RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN PLANET

RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN PLANET

WAOS at the Public Hall, Witham

24.04.2017

Shakespeare's forgotten rock and roll masterpiece takes to the Witham stage in a production packed with energy and attack.
On an impressively high-tech set – flashing lights and giant plasma screen - the company throw themselves whole-heartedly into this irreverent mash-up of the Complete Works and high-camp hits of the 50s and 60s.
Claire Carr's production is assured in every department. Technically, the lighting is superb, with striking Close Encounters silhouettes; the monster and the air-lock [smoke and fan] are both highly effective. Video and animation are beautifully done. Musically the familiar songs are given barnstorming performances, with spectacular choreography: Who's Sorry Now – with the Swinging Space Cats – and Mr Spaceman – with silver lamé cowboy hats – among the many memorable production numbers. The pit band, conducted from the keyboard by James Tovey, provide very authentic instrumental support; special mention for the powerhouse drumming of Paul Codling. And the acting matches the camp, OTT style of the music.
Captain Tempest – the heart-throb hero – is David Everest-Ring, striking poses and selling the songs. His Navigation Officer, on this equal opportunities spaceship, is an excellent Rhianna Howard. Diana Easton makes a wonderful Gloria, with commanding stage presence and a great way with her numbers – Go Now, especially. Cookie – the simple, homespun lovesick lad - is the seriously talented Harry Tunningley: dancing, singing and verse-speaking all very accomplished. His duets with the Bosun [Emma Loring] are tremendous fun. He does however have a body double from the band to accompany his air guitar, since this is a company of dancers rather than actor-musicians. The inhabitants of the isle of D'Illyria are Stewart Adkins' mad scientist Prospero, making the most of Lear's storm, Claire Rowe's delightful Miranda, and, as the rolling Coke can Ariel, Tim Clarke, resplendent in his costume and skilled on his roller skates. A nice cameo in the Patrick Moore video role of Newsreader from Richard Cowen, who's also a member of the polished ensemble.
Hugely enjoyable from the opening Wipeout to the Great Balls of Fire finale, this is a laudably virtuosic production of a demanding musical theatre classic.

RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN PLANET

RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN PLANET

Cut to the Chase at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch

10.11.2014
for The Public Reviews

Artistic Director Bob Carlton is bowing out after 17 years at the Queen's Hornchurch. And what better swan song than his Olivier award-winning musical, making its umpteenth appearance here before launching a national tour and finally splashing down in Manchester next May.

It's a heady mix of Shakespeare, science fiction and classics from the fifties. You probably have to love all three, and know your way around, to really appreciate every nuance. And Mr Carlton almost certainly fits that demographic …

Against a simple set – somewhere between “Space:1999” and a rock festival stage – the timeless story plays. The low-tech gadgetry [hairdryer space guns, bubbles, the wobbly shuttle-craft maquette] all part of the period charm. And despite the efforts of the enthusiastic audience, the reverse polarity never quite “fully operational”.

Mostly in blank verse, Shakespeare, cod and kosher, cleverly tweaked to fit the sci-fi scenario, and including some outrageous word-play.

This twenty-fifth anniversary production has some familiar faces, including Mark Newnham's “teenager in love” Cookie, reprising his 2012 performance, including the virtuosic guitar solo to ”She's Not There”, with its ever more extreme riffs.

But not, alas, “Frido” Ruth, due to make his fourth appearance as the walking Coke can, but prevented by a tendon torn in preview. His part is taken, in time-honoured chorus-to-star fashion, by Joseph Mann, making his Queen's début playing trombone and, with just four hours' rehearsal, an engagingly cute Ariel.

Sean Needham is Captain Tempest, his pipe clamped firmly between his teeth, his tongue permanently in his cheek, with trumpeter Sarah Scowen as his Miranda. Christine Holman is a strong Science Officer, later revealed as a pneumatic Gloria. A brilliant Doctor Prospero, too, in Jonathan Markwood, who's played genuine Shakespeare in this house, and has great fun giving us both his Lear and his “King”.

Chorus, not for the first time, was the legendary Brian May, appearing on screen for prologue, interval and epilogue.

The music, arranged by Julian Littman with Greg Last directing from up on the bridge, is always enjoyable, often apposite: Wipe Out, Great Balls of Fire, Monster Mash, Connie Francis's Robot Man and The Byrds' Mr Spaceman. Particularly delicious were The Young Ones, with those Shadows steps, and a wonderful a cappella teenager in love.

Actor/musicians were a breakthrough when the Starship Albatros first made landfall on Planet D'Illyria, and are still a huge strength of the Queen's Theatre's offering. The nine-piece band reminds us of their amazing versatility in the finale, before stepping out of costume and into a rock gig for a celebratory [or self-indulgent, according to taste] energetic encore.

The short run in Hornchurch is a complete sell-out. But fans of this cult classic will be more than willing to travel, if not to D'Illyria, then at least to Dartford or Darlington, for the 2015 tour.

production photograph: Nobby Clark

this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews

THINGS TO COME - RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN PLANET

Return to the Forbidden Planet





Queen’s Theatre launches 25th anniversary UK tour

The Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch, proudly launches the 25th anniversary UK tour of Return to the Forbidden Planet, the Olivier Award-winning rock ‘n’ roll musical, on 6 November.

This fantastic show blasts off from Hornchurch, where its run until 15 November is very nearly sold out already! It will then tour the country until the summer. It stars the cut to the chase… company, the Queen’s permanent ensemble of actor-musicians.

Dashing Captain Tempest and his flight officers take audiences on an exciting interplanetary adventure into hyperspace, where they meet mad scientist Prospero, his beautiful daughter Miranda and Ariel, the amazing rock ‘n’ roller-skating robot. Battling asteroid storms and faulty Photon Shields, does this motley crew ever get to the bottom of Prospero’s mysterious X Factor formula? And can they escape the Monster from the Id?

Premiering in 1989 in the West End before winning an Olivier the following year, Return to the Forbidden Planet sees members of its original creative and design team reunite for this special celebratory production including creator and writer Bob Carlton and designer Rodney Ford. This will aptly be Mr Carlton’s last production at the Queen’s, where he has been Artistic Director for 17 years. He leaves to pursue his freelance directing career.

This wonderfully feel-good family musical is a glorious mixture of influences. Inspired by the 1956 sci-fi B-movie Forbidden Planet – which is itself based on The Tempest - Return to the Forbidden Planet also manages to add a dash of Freudian psychoanalysis to the mix! Bob Carlton’s creation, written in blank verse, is driven by a delightfully unlikely selection of rock ‘n’ roll hits from the ‘50s and ‘60s and a hilarious take on Shakespeare’s greatest quotes!

As the first major musical to popularise the actor-musician ensemble, the show includes cosmic classics from The Animals, The Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison, to name a few. All played live on stage by cut to the chase…, who swap a multitude of instruments between them in a dazzling musical relay!

Return to the Forbidden Planet ran for four years in the West End, was nominated for two Outer Critics’ Circle Awards in New York and has delighted hundreds of thousands across the world, amassing a loyal cult following.

The cast includes cut to the chase… members Georgina Field, Christine Holman, Callum Hughes, Greg Last, Joseph Mann, Jonathan Markwood, Sean Needham, Mark Newnham, Sarah Scowen, Steve Simmonds and Fredrick “Frido” Ruth.

Return to the Forbidden Planet is directed by creator and writer Bob Carlton, with design by Rodney Ford, movement direction by Fredrick “Frido” Ruth, musical supervision by Julian Littman, musical direction by Greg Last, lighting design by Mark Dymock and sound design by Ben Harrison.

Bob Carlton's swansong runs at the Queen’s Theatre, Billet Lane, Hornchurch from 6 – 15 November. Tickets are £12.50 - £26.50. To book, call the Box Office on 01708 443333 or book online at www.queens-theatre.co.uk

photograph of the Queen's 2012 production by Nobby Clark

RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN PLANET

RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN PLANET

Cut to the Chase at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch

30.08.2012

for The Public Reviews

Bit of a boom time for Shakespeare's Tempest – featured in both Stratford opening ceremonies, and now in Hornchurch. True, there are two degrees of separation here, in the Bard's cult rock and roll musical Return to the Forbidden Planet, directed by its onlie begetter, the Queen's Theatre's Artistic Director Bob Carlton.

It's a fun show for all the family, brash and noisy, but witty and clever, too. To get the best out of it, you need a working knowledge of the Shakespeare canon, plus a record collection stretching back to Dansette days.

Who better to bring it back to the stage than the resident company of actor/musicians, Cut to the Chase, whose Moliere/Porter musical was such a success last year.

We start with a bit of mingling, checking the bags and the beer, warming up for the Polarity Reversal routine, distributing those little blue pills – the in-flight catering for the Starship Albatross. Then it's into the playlist and the iambic pentameters as we blast off into outer space to the tune of Telstar, with stylophone obbligato. The last words spoken on stage are from Henry VI part 3, just before The Byrds' Mr Spaceman. Which gives you some idea of the cultural juxtapositions going on.

Richard O'Brien is the celebrity on celluloid this time round, giving us a prologue, a recap and a Puckish epilogue. Other familiar faces, at least in Havering, are Simon Jessop's Bosun Arras, and Natasha Moore's teenage Miranda. James Earl Adair brought gravitas as well as a sense of fun to Mad Scientist Dr Prospero, Jane Milligan was outstanding as the ball-breaking Science Officer, and it was a joy to see Fredrick "Frido" Ruth reprise his role as the robotic Ariel – dancing, playing sax, roller skating – his "Who's Sorry Now" was the stand-out number for me. He also choreographed the show – the slomo weightless sequence was entertainingly ingenious.

Two newcomers in the company – Sean Needham's pipe-smoking Dan Dare figure, the dauntless Captain Tempest, and Mark Newnham's Cookie. An amazing performance this – convincing as the "simple homespun lad" who woos Miranda, but a great musician too, giving us a visceral, virtuosic guitar solo.

The beat is powered by dual drum-kits either side of the stage; MD Greg Last directed his musicians from the flight deck above the action, as well as singing and playing. But in this company, everyone is multi-talented, so we hear Prospero on tambourine for Good Vibrations, and Miranda on flute for Georgie Fame's Yeh Yeh.

Rodney Ford's design, though not without glitz, captures the B-movie feel, and the "wonderful tackiness" of the original, exemplified by the hair-dryer ray-guns.

The Hornchurch audience loved it – their rapturous ovation was rewarded with a modest megamix encore set that stayed just the right side of self-indulgent …

photo by Nobby Clark

this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews