Tom Chaits

A SWING AND A MISS Theater, like baseball, is a team sport. To reign triumphant and put a tick in the “W” box, all the players must be at the top of their game. When everyone hits a home run its magic, but even if a few players are having an off day, check the…

DREADFUL AT ANY PRICE Back in the1800s, the Industrial revolution was in full swing in merry ole England. The working class was becoming more educated and printing was becoming more affordable. To quench the thirst of the masses for every day diversions, “penny dreadfuls” hit the scene. These serialized fictional publications, sold for a penny,…

ROLE REVERSAL For its inaugural production at its new temporary home in Atwater Village, the Celebration Theatre has mounted The Homosexuals (pun intended). As one might glean from the title, Philip Dawkins’ play deals with the trials and tribulations of a group of gay friends and, of course, their self-proclaimed requisite “fag-hag.” In essence it’s…

HYDE IN PLAIN SIGHT Actors Co-op does it again! Last year’s re-imagining of The World Goes ‘Round  was musical perfection and this year’s Ah, Wilderness!  was a sentimental delight. Now Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde  crosses genres mastering the macabre and mysterious in an equally mesmerizing manner. Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher from the Robert Louis Stevenson novella Strange…

AN EASY PILL TO SWALLOW Thrillers are always a tough act to pull off in the theater which is why they are so rarely produced. When the show is a revival (or reworking as it is here) and it has been turned into a widely seen motion picture the ability to involve, surprise and shock…

HOLY HORROR It’s that that time of year again when everyone and their brother is looking to scare the crap out of you. To that end, The Original Interactive Horror Theatre Company is back to terrorize their patrons with Delusion: Masque of Mortality. Last year they presented the highly successful  Delusion: The Blood Rite at a…

SAY WATT? While it is probably safe to assume that the NoHo Arts Center Ensemble’s “playwright in residence,” Joshua Ravetch, had some bright idea in mind when writing The Light Bulb, I must admit that after sitting through the uninterrupted 90 minutes I was left totally in the dark.   Try though I did, I simply…

SHAFTED! There’s a story to be mined in “them thar” hills of West Ver-ginny but unfortunately The Burnt Part Boys, making its west coast premiere at the Third Street Theatre, doesn’t dig deep enough to unearth it. The West Coast Ensemble Theater has ventured below ground before with their award-winning production of Floyd Collins back…

BLUE MAN GROUP GETS BOWLED OVER International phenomenon Blue Man Group (BMG)  made their Hollywood Bowl debut on Friday in a wildly uneven yet ultimately entertaining evening ranging from moments of true wonderment to “what were they thinking?” befuddlement. The theme of the night was  FUN and Principal Guest Conductor Thomas Wilkins and members of LA Phil’s…

THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER:OR IS IT? Smart, funny and thought-provoking, Rapture, Blister Burn has arrived at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood with the original New York cast in tow. Written by Gina Gionfriddo (Pulitzer Prize finalist for Becky Shaw) the show puts a new spin on the often beaten to death themes of gender…

RUPTURED RAPTURE Attending the opening night of a comedy at one of the smaller 99 seat theaters in Los Angeles can be problematic. In addition to a minute smattering of critics and avid theatergoers, the audience is primarily made up of friends of the cast and members of the theater company.   Therein lies the rub.  …

IT IS WHAT IT IS Set your “expectation meter” in the mid-range and you will probably enjoy The Judy Show: My Life as a Sitcom starring comedienne Judy Gold. However, if you enter the theater high on anticipation expecting to be wowed you will more than likely be disappointed. The bottom line is that “it…

JEKYLL AND HYDE DIRECTION MAKES THE MAGIC DISAPPEAR IN WATSON AND THE DARK ART OF HARRY HOUDINI Writer/Director Jaime Robledo follows up his award-winning smash hit Watson: The Last Great Tale of the Legendary Sherlock Holmes (reviewed here) with a world premiere sequel Watson  and the Dark Art of Harry Houdini at the Sacred Fools Theater…

ALIVE WITH AMBIGUITY If you require a neat and tidy ending, a feeling of clarity, and a sense of completion to insure your theatrical enjoyment, then Dying City – making its Los Angeles premiere at the Rogue Machine Theatre —is not for you. If on the other hand you appreciate that a life examined offers…

THE NORTH PLAN STARTS ON COURSE THEN GOES SOUTH A ruthless splinter group has seized power in Washington and a low level bureaucrat who has escaped with the new regime’s “hit list” is on the lam and heading for a backwoods Missouri town in Jason Wells’ political satire. The North Plan, now playing at The…

THE ROYALE PACKS A PUNCH SLAP There are many things to recommend about The Royale, currently making its World Premiere at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. The staging is brilliant, the fight choreography mesmerizing, the lighting stunning, the music and sound enthralling, and many of the performances are excellent. So what then prevents this drama from…

A ROCKY ROCKY MOUNTAIN ROMANCE In mountaineering lingo, “committing†refers to forcing yourself into a place of no return leaving nowhere to go but forward; and so it is with life, loss and love in Sharr White’s (The Other Place*) two-hander, Annapurna, making its Los Angeles premiere courtesy of the Odyssey Theatre. A drama with…

AFTERNOON DELIGHT Some people indulge in “culture” because they think that’s what they are supposed to do. They will slog their way through hours of highbrow offerings on PBS, slumber through a symphony or sit stupefied by a Shakespearian epic all because it makes them feel intellectually superior. The only problem is they aren’t having…

TRAINSPOTTING IS ON THE RIGHT TRACK Whether L.A. theatergoers are ready or not, seat of your pants Productions has resurrected it’s much ballyhooed 2002 mounting of Henry Gibson’s Trainspotting at the Elephant Theatre in Hollywood and while much of its power remains intact, it is definitely not for the squeamish. All matter of human excrement…