It’s not the crazies who should be committed in John Patrick’s 1950 comedic gem The Curious Savage, the auspicious start to what promises to be the best season in years for North Hollywood’s the Group Rep.

It doesn’t matter that recently widowed septuagenarian Mrs. Ethel P. Savage (Sara Shearer) is in full possession of all her marbles, she’s no match for her three money-grubbing adult stepchildren, or at least so it would seem when the trio get her committed to a “sanatorium” with no intention of setting her free until the now wealthy widow reveals exactly where she’s stashed a half-million dollars in negotiable bonds she has no intention of letting her stepkids get their greedy little hands on. (That’s a whopping $6.5 million in today’s currency.)

It doesn’t take long for the perky, plucky Mrs. Savage to ingratiate herself with her fellow patients, or for us in the audience to find ourselves captivated by the charmingly oddball bunch and wondering just what each one’s backstory might be.

What could have happened to WWII vet Jeffrey (Christopher Landis) to have him hiding a nonexistent facial scar from a perplexed Mrs. Savage? Why does Florence (Maria Kress) insist that the babydoll she carries with her is her five-year-old son John Thomas? What has made Fairy May (Jessica Kent) a compulsive liar and terrified of the world outside The Cloisters? Why is Hannibal (Patrick Anthony) convinced he’s a violin virtuoso when all that comes from his attempt to play the instrument is a strident screech?

And why on earth are the only words out of grumpy Mrs. Paddy’s (Julie Davis) mouth a list of everything she hates in the world, including but not limited to “cold cream, hot dogs, codfish, crawfish, catnip, sheepdip, sawdust, subways, skewers, buttermilk, caterpillars, frictions, fractions, pins, puns, pens, policemen, and electricity?”

And don’t get me started on Mrs. Savage’s avaricious step-children Titus (Danny Salay), a full-of-himself United States senator; Lily Belle (Kathleen Taylor), a six-time divorcee with who knows how many more ex-husbands in her future; and Samuel (Steve Young), a judge with the dubious distinction of having had virtually all of his rulings overturned.

Administrative assistant/nurse Wilhemina aka “Miss Willie” (Amy Shaughnessy) and psychiatrist Dr. Emmett (Lloyd Pedersen) complete the quirky cast of this 75-year-old community theater favorite, engagingly directed for the Group Rep by Doug Engalla.

Blessed with the same blend of eccentricity and whimsy that made last year’s You Can’t Take It With You a bona fide crowd-pleaser, The Curious Savage not only delivers laugh after laugh (and never more so than when the Three Savage Stooges pop in for a visit) but packs a surprising emotional punch the deeper we dig into its characters past lives.

There’s not a weak link in the Group Rep ensemble, one headed to warm, wise, and witty perfection by Shearer and featuring one delightful, touching supporting turn after another, from Kress’s poised-and-proper Florence to Anthony’s sweet, sincere Hannibal to Kent’s adorably pixyish Fairy May to Landis’s inwardly scarred Jeffrey to Davis’s comically cranky Mrs. Paddy to Shaughnessy’s endlessly patient Miss Willie to Pedersen’s caring Dr. Emmett.

Salay’s pompous, self-important Titus and Young’s endlessly overlooked Samuel earn their own deserved share of laughs too, though when it comes to scenic larceny, there’s no more delectable scene-stealer than Taylor’s wildly, weirdly wonderful Lily Belle, no matter that she’s not exactly the right age for the role.

 Mareli Mitchel-Shields (set), Nick Foran (lighting), Brent Beerman (sound and props) and above all Shon LeBlanc (costumes) give The Curious Savage an all-around terrific production design spiced by an unscripted Act Two costume change for three key characters that is as hilariously inspired as costume changes get.

The Curious Savage is produced for the Group Rep by Aly York. Cynthia Bryant is assistant director. Lee Grober alternates in the role of Titus. Bita Arefnia is stage manager. Nora Feldman is publicist.

 The Curious Savage may not be as instantly recognizable a title as such other mid-20th-century comedy classics as Harvey, Born Yesterday, Arsenic And Old Lace, and the aforementioned You Can’t Take It With You, but it absolutely deserves to be.

As charming as it is whimsical and as funny and touching as comedies get, the Group Rep’s The Curious Savage opens what looks to be an all-around fabulous 2025 season* to crowd-delighting effect.

*The Curious Savage, Drat! The Cat!, Network, The Heidi Chronicles, My Spirits Soar, and Our Town

The Group Rep, Lonny Chapman Theatre, 10900 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood. Through February 23. Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00. Sundays at 2:00.
www.thegrouprep.com

–Steven Stanley
January 17, 2025
Photos: Doug Engalla

Tags: John Patrick, Los Angeles Theater Review, The Group Rep