On May 8 I attended Return to the Forbidden Planet at Bainbridge Island Theater. The show was really weird. I liked some of the songs and the costumes were great. The plot had a professor and his daughter leaving his mean wife and going to another planet. The plot was very confusing and I'm not real sure what happened but I think maybe they landed in the 1950s or 60s and they started singing.

My friend Alex Fuller played Ariel the robot. He is so talented. I wish he was playing the big role of Tempest. My favorite songs were when the entire cast sang together. I love the song Great Balls of Fire, and they sang twice, just for me. Some of the other 50s and 60s songs I didn't know, but they were pretty good too.

 

Alex told me it was a love story. I found it very difficult to follow the plot. The best part of the play was the great costumes. I love the Star Trek uniforms. I think they were supposed to be from another planet but you could tell right away that weird orange color that they only use in the Star Trek franchise. The big dance numbers look pretty complicated, yet they pulled them off with no problem at all. The whole play had kind of a funky vibe. I think the play may have been more effective if they had given up on trying to have a plot at all and just sang and danced. The play was most effective when nobody was talking and the cast were singing together.

I'm still not sure exactly what the plot was but I love the songs and everybody seemed really happy to be part of the production. Most of the audience knew the music and I could see people singing along in my row of seats. I think that is really fun. I almost wished it would've been a big sing-along with interaction inside the audience. I know I was mouthing the words to Great Balls of Fire and I hummed Wipeout all night on. I can highly recommend Return to the Forbidden Planet. Just watch the show and get into the music but don't try to find a plot.