Instead of trick-or-treating, you have two other choices on Halloween night: Long Beach Playhouse and Long Beach Improv Lab. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Long Beach Playhouse is opening No\u00ebl Coward\u2019s ghoulish \u201cBlithe Spirit\u201d<\/a> with a champagne gala on Halloween night, Saturday, Oct. 31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The witty 1941 play \u2014 which Coward wrote as a diversion during World War II \u2014 is considered a comedy, but with a dark undertone since it involves death and the supernatural. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the play, novelist Charles invites a medium to his home to conduct a s\u00e9ance so he can gather material for his upcoming book. But things get weird when the spirit of Charles\u2019 dead first wife, Elvira, appears. Only Charles can see and interact with Elvira as she creates havoc for him and his current wife, Ruth, who is very much alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Things take a darker, weirder, and also funnier turn when Elvira\u2019s spirit sabotages Charles\u2019 car, except Ruth is the one who drives it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBlithe Spirit\u201d runs Oct. 31 to Nov. 28 at Long Beach Playhouse\u2019s Mainstage Theatre, 5021 E. Anaheim St., with shows Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m., with two lower-priced previews on Thursday, Oct. 29 and Friday, Oct. 30. Tickets can be purchased through the box office at 562-494-1014 or at<\/em> LBPlayhouse.org<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n That same Halloween evening, Saturday, Oct. 31, the Long Beach Improv Lab<\/strong><\/a> is performing an improvised musical at Jammin\u2019 Music<\/a> in Bixby Knolls \u2014 but they need your help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The hour-long show called \u201cSlash: The Improvised Horror Musical\u201d is based on slasher films like \u201cHalloween,\u201d but with improvised songs about gruesome death, accompanied by piano. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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