Return To The Forbidden Planet

‘…Forbidden Planet’ is a musical with its tongue planted firmly in cheek, its B-movie naffness is absolutely intended – borrowing a rough plot from Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’, with a sci-fi setting and a rock n roll score, some would argue that there’s something in it to appeal to everyone. If Jukebox shows, Shakespeare and low budget sci-fi are your thing then this show will be right up your street.

Tony Audenshaw (Emmerdale’s Bob Hope) appears on a big screen to narrate the proceedings from the (what appears to be the current) BBC North West news room. The lighting and AV design were superb and of extremely high quality and really did make an attempt to catapult the production into the 21st century, leaving the low-budget B-movie impression a thing of the past. The set looked of a different ilk, although it did the job - its design was of a cartoony influence which didn’t quite marry with the modern vision of the video production.

Nicholas Edwards, with his bright red hair, had some shining moments throughout the evening as did Mike Daws who gilded around the stage with ease as Ariel. I particularly enjoyed ‘Who’s Sorry Now’ when Ariel was joined by two female robots for a routine that was so twee you couldn’t help but giggle.

It would be difficult to deny that this show was owned by Chris Addington with his wonderful portrayal as Cookie, who received the biggest cheer after ‘She’s Not There’ showcasing his talent as a musician in a number which, quite deservingly, brought the house down. Chris excels at comedy but this show really allowed him to show off a range of skill as an actor/muso.  

David Campbell looks every part the leading man as Capt. Tempest; tall, handsome, thick head of hair but arguably appeared a little too cool it drained the spark and life needed to make him more prominent as a leading player. His singing was worthy once he settled into a song.

Debbie Wood’s choreography excels when using the full company, her movement highlight for me was ‘Mr Spaceman’ which was appropriate to the style of song, visually interesting and well drilled. The flip side to this (not sure who choreographed this number as it wasn’t credited to Debbie) was ‘Teenager In Love’ which, although was well performed, the style of movement didn’t really gel with the genre of the number which needed something bouncy and jive inspired as opposed to a balletic adagio and could have done with Debbie’s input.

The sound department let the technical aspect of the production down, many mic cues were late with mics being turned up mid-sentence resulting in us missing a few crucial parts of the show. As this is a rock n roll show I would have preferred the band to have been louder through the system to really help give them a punch.

The ye olde spotlight entrance for the Musical Director / conductor at the start of each act are suited to concerts or G&S productions but for a musical of this nature I find it’s very old hat and sets the wrong mood for a show of this ilk.

The shows director, Mike Sammon, had clearly found inspiration from watching the extras in ‘Starship Enterprise’ in order to find something for his gigantic ensemble to do. Of course, all they can become is crew on the spacecraft as we’re never anywhere else – and what do crew (the extras in ‘Starship Enterprise’) actually do? …Play with knobs in the background, check their clipboard and repeat - we certainly got plenty of that! This production relied so heavily on the technical aspects, so much so that it must have been an incredibly difficult and confusing rehearsal process for the cast to visualise what would actually be happening at certain points, a very stressful and daunting prospect for any Director.

We also got worthy acts from Collette Desborough as Gloria, Kathryn Howe as Miranda and Paul Wilson as Prospero all with their own shining moments. When it came to the audience participation - parts of it felt a little more like a panto than a rock concert which isn’t intended to be a downside just more a criticism of the way we were encouraged to join in (which I did!). All in all, this was a great night's entertainment for rock and roll fans.

Many thanks Romiley OS.

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