Family friend and doctor John Cristow comes down for the weekend with his dim but dependable wife Gerda, to join Sir Henry, Lady Lucy and young Henrietta, a successful sculptor.

It quickly becomes clear cousin Henrietta knows Cristow more intimately than she should, and a famous American movie star Veronica Craye who has taken up residence in a cottage down the road turns out to be Cristow’s lost true love.

Meanwhile another guest, ineffectual cousin Edward, is in love with Henrietta. A love which Lady Lucy would like to see come to marriage so as to keep the family line going.

Once Cristow is bumped off, both Edward and Lucy are prime suspects! But there are also the spurned lovers to view with an eye of suspicion!

I enjoyed this performance tremendously. Characters were lively, the plot moves quickly. However, Cristow was not believable to me as a man who has a way with women, and Gerda's insanity at the end of the play was predictable and poorly performed. Henrietta was played quite well, as well as the american actress and Lady Lucy. I also especially liked the butler. He was airy and somewhat devious (not certain if I'm conveying him well) and I'd like to see this gentleman in other performances.

The sexual tension is rather muted between the characters, although young cousin Midge, the final member of the party who pines for Edward’s love, does add some spiciness now and then.

Sir Henry is played well enough, I suppose the shortcomings are more due to the part's restrictive role because I felt the actor did a great job.

Once Cristow has been killed and the police are called in, the play becomes more interesting now that we're in the "whodunnit" phase but the performance if the inspector and his detective are more of a monologue painting events for us rather than what I would consider true performance of detective work.

All in all though, I enjoyed the performance and recommend it highly! We also had dinner at Greenfield's, which is walking distance from the play. I recommend parking at LBPH, walking to/from Greenfield's and planning at least a 2 hr dinner - longer for a group of 12, which is what I had. By parking at LBPH you have the best parking (driving to LBPH after dinner will result in parking outside their parking lot) and you will not have to pay the valet at Greenfield's.

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The play was at times difficult to follow in that there were a lot of characters coming and going. The stage direction was also quirky with people changing chairs, gettting a drink, etc. when it didn't seem necessary. Overall though it is still a special night out at the Long Beach Playhouse.

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Great play. It was a total whodunit. My fiance and I kept guessing who we thought did it but were wrong every time. The playhouse was adorable. I've lived in Long Beach for 3 years and I can't believe I've never been there before. I'm definitely going back!

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We were a little late because of course Mapquest sent us in the wrong direction.LOL But once we were seated, the show was great. The actress that played Lucy was especially amusing. I thought they made the most of the limited space and put on strong performances. The actor playing Gudgeon was great and perfectly in character. I'm glad we made it!

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