Long Beach to host a variety of theater events this weekend

Detours is a holiday stage play that reunites a troubled family when everyone comes home for the annual Christmas Eve dinner. The play will reveal the detours that each of the family members have taken and their road to wholeness.

Based on the classic film, this joyous musical features thrilling dance numbers, laugh-out-loud comedy and a parade of hit Irving Berlin songs, including “Blue Skies,” “Easter Parade,” “Steppin’ Out With My Baby,” "Heat Wave” and “White Christmas.” Irving Berlin’s "Holiday Inn" tells the story of Jim, who leaves the bright lights of show business behind to settle down on his farmhouse in Connecticut. He quickly discovers life isn’t the same without a bit of song and dance. So Jim and Linda, a spirited schoolteacher with talent to spare, turn the farmhouse into a fabulous inn that celebrates each holiday, from Thanksgiving to the Fourth of July.

This past year, LBSC has brought several villains to the Helen Borgers Theatre (Iago, Mephistopheles and Tamora, just to name a few). Now, with "The Plot to Overthrow Christmas," we bring you more villains in a single dose than you’ve seen all year. Written by her father’s close friend, Norman Corwin, this piece was a favorite of Helen’s, and we dedicate it to her, along with some of her favorite poems sprinkled throughout, such as "King John’s Christmas" by A.A. Milne and "The Cremation of Sam McGee" by Robert Service.

Feuding tailors, a cocaine-addicted rabbi and a Jewish woman who joins a fundamentalist Christian sect are just a few of the characters in the sometimes poignant, often humorous stories told through music in singer-songwriter Daniel Cainer's "Jewish Chronicles." Produced by Debra Ehrhardt (writer-performer of "Jamaica Farewell"), Cainer's one-man musical journey won an Edinburgh Fringe Award and has been a smashing success from London to New York to Sydney thanks to his deft storytelling ability and virtuoso piano chops.