Review | RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN PLANET (UK Tour) January 2015

It's like Dreamboats and Petticoats, for Star Wars fans... but this came first. It's the West End musical that opened at the Cambridge theatre in 1989 and won Best West End Musical at that year's Olivier Awards - beating Miss Saigon.... that in itself is quite bizarre but nothing can quite prepare you for 3 hours of Shakespeare's The Tempest set aboard a spaceship. 

The storm, a meteor shower, causes them to land mysteriously on the planet D'Illyria where they meet mad scientist Doctor Prospero, who has been marooned on the planet - the story continues to the plot of The Tempest and manages to stall what would otherwise be a decent concert. 

Rodney Ford's set is interesting enough, but after three hours is a little static, cast tend to be just stood around, or playing a trumpet in the background but musically, the production impresses. Mark Newnham particularly shines as Cookie and Joseph Mann is humorous as robot Ariel. Sarah Scowen is in fine voice as Miranda and Queen guitarist Brian May appearing on a screen as the narrator is an added highlight. 

Return To The Forbidden Planet may have paved the way for other actor-musician musicals (of which there is now an abundance) and similarly dystopian musicals such as We Will Rock You but the success of the more modern musical relies on less cringeworthy ideas of sci-fi than a robot that looks rather like the Tin Man, hairdryer guns and the batting around of an inflatable ball. Musicals have moved on but Forbidden Planet and it's core audience haven't - they love it and there's a lot for them to love. The musicianship is excellent, vocals are top-notch but the production boasts little to impress or engage a new, younger audience. It's ultimately tacky, but a full standing ovation at the end cemented the fact that an audience have come, had fun and enjoyed themselves.

At Birmingham's New Alexandra Theatre until Saturday 31 January. Tickets here. 

Cast List: Steve Simmonds, Sean Needham, Christine Holman, Greg Last, Mark Newnham, Jonathan Markwood, Joseph Mann, Sarah Scowen, Georgina Field, Callum Hughes, David Heywood, Brian May, Hannah Howcroft. 

WE WILL ROCK YOU 10th ANNIVERSARY GALA (Dominion Theatre) 14th May 2012

Monday 14th May 2012. 10 years ago exactly the Dominion Theatre hosted the opening of a new musical based on the hits of rock band Queen. The original creative team and producers who were all present on the opening night reunited at the theatre to celebrate the decade of rock.

(Writer Ben Elton, Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor, Robert De Niro in 2002 and 2012)

As well as the creative team from ten years ago many of the original cast came back to watch. Hannah Jane Fox, Kerry Ellis and Mazz Murray were among them. 

Robert De Niro in 2002 with Tony Vincent (Galileo), Hannah Jane Fox (Scaramouche) and Sharon D. Clarke (Killer Queen) and again in 2012 with the cast including Noel Sullivan (Galileo) and Sarah French (Scaramouche)

The atmosphere inside the Dominion Theatre was electric. As "It's A Beautiful Day" blasted out before the show an exciting introduction projected onto the front curtain charted the show's history throughout it's first decade. 

Stand-out performances came from all of the leads who gave everything all they could. Incredible riffs galore especially from Sarah French and Rachel John as Scaramouche and Meat.

Each seat in the auditorium had a We Will Rock You goody bag with a show comic book, postcard and glowstick. The finale looked amazing as the theatre filled with neon colours. As expected, guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May shot up through a cloud of smoke to riff the hell out of Bohemian Rhapsody. 

The promise of Freddie Mercury returning as an optical illusion was a bit of a disappointment. He 'appeared' only for a few seconds at the end of Bohemian Rhapsody, you could hear him, but could hardly see anything, maybe this was because there was a spotlight on the area, or it just didn't work...

Another disappointment for some in the audience (dressed as Bohemians) was the promise of a best dressed fan competition where the top ten fans decided for on the website won two tickets to the show where the ultimate winner would be called up onto stage to receive a "special prize from a VERY special guest" ... they were all there, dressed up, and nothing about the competition was mentioned and no award was presented. 

Those are the only negatives though, Robert De Niro's presence on stage again was a cue for the audience to erupt into madness. the celebrity guests in the audience kept everyone alert and excited. Spotted in the audience were Warwick Davis and his family, Tim Minchin, Samantha Fox, Chris Tarrent, David Baddiel, Bill Oddie, some 'TOWIE' girls (if you can count those) and supposedly Kylie Minogue (I didn't see her, and none of the press managed to get a picture of her. Maybe she played a similar trick to the Freddie illusion). 

The evening was truly unforgettable, this is another great cast and should you get the chance to see this 10th anniversary cast in action, make every effort to see them. 

Booking until 20th October 2012. Monday - Saturday 7:30pm. Last Wednesday of every month and Saturday's at 2:30pm.

Tickets: £62, £52, £47, £42, £32, £15 (Standing) (BEWARE booking and transaction charges of up to £12.25 PER TICKET do apply at this show when booking online) 

(Day seats available for £30 from 10am - 12 noon on the day of performance, in person from The Dominion Theatre Box Office) 

OFFER: Show Pairs '2 top price tickets for the price of 1' (www.showpairs.co.uk) Valid until 15th September 2012 (excludes 2 - 9 June)

Website: http://www.wewillrockyou.co.uk