For The Telephone at Parea Virtual Recital Series, October 2020
Broadway World
Maria Nockin, October 3, 2020
Read the full review here
"This online show was fascinating."
"During the overture, Lucy performs actions common to those of us in quarantine for COVID-I9. She shows her "haul" from shopping, exercises on the couch, starts to cook, and plays with an exquisitely disinterested cat. Ben is restless because he has to catch a train but he wants to propose marriage to Lucy first."
For La fille du régiment at Winter Opera St. Louis, January 2020
Broadway World
Steve Callahan, January 28, 2020
Read the full review here
"Stage director Audrey Chait manages her cast gracefully, with many touches of wit-as in the many curious and distinctly different hand-shakes when Tonio gets the blessing of each of Marie's "fathers", and in the assertively French pronunciation of two specific words: "Sergeant" (sahr-ZHAHN) and "regiment" (ray-zhee-MAHN)."
Ladue News
Mark Bretz, January 31, 2020
Read the full review here
"Chait’s stage direction kept the performance moving at a brisk and rewarding pace while also allowing plenty of time for her amiable cast to infuse their singing and acting with considerable flair."
For The Bartered Bride at Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, November 2019
Cincinnati Business Courier
Janelle Gelfand, November 22, 2019
Read the full review here
"Director Audrey Chait’s idea to update Smetana’s 19th-century opera “The Bartered Bride” to a Czech community in 1948 Texas was a stroke of genius, in the production that opened Thursday at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
In the small immigrant community, the townsfolk crowned the kolache king and queen. The idea of an arranged marriage, as in the old country, still made sense, as did the bride Mařenka’s refusal to accept that fate. The concept was especially successful as in the Act III traveling circus, where the cowboy-hatted Ringmaster introduced a dazzling show that bridged the old and new worlds."
"Chait’s staging was lively and utterly natural."
Broadway World
Steve Callahan, March 12, 2018
Read the full review here
“A very important element in the overall excellence of the evening is the deft, masterful work of Stage Director Audrey Chait. She handles the large chorus (including four charming little girls) amazingly well. The stage, though often full, is never crowed, always natural, never static. Every "stage picture" is beautifully composed.
And the show bursts with lovely, clever bits of business: two old men playing checkers could have just walked to the square from a game of bocce ball at Milo's; there's much fun to be had in the energetic shaking of the magic bottle of elixir; Belcore's crisp military salute ends with a little grace-note of a flirting wave. The funniest thing I ever saw in an opera is Dr. Dulcamara singing a duet while he is eating a huge bowl of spaghetti. (How in the world?)”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Sarah Bryan Miller, March 10, 2018
Read the full review here
“Directorial “concepts” abound in the world of opera: updates to other times, stagings that do violence to the nature of the characters, new interpretations forced on an old story.
Once in a while, though, a concept comes along that works. Winter Opera St. Louis’ charming new production of Gaetano Donizetti’s comic opera “L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love),” seen Friday night at the Viragh Center for the Arts, is a case in point."
“Director Audrey Chait provided clever staging and made fine comic use of her cast. Dulcamara came on pushing his cart, then opened it to reveal that his cute blonde assistant was inside. A chorister attempted and failed to play a trumpet fanfare, finally calling out “Soccorso, maestro! (Assistance, maestro!)” to the conductor — whereupon trumpet Jason Harris nailed it from the pit."
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Ladue News
Mark Bretz, March 9, 2018
Read the full review here
“Stage director Audrey Chait does solid work moving the large ensemble consistently across the wide Viragh stage, keeping the show looking organized and never cluttered and also smoothly paced.”
For L'elisir d'amore at Winter Opera St. Louis, March 2018
For La cenerentola at Opera Las Vegas, June 2018
Broadway World
Maria Nocklin, June 11, 2018
Read the full review here
"Director Audrey Chait injected some form of comedy, often slapstick, into every possible situation and the result was an evening of one laugh after another."
For Scalia/Ginsburg at Opera North, October 2018
Delta Sky Magazine, December 2018
DSM featured a photo of Emily Misch and Derek Jackenheimer as part of a write up of RBG's far-reaching cultural impact.
