Happy New Year! If too much champagne is making you seriously consider \u201cdry January,\u201d you may be pleased to know that two local plays this month are focusing on the equally serious subject of murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And just to keep things from getting too sober, there\u2019s a spoof of an iconic 1980s brat-pack movie as well, among other shorter-run imaginative stagings this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But first, murder. As it does each January, the Long Beach Playhouse is staging an Agatha Christie whodunnit. This year it\u2019s the time-traveling \u201cGo Back for Murder,\u201d<\/strong> in which daughter Carla tries to clear her mother\u2019s name years after she was convicted of murdering her husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe daughter persuades those present on the day of her father\u2019s death to return to the scene of the crime and \u2018go back\u2019 16 years to recount their version of events,\u201d the Playhouse says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGo Back for Murder\u201d is actually Christie\u2019s 1960 stage adaptation of her 1942 book \u201cFive Little Pigs\u201d featuring detective Hercule Poirot. However, in the play, Carla takes on the role of detective, assisted by a lawyer whose own father had led the case against Carla\u2019s mother back in the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Playhouse is offering a half-price preview on Friday, Jan. 9 before the play\u2019s Jan. 10 opening-night champagne gala (assuming you\u2019re ready for another glass by then). <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGo Back for Murder\u201d runs Jan. 10 to Feb. 7 at the Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., with shows Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. For tickets and information visit <\/em>LBPlayhouse.org<\/em><\/a> or call the box office at 562-494-1014. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For murder of a more political nature, look no further than Long Beach Shakespeare Company\u2019s staging of William Shakespeare\u2019s historical tragedy \u201cJulius Caesar”<\/strong> beginning Jan. 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The play centers on Roman dictator Julius Caesar and the senators who fear his ambitious power-grabbing will destabilize the republic \u2014 so much so that they plot his assassination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen does loyalty become betrayal?\u201d the theater asks. \u201cThis timeless tale of ambition and power shows how legends are born not only from triumph, but from the chaos they leave behind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the play is known for Caesar\u2019s parting line, \u201cEt tu, Brute?\u201d it\u2019s also rhetorically astute. Mark Antony\u2019s speech in which he sways the public (\u201cplebeians\u201d) against Brutus and the other conspirators (\u201cFriends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears\u201d) is a masterclass in persuasion \u2014 and also a sad reflection on how easily manipulated citizens can be (hmm).<\/p>\n\n\n\n