Return to the Forbidden Planet

Welcome back to Dollar’s main stage this year for the Senior Musical of 2006. A clash of bookings at the macrobert has brought us back into the Academy, but the spaceship is fully loaded and ready for departure. Return to the Forbidden Planet, loosely based on the 1956 film, has something for everyone: science fiction fanatics can pore over the details of the spaceship’s quarterdeck; Shakespearian literati can cross-reference with The Tempest ; and those who simply enjoy the great rock anthems of the 50s, 60s and 70s can sing and dance the night away. The afterburners are fired up, and the musicians, dancers and actors are ready for lift-off.

Dollar’s senior musical brings the whole community together in the mad rush of the last weeks of term. The staff and pupils involved in this lavish space opera deserve every credit for their energy and zest. Fasten your seatbelts, and enjoy the show.

Plot Summary

On a stormy night way back in the winter of 2009, mad scientist Doctor Prospero worked late into the night in his laboratory, aided only by his wife Gloria, as he developed the elusive formula with which he would change the world. Unbeknownst to Doctor Prospero, his wife overpowered him and sent him into hyperspace in an old shuttlecraft. Little did she know that their infant daughter Miranda was aboard the shuttlecraft and was catapulted light-years into the future with her father.

Many years later, Intergalactic Starship Albatross takes off on a routine survey flight under the watchful command of Captain Tempest. Aboard this flight is the new Science Officer, as strong-willed a woman as you ever did meet! Also on board are the Damage Control Crew: all-round good guy Bosun Arras, the Navigation Officer, who knows where they are going, and Cookie, the ship’s cook, a hopeless romantic.

As the spaceship blasts its way through space, it encounters a storm of asteroids. The Science Officer flees, taking the only emergency shuttle craft. Meanwhile, the Albatross is being pulled inexorably towards the Planet D’lllyria, which is not marked in their charts.

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