ON THEATER:

It’s opening weekend in Huntington Beach, where two comedies are going on the boards at the Huntington Beach Playhouse and Golden West College.

The playhouse is reviving an oldie, “My Three Angels” by Samuel and Bella Spewack, while the college is testing the satirical waters with Christopher Durang’s “Beyond Therapy.” Both shows raise their curtains Friday night.

At the playhouse, the title characters are a trio of convicts, assigned to perform manual labor in French Guiana, a region where, on Christmas Day, the temperature has graciously dropped to 104 degrees. You might remember the movie version, “We’re No Angels,” with Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray and Peter Ustinov as the good-hearted baddies.

The convicts — two murderers and a swindler — really are angels when compared with two other characters — an evil-minded cousin of the French family operating a faltering mercantile business and his chilly nephew, about to jilt the proprietor’s daughter for an heiress.

“My Three Angels” will play weekends through May 24 at the Library Theater in the Huntington Beach Library, 7111 Talbert Ave., Huntington Beach. Call (714) 375 0696 for additional information and reservations.

Meanwhile, Golden West College continues its season in the intimate Stage West Theater, adjacent to the Mainstage Theater, which is undergoing renovations, with “Beyond Therapy,” Durang’s backhanded salute to the psychiatric profession. Martie Ramm is directing.

The slapstick satire “follows two lonely, struggling singles, Bruce and Prudence, who are deeply into therapy with their respective analysts,” Ramm explained.

“In this case, however, the lunatics are in charge of the asylum as both psychiatrists are far more in need of help than their bewildered, eccentric, but essentially well-adjusted patients.”

Golden West warns that the production contains strong language and adult content and is intended for mature audiences.

“Beyond Therapy” runs through May 10 at the Stage West Theater on the GWC campus, 15744 Goldenwest St., Huntington Beach.

The show will be staged for two weekends with curtain at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and at 2 p.m. Sundays. Reservations are being taken at (714) 895- 8150.

TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Independent.