Theatre – Return to the Forbidden Planet

I was alerted to this production via an email to MeetUp and have wanted to go and support Crescent Theatre for some time.Firstly the theatre is a fantastic gem perfectly placed just at the edge of BrindlyPlace. Secondly this is one of the best productions I have seen at the theatre, any theatre, be it the Hippodrome, Broadway or the West End.It reminded me of the feel good factor of ‘The Harder They Come’, about a year ago. For that performance, I had no idea how many great reggae tracks I’d forgotten about. This time round, it’s not so much the music, as excellent as it is, it’s the smile factor.The face ache from smiling starts before the cast had uttered a word; just the stage set had me beaming as if I knew I was settling in for a great treat. For some reason, ‘Return to the Forbidden Planet’ had eluded me in youth so it’s a fresh story in my eyes. The space age story being told didn’t really matter; it was excellent delivered by the cast and every song they broke into had the audience in giggles.My particular favourite was Gary Pucket’s ‘Young Girl’; a song I have recently stated would never be played in today’s politically correct times. And yet here it was in the context of a teen in love with an older man – the Captain of the space ship of course.Everything about the performance is faultless and the theatre is perfect. I’m already arranging to go back to see Boogie Nights, something that had not appealed to me in a large theatre but I know it will be perfect at the Crescent.Crescent Theatre9/10Smile factor 10/10