The Curious Savage
at Corona del Mar

Reviewed on November 3, 2017

Sydney Young
San Juan Hills
Submitted for publication to Orange County Register

CdM's The Curious Savage is Whimsical and Touching

The Curious Savage at Corona del Mar is both beautiful and witty, a tribute to finding where one belongs in an "egg-shell" world, where humans experience constant judgement. An elderly woman whose late husband has left her ten million dollars, Mrs. Savage, is admitted to a sanatorium where she meets an array of different and colorful personalities in her fellow psychiatric patients. Her greedy stepchildren are furiously searching for where she could have hidden her enormous fortune. Through the chaos of the treasure hunt, the patients become family to Mrs. Savage in a story of love, community, and loyalty.

Mrs. Savage, portrayed flawlessly by Makena Harper, takes the audience through the experience of walking into such a peculiar place and truly accepting her circumstances and pouring into her fellow patients, ultimately impacting their lives for the better and showing them love. Harper balances high-society sophistication and the maternal quirkiness that the cloisters come to know and love.

Each psychiatric patient in the sanatorium took on a completely unique persona, which is shown through his or her distinguished mannerisms. With such contrasting characters as the bubbly Fairy May (Sierra Stoliar), the quiet yet erratic Mrs. Paddy (Breanna Linden), the charismatic Hannibal (Andres Delgado), the reserved Jeffrey (Joshua Montana Flores), and the maternal Florence (Grace Shackelford) one would expect discord, but the actors seamlessly create an environment of unity through their apparent sense of community and love for one another.

Annika Quist contributed to this "egg-shell" world through simple yet impactful costume design. Throughout the show, the characters wear shades of white, beige, and tan- excluding Mrs. Savage, for whom hair and makeup designer Jennifer Rosales chose a bright royal blue bob, a contrast to the dull color scheme that has been established. As the show comes to a close, each cloister dons a new, brightly colored accessory, paying homage to the character's distinguished personality. This allows the audience to see how Mrs. Savage has touched each of these misfits' lives.

Props, designed by Brittany Weinstock, add to the monotonous eggshell world that the director intended to create. The walls are lined with bookshelves, each one filled with hundreds of books wrapped in neutral colors to keep the scheme, as well as the rest of the necessary props being painted to fit in.

Olivia Kehoe
Fullerton Union
Submitted for publication to OC Cappies Facebook

The theatre goes dark, then light, and the stage is illuminated, revealing the soft beiges, tans, and whites of The Cloisters living room. It's the opening act of Corona del Mar's The Curious Savage, and, as the scenes fly past, the vibrancy of the show proves to be far from the neutrality of the living room.

Mrs. Savage (Makenna Harper), a wealthy and witty widow, with teddy bear in hand and bright blue hair blazing, is accused of insanity and placed in The Cloisters, a sanitorium, by her three children intent on taking control of their late father's wealth. While in the sanitorium, Mrs. Savage brings light to the residents suffering from fierce and varied inhibitions, helping them break from their fears and simply live.

Sierra Stoliar brings to life the character of Fairy Mary, a little girl full of energy, humor, and the inability to separate fact from fiction. Always active, with a humorous comment or anecdote to share in her nasally and high-pitched little voice, Fairy's journey to accepting reality shows the audience the importance of embracing life for what it is.

Breanna Linden plays Mrs. Paddy, an unstable lady who has been quiet since her husband told her to shut up and only break the silence to launch into tirades listing all the things she hates. This character's tearful "I love you" to Mrs. Savage at the end shows that love conquers all and is vastly stronger and more potent than hate.

The tech side of this show is executed flawlessly, shows vastness through a seemingly simplistic set. The creamy beige set, full of hand-wrapped books by props person Brittany Weinstock along with the neutral costumes by Annika Quist created the illusion of the "eggshell world" of the sanitorium, a world that is fragile and empty and in sharp contrast to Mrs. Savage's bright blue hair, done by Jennifer Rosales.

In all, this show shows the need to embrace reality despite the hardships we may face.

Melanie Pinzon
Fullerton Union
Submitted for publication to OC Cappies Facebook

CDM's "The Curious Savage" is a blast of color in ‘eggshell' world
written by Melanie Pinzon, a senior at Fullerton Union High School

The show begins. An ensemble of actors appear on stage. Suddenly, the lights go out--then they come on--then they go out again. The white sanatorium walls rumble as chaos ensues onstage, and resident Florence Williams again condemns Mrs. Paddy for her hatred of electricity.

CDM High School's production of "The Curious Savage" is witty and rousing, telling the story of "The Cloisters," a group of five residents who are restlessly awaiting the arrival of a new patient, Mrs. Savage.

Makena Harper as Mrs. Savage strides across the stage in a bright blue wig, forcing the audience to set her apart from the others. She is confident, intelligent, and the rightful orchestrator of madness, as she consistently runs circles around her stepchildren, the Savages.

The Savages (Stephen Weinstock, Adrienne Simpson, and Marc Gildenhuys) outrage the audience with their constant demands for their mother's 10 million dollar bonds, each slinking around the stage in annoyance at her unwillingness to give them up and fantastically berating the patients with their financial interests.

Sierra Stoliar enchants the audience with her ditzy character, sanatorium resident Fairy May, who struts around the stage in childlike wonder. With a high pitched voice that makes her performance outrageously comedic and timely, Fairy May is beautifully crafted and elegant in her own mad way.

Andres Delgado brings harmony to the stage as he horrendously bows the strings to his violin, sharing with Mrs. Savage his expertise on the residents and offering his advice, making Mrs. Savage's stay worthwhile.

The cast ultimately work together to create a delightful contrast- the Cloisters being the textbook "mad" inmates and the Savages being your typical wealthy family. Such contrast leads the audience to question who the crazy ones really are, as Mrs. Savage herself wonders where she really belongs.

The costumes (Annika Quist) are all brilliantly put together to represent the ‘ticks' that all of the characters embody, each in his or her own variation of white. Mrs. Savage dawns her own elegant taupe A-line dress representing her tasteful personality, as Fairy May wears a tattered white ‘50s style dress that is held together with safety pins.

Distinct in personality but living in the same eggshell reality, CDM's production of "The Curious Savage" is absolutely ingenious as it sheds light on the formality of judgement.