This is one of those cult musicals that boasts an official fan club, silly dance movements and a CD based soundtrack to dance along to, also in the Rocky Horror style this show is based on a film, in this case cheese 1956 classic The Forbidden Planet, itself a take on Shakespeare’s the Tempest. Being a send up of the Sci-fi genre of the 50s and 60s Return to The Forbidden Planet has plenty of polarity reversing material to be going on with, but alas this outing of the show doesn’t make full use of the available nods, winks and references you might expect. Nonetheless it’s rather fun and had the audience dancing along to its classic rock and roll numbers.
The plot follows the crew of a routine survey flight under the command of the Captain Tempest which is drawn mysteriously to the planet D'Illyria where mad scientist Doctor Prospero and his lovely daughter Miranda are apparently marooned. Opening onto the cheese space ship set we are launched into the proceedings by a projected narrator in tweed suit, holy space rocks its only Dr Brian May CBE, the space enthused Queen guitarist! celebrity yes, respected astronomer certainly, captivating and witty orator no. The energetic story then unfolds as the cast, wearing Elvis shades and off the shelf Jetsons outfits, act out the proceedings in between relevant rock and roll classics. All the said numbers are performed live on stage by the cast, including memorable tunes such as Great Balls of Fire, Teenager in Love and Monster Mash. 
Highlights of the show included the robot Ariel played courageously by Dale Superville in his mega camp silver shorts and body stocking number. The other worthy performance was from Gloria played by Wendy Paver who charmed with her powerful voice and 80s yuppie looks. On the downside of things Captain Tempest played by William Wolfe Hogan was rather poor, not perhaps because of his lack of musical skill, he can sing and play his violin rather well, but his light build and light voice combined with a lack of comic timing really didn’t fit into the pipe smoking, phaser toting, alpha male shoes of the role.
Curiously, before catching this, the Official UK tour, at the Theatre Royal, I happened to see another production of the show staged daaarn saaarth only a few days before at the Hawth in Crawley. The contrast between the two shows was dramatic; production A boasted spectacular sound and lighting, quirky costumes and detail, superbly cast character musicians, and a script tweaked to milk all manner of sci-fi and trek references; production B on the other hand was rather average, with a small cast of mixed ability, some miscast leads, an uninspiring set and a sense of humour which consistently missed the mark. Shame then that production B is touring the UK and production A was an amateur show. However, when all is said and done this touring show isn’t all that bad as, however average the production standards, it has an undoubtedly catchy score combined with its mildly amusing space age silliness.
Return to the Forbidden Planet plays at the Theatre Royal from Monday 12th until Saturday 17th of June 2006.
