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February is a busy theater month! And there seems to be something for everyone at Long Beach venues — a murder-mystery and Shakespearean tragedy that are entering their final weekends, and new shows including a spiritual drama, a “witty” musical comedy, an inspirational musical “masterpiece,” and a bawdy, gender-bending political play.
Long Beach Shakespeare Company’s “Julius Caesar,” William Shakespeare’s political tragedy, is entering its final weekend at the Helen Borgers Theatre, 4250 Atlantic Ave., with shows Thursday, Feb. 5 and Saturday, Feb. 7.
A soothsayer warns Caesar, “beware the Ides of March,” but will February spare him? To find out, call the box office at 562-997-1494 or visit LBShakespeare.org for tickets.
At Long Beach Playhouse, Agatha Christie’s “Go Back for Murder” is also entering its final weekend, in which a daughter must time-travel through memory and reenactment to find out who really killed her father.
Then later this month, for three weekends beginning Feb. 21, the Playhouse will stage August Wilson’s “Gem of the Ocean,” directed by Rovin Jay.
The play is set in 1904, the first of Wilson’s “Pittsburgh Cycle” of ten plays exploring 20th-century Black experience in terms of slavery’s legacy.
An Alabama man named Citizen Barlow arrives in Pittsburgh seeking the help of Aunt Ester, a spiritual advisor in the city’s Hill District, a predominantly Black community. She sends Citizen on a spiritual journey aboard a mystical slave ship to visit the mythical home of the ancestors called City of Bones.
“Confronted with the plight of those who came before him,” the Playhouse describes, “Citizen must come to terms with his own guilt in this unsettling but compelling story filled with humor and heart.”
For tickets to both “Go Back for Murder” and “Gem of the Ocean” at Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., call the box office at 562-494-1014 or visit LBPlayhouse.org.
International City Theatre’s first show this year begins Feb. 18 — the musical comedy “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” by Joe DiPietro.
The theater calls the musical a “crowd-pleasing comedy that explores the truths and myths of modern relationships.” Relationships are sent up through a series of vignettes beginning with awkward dating, hopeful marriage and all that comes after, including in-laws and babies.
“Hilarious and heartfelt, this revue is a tribute to anyone who’s ever loved, lost or simply wondered, ‘What are you doing Saturday night?’” says the theater.
Sounds like a perfect follow-up to Valentine’s Day.
For tickets to “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” at International City Theater, 330 E. Seaside Way, call the box office at 562-436-4610 or visit ICTLongBeach.org.
Musical Theatre West’s first show this year begins Feb. 13 and is also a musical but of an entirely different tenor, with “Man of La Mancha” set in a dungeon during the Spanish Inquisition.
Inspired by Miguel de Cervantes’ famous 1615 novel “Don Quixote” — about a nobleman who loses his sanity and transforms himself into a chivalrous knight battling imaginary foes like windmills — “Man of La Mancha” makes Cervantes himself the main character in a play within a play.
The story by Dale Wasserman, with music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion, has Cervantes mounting an idealistic defense of his life’s work by transforming his fellow prisoners into characters from his novel.
“Bold, theatrical and timelessly relevant, ‘Man of La Mancha’ is a masterwork of musical theatre that explores the thin line between reality and illusion,” the theater says. “Its powerful message of courage, hope and unyielding idealism […] challenges us to see the world not as it is, but as it should be.”
For tickets to Musical Theatre West’s “Man of La Mancha” at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center, 6200 E. Atherton St., call the box office at 562-856-1999 or visit Musical.org.
Finally, California Repertory Company — the producing arm of Cal State Long Beach’s theatre arts department — is launching its spring season with two shows this month.
“Love Notes: An Evening Cabaret,” performing in the campus’s University Theatre Feb. 12-14 and 18-20, charms for Valentine’s Day with “a dazzling mix of songs about love in all its wild, wonderful forms,” says the company.
“From flirty fun to sweet serenades, broken hearts to bold rebellions, all our feelings are on display when cupid comes to play,” it says. “Funny, romantic, and more than a little bit mischievous, love never sounded so good!”
And then on a more political note, Cal Rep will stage “The Assemblywomen” in the campus’s Studio Theatre for two weekends beginning Feb. 26, in association with Cornerstone Theater Company.
Adapted by Kate Attwell and Sunder Ganglani, the play takes a classical Greek comedy with bawdy humor, gender-bending disguise and sharp political bite and turns it “inside out” to become a celebration of collective liberation, the company says.
“What happens when democracy gets queered?” the company asks. “In this riotous remix of Aristophanes’ classic satire, the women of Athens slip into their husbands’ clothes, hijack the Assembly and launch a radical political makeover fueled by communal living, liberated desire and a gloriously queer reimagining of civic power.”For tickets to Cal Rep’s “Love Notes” and “The Assemblywomen” on the Cal State Long Beach campus, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., visit CSULB.edu.