., Santa Monica, CA 90405. Parking is available (fee charged) in an onsite structure, and metered parking is available in nearby Lot 11, across the street from Peet’s Coffee.

WHEN: May 20- July 10, 2011. Thurs. through Sat at 7:30, Sun. at 5.

ADMISSION: $34.99. A limited number of seats at each performance will be available at a discounted price of $25. (Use promo code “Sylvia.”)

Except Opening Night Galas on Friday, May 20, and Saturday, May 21, $50 (includes Champagne and petit fours, with proceeds to benefit animal rescue charity New Leash On Life on Friday, and Santa Monica Animal Shelter on Saturday.

RESERVATIONS: (310) 392-7327.

ONLINE TICKETING: www.edgemarcenter.org

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Join surfing legend Shaun Tomson and actress, surfer, and founder of Surf24 Tanna Frederick, along with a host of other celebrities and pro-surfers as we rock the waves for a full 24 hours to raise money for the oceans we love.

You’ll howl with laughter as you fall in love with Sylvia. You’ll fall in love with “Sylvia,” the emotional and heart-felt comedy at the Sierra Madre Playhouse, and you’ll fall in love with Sylvia, the female lead in the play. This love story is the ultimate depiction of the philosophy that it doesn’t matter who you love or even what you love, only that you love.

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As the hit play Sylvia wanders into Santa Monica, at the Edgemar on May 19^th, following a smash run in Sierra Madre, I had a chat with its star, Tanna Frederick, who has been garnering great acclaim in the title role of…a dog.

I asked, “It’s quite a switch from being “Queen of the Lot” (her recently released film) to impersonating a canine. Does this require a different mindset, or is one just theinverse of the other?

The “red wrecker” smiled. “Yes, they are very different mindsets – a dog works off a single minded focus:  it’s when do we eat, I want a treat, I hate that cat, or, look at that lovely pair of Christian Loboutins; I want to chew the crap out of them. Dogs have such acute sensory mechanisms, and they zero in on one situation and that becomes the focus of everything.  My character in “Queen of the Lot,” Maggie, was always trying to keep up with everything and take in all the bits and pieces and emotional atmosphere and information and fit them together like a puzzle she could work with.  With dogs there’s none of that.  It’s ‘what’s happening right now is all I care about.’  It’s fun.”

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For those who want the New Year to “enter laughing”have we got a play for you! More fun than a barrel full of puppies, the Sierra Madre Playhouse is presenting Sylvia, the story of a man and his dog. Usually there is not much that is funny about a man and a dog, but A. R. Gurney’s story looks at the little details in a canine/human relationship and expands them to the highest level of absurdity, resulting in a scandalous comic tumble sure to tickle everybody’s tummy.

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