Tom Chaits

THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED, BUT THE AUDIENCE WASN’T SO LUCKY Douglas Carter Beane’s 2007 Tony-nominated play The Little Dog Laughed is a comedy. Apparently director Jon Cortez did not get that memo. Under his misguided, clueless and inept   watch at the Zephyr Theatre, what should be a brisk romp turns into a laborious 2 1/2…

THE PLAY’S THE THING IN BLAME IT ON BECKETT The Oxford Dictionary defines a dramaturge as “a literary editor on the staff of a theatre who liaises with authors and edits texts”; it is the trials and tribulations of a dramaturge that takes center stage in John Morogiello’s Blame it on Beckett, the second production…

THE BAT: A SWING AND A MISS Nowadays, more times than not, new plays are a wham-bam, down-and-dirty, in-and-out in 80 minutes “theater-lite” affair. Not that I’m complaining (I relish any chance to get to bed early), because even with their diminished running time, they are usually vapid, pointless exercises that delve no further than…

WHO NEEDS HORSES? FARM BOY GALLOPS ALL ON ITS OWN War Horse is the theatrical juggernaut that took London by storm, crossed the pond, swept the Tony Awards and hit the road, recently completing a run at the Ahmanson Theatre. The majesty of the fantastical staging’”especially the life-sized horses created by the Handspring Puppet Company’”provided…

ALL YOUR HARD WORK NEEDS MORE HARD WORK It’s safe to say that no writer sets out to pen an unexceptional play, but despite all of his hard work, the end result falls short. Such is the case with Miles Brandman’s All Your Hard Work, presented by the Brimmer Street Theatre Company and making its…

ALL FOR ONE Commonalities of the human experience take center stage in Mental Creatures: An Original Play With Music currently making its world premiere at the Lounge Theatre 2 in Hollywood. Written and performed by Jay Jacobson, the solo venture strives to show the sameness in all of us. Just in case the audience might…

AIMLESSLY ADRIFT ON GOLDEN POND After seeing the stage version of On Golden Pond, now playing at The Glendale Centre Theatre, it’s impossible not to think how much more rewarding it would have been to stay home, curl up on the couch with a big bowl of popcorn, and watch the 1981 film version starring…

GRIN AND SMILE AND LAUGH-ALOT Full disclosure: I am a big fan of Monty Python   and have seen five productions of Monty Python’s Spamalot. On Broadway, in Vegas, two touring companies in Los Angeles and now Musical Theatre West’s production currently running at The Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach. High art it is…

FLUFF IS NOT ENOUGH Fluffy Bunnies in a Field of Daisies is precisely the type of title that peaks curiosity leading one to think that with such a clever and catchy name it has to be good. Not so fast.   Celebrating its 10-year anniversary production, the show presented by Drew Brody / The Infinite Monkey…

CAST DIVES IN HEAD FIRST TO MAKE pool (no water) FLOAT If you’ve been wondering whatever happened to all those experimental communal collective consciousness theater pieces that made New York’s famed La MaMa legendary back in the early 70’s, wonder no more. The art form is alive and well and swimming into The Complex’s Flight…