Return to the Forbidden Planet

Return to the Forbidden Planet

About Return to the Forbidden Planet

Return to the Forbidden Planet is a Jukebox musical by director Bob Carlton based on Shakespeare's The Tempest and the 1950s science fiction film Forbidden Planet (which itself drew its plot loosely from The Tempest). Return to the Forbidden Planet started life with the Bubble Theatre Company as a production for open-air performance in a tent. A revised version of the musical opened, indoors, at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool in the mid 1980s. It later moved to the Tricycle Theatre in London. After some rework a final version opened the Cambridge Theatre in London's West End in September 1989. It won the Olivier Award for best musical for both 1989 and 1990. The plot follows the crew of a routine survey flight under the command of Captain Tempest. Their spaceship is drawn mysteriously to the planet D'Illyria where mad scientist Doctor Prospero and his lovely daughter Miranda are marooned. The high energy show features a bevy of 1950s and 1960s rock and roll classics, performed on stage by the cast. The campy sci-fi setting consists of silvered space suit costumes and space ship sets concealing keyboards and drums. The robot, Ariel, is performed by an actor on roller skates, with a costume reminiscent of the original movie's Robby the Robot. The show's dialogue is largely adapted from well-known passages from Shakespeare. There is a part for narrator on pre-recorded video which was played in the original production by Magnus Pyke and in the London production by the noted astronomer and TV personality Sir Patrick Moore. A cast album was released in 1990 by Virgin Records.

Taken from Last.fm

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