Tom Chaits

INDELICATE AND OUT OF BALANCE When Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance won the Pulitzer Prize in 1967 it was no doubt a theatrical revelation. Although it didn’t pack the emotional wallop of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1962), the story of an aging couple, upper-crust empty nesters forced to confront the ramifications of both their…

AN ORGAN-IC CONCLUSION Disney Hall’s 2013/2014 Organ Recital Series comes to a rousing conclusion on Sunday, May 4th with Johann Sebastian Bach’s most complex and demanding organ composition Clavier-Übung III (German Organ Mass). Taking command of the keys and putting the multitudinous pedals to the metal will be world renowned organist Paul Jacobs. Adding to…

A TOOTHLESS LION James Goldman’s The Lion in Winter is a brilliant study in castle intrigue laced with deceit and deception, alliances and allegiances, backstabbing and double dealing. The power of the 1966 drama emanates from its uncompromising wit and biting humor. Unfortunately, under the direction of Stephanie Vlahos, The Colony Theater’s production, a muted…

IS THERE A DIRECTOR IN THE HOUSE? There is nothing inherently humdrum about the Geffen Playhouse’s production of Ruth Draper’s Monologues but there is nothing particularly exhilarating about it either. With Annette Bening, one of America’s most celebrated actresses, letting loose performing selections by Ruth Draper, one of America’s most celebrated monologists, what could possible…

TENOR EVENTUALLY SINGS BUT NEEDS MORE NOTES Farce is difficult. You need to get your audience to suspend disbelief as mischief, mayhem and lots of slamming doors abound, and a series of unlikely and improbable events unfold. Get it right and the ridiculous becomes the hysterical. Get it wrong and it lays there like a…

DEMOLITION DERBY Sometimes at the end of a play such as The Lieutenant of Inishmore or Killer Joe, I gaze upon the total destruction of the set and think, “I’m glad I don’t have to clean that mess up.” Such was the case with Derby Day, now physically and emotionally wrecking the stage at the…

SLOWGIRL SIMMERS In cooking it is often necessary to heat a mixture slowly bringing it to a simmer and keeping it just below the boiling point, allowing all its savory sweetness to surface. Such is the case with the Geffen Playhouse’s production of Greg Pierce’s Slowgirl. Performed “alley” style (an oblong stage flanked by seating…

NOTSOGUD Everything you need to know about Ruskin Group Theatre’s current world premiere production is revealed in the title: TALHOTBLOND: everybody lies online. If you are at all tech savvy’”or for that matter have in the last decade read a paper or watched TV (Dateline: To Catch a Predator)’”this news will be anything but a…

A SHORT TAKE ON A LONG TRIP Sometimes critics get caught up in their own words and feel the need to expand upon their self-important ramblings beyond all reason.   They spew forth with so much falderal that their point is completely lost, and they simply end up beating a dead horse.   The same can be…

FIVE-ALARM ACTING SETS THE STAGE ABLAZE IN FIREMEN After sixteen years of a nomadic existence, Echo Theater Company has finally found a permanent home at the Atwater Village Theater. If their world premiere production of Firemen is any indication, they’ll be burning up the boards in these new digs for a long time to come….

NO NEED TO HOP ON OVER TO THE FALCON There’s an old European superstition: In order to ward off evil spirits and bad luck the first words you utter on the first day of every month must be ”rabbit, rabbit, rabbit.” As a child frightened of monsters lurking in her bedroom, comedienne and actress Gilda…

SHANGHAIED A musical featuring three performers and 5,000 years of Chinese history in just 90 minutes sure sounded promising, but the production of China: The Whole Enchilada currently serving up won-ton laced humor at the Sacred Fools Theater leaves the theatrical diner longing for a more satisfying meal. Upon viewing, it’s easy to see why…

B MINOR MASSIVE Bach’s Mass in B Minor is big. Really big. Compiled from new and recycled compositions over the first half of the 18th Century (completed in 1749) the piece consists of 27 movements in 5 parts. The full mass was not performed as a whole until nearly a century after Bach’s death. The…

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED For over half a century, Rachel Rosenthal has been surprising audiences with her unique take on the theatrical experience. A master of performance art, she was recently honored by the city as a “Living Cultural Treasure of Los Angeles.” Over the decades she has shocked, stunned, entranced, amazed, enlightened, and even dumbfounded…

FEAR THE HYPHENATE If a person is lucky enough, they will discover their passion in life and be able to fine tune and truly excel at that skill. Others flounder about, trying a bit if this and a bit of that, becoming a jack of all trades but master of none. They’re called “hyphenates.” In…