Return to the Forbidden Planet

Lou Defty has done it again!  Visiting the Bob Carlton 1956 jukebox musical “Return to the Forbidden Planet”, a really tough show for youth to tackle, but Spennymoor Youth absolutely smashed it.

It’s loosely based on Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” with a score of 1950s and 1960s rock and roll, based on a spaceship the Albatross, superbly designed and constructed immersively by Eric Hickson and concealing the superb band lead by John Hudson, and is a really tough choice for youngsters.  Spennymoor Youth rose to the occasion and delivered a performance worthy of their excellent reputation in the region.  They were fabulous!

There was audience engagement encouraged from the onset by the large cast of beautifully costumed and immaculately turned out ensemble encouraging us all to pat our heads and ensure lift off!  Well done to the teams costuming and dressing the cast as they really did look superb, complimenting the Star Trek like setting, lit very effectively by Brightstar Light and Sound complimenting the cast extremely well.  There were projections, interactive in the set, video feed, lighting up parts of the set which jutted out in a thrust into the audience giving a lovely big playing area for the large cast and really used technology to their advantage.  Really effective, well done.

The choreography by Megs Defty was excellent.  Well rehearsed, appropriate for the age and ability of the cast, extremely well executed and precise, really well done Meg.  I loved the tap number in “Yeh Yeh” and there are some beautiful young dancers in the ensemble.  I was as an ex dancer very happy to see lovely straight elbows in finish positions and loved the country and western feel to “Mr Spaceman”. Diction by all of the cast was nice and clear and sound levels spot on.  Notable performances for me were seen from Jayden Nixon as Captain Tempest, Tasha Witton as the Science Officer and Alfie Stephenson as Cookie who really showed their ability and maturity in the roles they executed.  “She’s not there” is a seriously difficult song to perform to begin with and Alfie absolutely smashed it, well done young man!  Special mention to Ariel played by Chloe Armstrong who also performed the whole show on wheelies!  Bethany Wanless as the Navigation officer had a lovely clear voice during her solo, she’s one to watch out for I suspect, very talented young lady.  Rhys Bye, always dependable, this time played a new genre of roles for him in Doctor Prospero, very intense and strong, led Monster Mash extremely well with Alfie again bringing the audience to their feet during “Great Balls of Fire”.  The whole cast however were brilliant, such a talented warm friendly group of youth who are all to achieve great things, that’s a safe bet.

The monster constructed which was suspended from the ceiling was brilliant and the children next to me were utterly enthralled by it!

All in all I loved it and the audience did too!  Always a pleasure and I can’t wait for a trip to the movies!

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