[NEohioPAL] Berko review: RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN PLANET (CSU's 2009 Summer Stages)

[Roy Berko]

‘RETURN TO
THE FORBIDDEN PLANET” a silly delight at CSU
 
Roy Berko
 
(Member,
American Theatre Critics Association)
 
--THE TIMES
NEWSPAPERS--
Lorain
County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times  
 
--COOLCLEVELAND.COM—
 
The theatre
people at Cleveland State University are trying to tell us their 2009 Summer
Stages’  ‘RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN
PLANET,’ is a  musical version of
Shakespeare’s ‘THE TEMPEST.’  Well,
don’t believe them.  What it is, is
a zany blend of faux Shakespeare (think of it as Fakespeare), mixed with
science fiction, a whole canon of quips and puns, all highlighted with
rock-and-roll hits. This is a zany hoot!
 
Don’t attend
with any idea that you are going to take the goings on seriously. Go expecting
to get beach balls thrown at you.  Balls which will continue to be tossed about by the audience, while you
are holding your hands on your head, doing squats, and trying to stop from
laughing at the ridiculousness.
 
The
hardest thing to believe about the whole experience is that this bizarre show
won the 1990 Olivier Award (the British Tony Award) for Best Musical, beating
out ‘Miss Saigon.’
 
This
is the kind of script and production that cult shows are made of.  Think ‘THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW,’ ‘EVIL
DEAD’ and ‘SPAMALOT.’
 
This is the
“tale of the future.”  Well,
actually the past of the 1950s when the atomic bomb had everyone scared,  Mad Scientists ran amok,  and fear was in the air.  Fear of fear of science, fear of sex,
fear of the Russians, fear of ourselves, and the fear of rock and roll!  It was a time when the most innocent
lab experiments could result in giant monster bugs and mutated humans.
Specifically, we
participate as the crew of a routine spaceship flight is drawn mysteriously to
the planet D'Illyria where mad scientist Doctor Prospero and his lovely
daughter Miranda are marooned.  (Sounds like a 1950 black and white television show, huh?)
 
For music, conceiver Bob Carlton uses
many rock and roll oldies, which are dropped in between lines, often for no
reason.  Songs include “Great Balls of Fire,”
“Shake, Rattle and
Roll,” “Don't Let Me Be
Misunderstood,” “Good Vibrations,” and “Only the Lonely.”  I defy you to stop your bouncing legs
and swaying bodies as musical director/keyboardist John Kroll, and the “ship”
musicians, wail.
 
The CSU production, under the creative
direction of Michael Mauldin, is well staged and has all the right
ridiculousness needed to make this a fun production.  Lynn Deering’s fine choreography adds to the hilarity.  
 
The
cast is universally excellent.   Handsome Doug Miller plays the Ken doll-like  thick-headed, emotion absent, captain of our ship, with the
right degree of seriousness.  He
has a fine singing voice and dances well.  Greg Violand, he of great singing voice, whose career has seen him
transition from ingénue to nasty old man, is properly fake-evil as scientist
Prospero, who gives his life to “save us.”  John Paul Soto sparkles as a endearing roller-skating
robot.  Tracee Patterson sings and
mugs her way through the role of the bad/good Gloria.  Her limp rag doll segment is nothing short of hysterical.  The rest of the cast is up to the task
of creating the right degree of the faux seriousness. This is a difficult
undertaking, because there is often a temptation in this type of show to over-
do the action.  This would have
brought about a less comic result.
 
Don McBride’s
set (with the exception of a door design flaw which caused problems on opening
night), Alison Garrigan’s costumes and properly horrific wigs, Dennis Dugan’s
lighting and Jim Swonger’s sound designs all enhance the production.
 
CAPSULE
JUDGEMENT:  ‘RETURN TO THE
FORBIDDEN PLANET’ is a laugh delight at CSU’s  2009 Summer Stages.  This is a must go-see for summer entertainment!
Side
comment:  The program is long on
overly extended bios and short on necessary details.  No season schedule, box office information or plot summaries
are included.  
‘RETURN TO
THE FORBIDDEN PLANET’ runs in repertoire with ‘CHEKOV IN YALTA’ and ‘THE SHADOW
BOX’  through August 9 at CSU’s
Factory Theatre, 1833 East 23rd Street.  For tickets and the schedule call 216-687-2109.
 Roy Berko's blog, which contains theatre and dance reviews from 2001 through 2009, as well as his consulting and publications information, can be found at http://royberko.info

His reviews can also be found on www.coolcleveland.com and NeOHIOpal (to subscribe visit http://mailman.listserve.com/listmanager/listinfo/neohiopal.)