Go back to the ‘Forbidden Planet’
When you walked into the building, “CAUTION” tapes and signs hung all over the walls. As you entered the theater, flight attendants walked around in baby blue uniforms, communicating with audience members and saying, “Our flight will start soon.” The audience could see the set – a detailed, two-story spaceship with an interior similar to the one in “Star Trek” – in all its glory. The audience was immersed in the show even before it started.
Bob Carlton based his musical “Return to the Forbidden Planet” on Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” and the science fiction film “Forbidden Planet.” If you aren’t a Shakespeare fanatic or sci-fi enthusiast, you might not be too familiar with this show.
After flight attendants give instructions about what to do in certain circumstances, the show starts with the captain of the ship, Captain Tempest, played (Thaddaeus Freidline) arguing with the new female science officer (Shannon Kiernan) about the place of a woman in the world.
During their bickering, a space storm interrupts them. She suggests everyone use the shuttle and leave the ship. Captain Tempest, not wanting to take advice from a woman, orders everyone on the ship to wait out the storm. The ship is pulled toward the planet D’llyria, which is weird to them because it never showed up on their charts.
After landing on D’llyria, they meet a mad scientist (emphasis on “mad”) and his beautiful daughter. The scientist, Dr. Prospero (played by Stefan Maier), turns out to have a dark past. The scientist’s daughter, Miranda (Carly Kline), falls in love with Captain Tempest. Sadly, the ship’s cook (Scott Andrzejewski) is in love with Miranda as well as the Captain.
As the love triangle falls apart, and the mysterious past of Dr. Prospero is revealed, there is catchy 1950s and ’60s-style rock ‘n’ roll music to sing along and dance to. Yet though there was catchy music, interactive audience dancing, flight attendants giving out snacks, monsters in the audience and electric guitars, there was something lacking.
The singing and dancing was pleasing; performers hit all the beats together and sang the right notes. But you sometimes couldn’t understand what was going on, because their words weren’t as clear as they could be. Sometimes that was a problem with diction, sometimes with rushing lines or being inaudible. This made it harder to follow the plot.
Other than that, I thought the show was enjoyable. I laughed with the characters and felt empathetic towards them. If you were never familiar with this show, and you like sci-fi romances, maybe you could get familiar with it.
This story was originally published May 6, 2015 at 4:31 PM with the headline "Go back to the ‘Forbidden Planet’."