Review: RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN PLANET at the Carrollwood Cultural Center

I guess it’s hard to live in the present because we always seem to be looking backwards at past decades. It’s something we still do, escaping our current life especially when our world is in such destructive disarray.  For many people these days, there has been a yearning to return to the less-than-halcyon times of the early 2000s; if you doubt this, then maybe you should ask the CEO who suddenly put Coldplay back in the news.

This is not something new.  In the 1960s, still perhaps the craziest, most turbulent decade of the last 70 years, people became so fed up with the assassinations, war and constant changes in music and fashion that they wanted to escape into the easy-listening past; for those who can recall, there was a brief 1920s resurgence, which explains Yves Saint-Laurent’s Mondrian dresses and pop one-off hits like “Winchester Cathedral” by the New Vaudeville Band.  In the 1970s--the decade of Pet Rocks, disco and quaaludes—people yearned for the simpler times of the 1950s; this is why “Happy Days,” Grease, and Sha Na Na became so popular in such a bitchin’ time.

This also became apparent in the 1980s, the decade of Reaganomics and Thatcherism, when the 1960s were rediscovered.  Bands like the Beatles and the Grateful Dead had a sudden surge in popularity, and tie-dye and bell bottom jeans made a noticeable comeback. 

This Escape into the Past Phenomenon is also why Bob Carlton’s Return to the Forbidden Planet existed in the first place: You take Shakespeare’s The Tempest, add to it the campy and Freudian vibes from the 1950s sci-fi movie Forbidden Planet, and include numerous rock and pop hits from the Fifties and Sixties.   It’s like a greatest hits of an Oldies but Goodies playlist—“Oh Pretty Woman,” “Good Vibrations,” “Wipe Out,” “She’s Not There,” “Tell Her,” “Gloria,” and so many more. 

Created in 1983 and eventually performed in London’s West End in 1989, Return to the Forbidden Planet was created when the 1960s were being heavily spotlighted (which is the reason for the particular choice of music).  It’s considered a camp classic, and even though I do not think of it as fondly as others do (Shakespeare + science fiction + famous rock n roll hits = questionable camp), it’s a vastly entertaining concoction, as fast a show as I can remember.

The current production at the Carrollwood Cultural Center explodes with fun.  It’s a show that I enjoyed even though its premise is too forced for my tastes.  It’s not my cup of Space Age Cooler.  I once compared it the old KFC Famous Bowls that combined creamy mashed potatoes, chicken, gravy and a shredded three-piece blend where the individual pieces might have tasted good separately but were not appetizing when thrown together in what I described as “a messy heap.”    And that’s what Return to the Forbidden Planet is—so many things, good or middling, thrown together into a messy heap. 

The Carrollwood Cultural Center production, directed by the multi-talented Chris Holcom, is a blast. And in these stomach-churning times, it’s a feel-good, leave-your-brains-at-the-door type of show that is just about the most fun you can have at the theatre and one that we, as Floridians and as a nation, desperately need these days. 

Return to the Forbidden Planet is a jukebox musical that centers on Captain Tempest and his small crew on the spaceship Albatross. They soon meet a mad scientist, Dr. Prospero, and his lovely daughter, Miranda, who have been marooned on the mysterious planet D’Illyria.  Add to all this a roller-skating robot named Ariel, a powerful formula called the X factor, a monster that stems from Prospero’s Id, and lots of rock n roll classics that will have you dancing in the aisles.  Imagine “Star Trek” meets “All Shook Up,” peppered with a plethora of Shakespeare quotes and jokes.  It’s a mess all right, but it’s one hell of a fun mess.  

The cast is wonderful.

Leading the way as Captain Tempest is the formidable Craig Ruska. Though he’s called a “vile space wolf,” he comes across as less a Captain Kirk and more like Captain Pike with a good-guy radio DJ voice.  His “Young Girl,” originally a creepy May-December love song by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, is terrific here, and Mr. Ruska plunges into the gung-ho heroics of the part.

As the science officer aptly named Gloria, Erin Ruska is a dynamo who even musically teaches us how to spell (“G-L-O-R-I-A!”).  Luis Graham is quite solid in the key role of Dr. Prospero, and the talented Elliana Gorecki brings a certain Anne Francis vibe to the show.   Great work is also performed by Jayden Parsons as the Navigational Officer, Rhett Ricardo as a growling and lovelorn Cookie, and as Bosun Arras, James Madden looks like the odd combo of Albert Einstein and Jimmy Buffett.

The show’s standout is the roller-skating robot, Ariel, brought to endearing life by Anny DePolis.  Ms. DePolis, who I saw in Annie at the CWP last year, brings so much energy and heart to the role, and her vocals are nothing short of being a veritable knockout, wow!  Her costume is also stellar, thanks to the ingenious design by Betty-Jane Parks.  Painted silver from head to toe, Ariel looks like the Tin Man’s outer space sister.  And Ms. DePolis’ skating prowess is also worth noting.    

The vocals and harmonies of this cast are out of this world.  The live band is onstage the entire time, dressed in bizarre alien attire, and they sound marvelous, being led by the legendary music director and keyboard player, Latoya McCormick.  (Ms. McCormick may be too young to be labeled as “legendary,” but she has done so much incredible work in our area throughout the years and gets so much vocal magic out of her casts as well as rockin’ music out of her small assemblage of musicians, that the word “legendary” seems more than appropriate.) Also strumming the night away as a sort of intergalactic bar band are Dan Mockenstrum on guitar, Alex Braman on bass guitar and Chris Bracco on drums. 

A couple two seats in front of me kept animatedly bopping their heads to the music the whole time, swaying back and forth in nostalgic ecstasy; they looked like they were groupies at an Oldies but Goodies concert on PBS. 

As for the musical numbers, songs like “It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World” and “The Shoop Shoop Song” really work as duets and make sense in this context.  I find it interesting that the lesser known or forgotten hits—“Tell Her,” “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” “Go Now,” “I’m Gonna Change the World,” “Who’s Sorry Now” (RIP Connie Francis)—work better than, say, the groovy “Good Vibrations” (RIP Brian Wilson) or the haunting “She’s Not There,” both perfect in their own right and in their original versions.  You can’t improve on “Good Vibrations,” and the use of the classic song seems diminished here; whereas as a forgotten tune like “Robotman” more than fits and works quite well.

Alianna Waggoner’s choreography is simple and lively. Paul Berg and Jamison McGloughlin’s set design work is eye-catching, making the multi-leveled spaceship appropriately look like a downtrodden bar aboard a low-rent Enterprise (lots of cool neon).  Joshua Eberhart’s lighting gets the job done, and the clever filmed projections add so much without taking away from the action of the stage, including a very clever re-interpretation of the Asteroids video game. Daniel Gentry’s sound gets by—especially some wondrous effects--but there were some minor glitches on opening night and sometimes the words of the actors were hard to hear, especially at the ends of sentences; I’m sure this will be rectified as the show continues its run.   

There’s also a fierce monster outside the Albatross, and we only get to see its gigantic tentacles; the sight of these in this production had me laughing out loud.

Director Chris Holcom has guided such a fun and energetic show; it's fabulously staged. If you like Shakespeare jokes, science fiction and classic rock and pop, then this melding is a must-see.  There are so many in-jokes and puns that come at you a mile a minute, and you’re guaranteed to have a great time.  Even though the actual show isn’t my fave rave, I had a rollicking good time at this performance that left me singing all of those classic tunes as I exited the theatre.  (“Gloria,” in particular, is still stuck in my head.)  It’s as if we turned our mess of a world completely off for a couple of hours and escaped this current madness.  And I am so thankful for that.  The question is…when do I want to turn the real world back on?

RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN PLANET plays at the Carrollwood Cultural Center until July 27th.  Photo Credit: Chaz Dykes