DAWLISH MUSICAL THEATRE COMPANY
NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2019
Hello DMTC Members and Friends
Our Spring Show - 'Return to the Forbidden Planet' was a great success and so enjoyable for both cast and audience. Here is the official NODA review (received Sept 19)
RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN PLANET
DAWLISH MUSICAL THEATRE COMPANY - SHAFTESBURY THEATRE, DAWLISH
VISIT – MAY 15TH 2019
Director: Marylin Adams Choreographer – Hannah Cridge Musical Director – Peter Whittle
This show is a favourite of mine, having seen the first professional tour of it some years ago. This jukebox musical was originally conceived as performer/musician piece where most of the cast also played the instruments. This clearly cannot happen for most amateur productions (although I have seen one that performed it that way) but it matters not and in fact probably, in my opinion, focusses the attention more on the characters. I always think it rather distracting if characters are playing the instruments as well as I end up thinking about the logistics of that instead of the actual characterisations.
Forbidden Planet is loosely based on Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” , and takes its inspiration from the 1950s B movie “Forbidden Planet” which has become something of a cult sci-fi movie. Therefore, given that the music is well known, as is the source material, most audience members would be somewhat familiar with elements of this show. This was somewhat of a departure from the norm for Dawlish, and it was disappointing to see only a half full house for what turned out to be a very entertaining production.
Marylin always directs a well thought through piece and this was well staged and cast. An attractive set, created in house, contained all the elements necessary from flashing lights and panels, to sliding doors, to video screens, to hand held iPads and monster tentacles appearing through flaps and down from the flies. The costumes (purchased I believe as a job lot from another company) were all in keeping with the set.
Lighting and sound by orange box were excellent and the overall look and feel of the piece was really good. In fact, I thought the technical aspect of the show was the best I have seen at Dawlish.
Obviously, this show can be played largely tongue in cheek, although for it to work, the cast have to play it straight. This they did. It is in turn very melodramatic (purposefully), comedic and camp and works best played straight and to the audience. The set (being the bridge of the space ship) acting very much as an amphitheatre for the action that unfolds.
The band was located side stage, but in view of the audience, and supported the cast well and produced an excellent sound. I did wonder how the cast would cope with the well-known pop classics that pepper this show, but they coped very well indeed.
Andrew Malcolm gave a strong and entertaining performance as Captain Tempest, maintaining a good dominance of his crew and an understanding of the Shakespeare elements of the script. Gemma Castro- Silva, a newcomer to Dawlish but well known in Torbay, showed her excellent vocals to good effect as Miranda. Mike Hewitt was suitably melodramatic as Dr Prospero and Ian Clatworthy was nicely hapless as the love lorn cookie. I really liked Elizabeth Borbon’s performance as the science officer / Gloria.
The musical numbers were choreographed neatly to respect the abilities of the cast and the space limitations whereby an already small stage was further limited by the fairly extensive stage set.
If you love the 50s and 60s rock and roll classics, as I do, then you cannot fail to enjoy this show, and I felt this was certainly up with the best that I have seen at Dawlish. It was such a shame that it did not appear to be box office but I suspect Dawlish audiences are perhaps a bit more traditional in their tastes. Those that were present on the night I attended certainly had a ball and enjoyed it greatly although it was entertaining to listen to the ladies in front of me trying to decipher the story and what it meant!!!
Here is a review of the show by Linsie Way-Kemp:
If you forgot to buy your boarding pass and missed Dawlish Musical Theatre Company's production of Return to the Forbidden Planet then you missed an absolute treat of a show.
The plot follows the crew of a routine survey flight under the command of Captain Tempest, Andrew Malcolm. Captain Tempest speaks with the ships new Science Officer, Elizabeth Borbon, and they argue about the importance of men and women on earth. During their argument, their ship gets caught in a meteor shower. Their spaceship is drawn mysteriously to the planet D"ilyria where the crew meet mad scientist Doctor Prospero, Mike Hewitt, who has been marooned on the planet since his wife and science partner Gloria sent him and their daughter Miranda, Gemma Castro Silva, into space. Dr Prospero offers to help repair the broken spaceship and he, his daughter and their robot Ariel, a roller skating Paul O'Brien, come aboard. The ship's cook, Cookie, Ian Clatworthy, is instantly taken by Miranda's beauty and falls in love with her, a love he thinks she returns, however, she has fallen for Captain Tempest. Cue a love triangle, a tentacled monster attack. X-Factor liquid to help Prospero take over the world and many popular, well-known songs to keep your toes tapping for the whole evening. The Bosun Arras, Rob Stephens, and Navigation Officer, Branwen Cook, kept their eyes on proceedings and were always there to warn us of any impending dangers ... but was it "two beeps or not two bleeps, that is the question".
For me to compliment everyone individually would take far too long. However, each and every one of the people on that stage was fabulous. Everyone looked busy on that spaceship, everyone had a job to do and that made it all look very real. During the very well sung songs, everyone looked like they were enjoying themselves and the smiles were infectious. The four dancers, Choreography by Hannah Cridge, dances their way through space with energy and kept us all informed about how to 'reverse polarity' to save the spaceship and all on board. We were also lucky enough to have a couple of little cameos from our very own David Force, which really linked the acts together nicely.
From the opening number of Wipeout to the closing number of Great Balls of Fire and songs such as Good Vibrations, Shake Rattle and Roll, Who's sorry now, and Teenager in Love in between the DMTC rocked the Shaftesbury Theatre big time. The live band, Frazer, Michelle, Sarah, Mark and Isabelle under the Musical Direction of Peter Whittle, were exceptional, you absolutely cannot beat live music. Well dons guys.
The set was, in my opinion, one of the best I've seen on an amateur stage. Craig Timms, Marilyn Adams and their team should be very pleased with themselves. The set was amazing from the stars twinkling in space to the control panels flashing their lights, everything was how you would imagine a space ship to be. The lighting and sound was by Orangebox Productions and I'd say it was worth every penny. Theres not much point having a fantastic set without fantastic lighting and sound to compliment it. The costumes were out of this world, very creative and well thought about.
The whole production was in the capable hands of Marilyn Adams. What a fantastic job Marilyn! To have the band actually on display could have been detrimental to the cast by taking away some of the stage space, however, the staging was done very well and not once did it look crowded. You really should be very proud of yourself, Marilyn, you gave Dawlish an excellent show.
NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2019
Hello DMTC Members and Friends
Our Spring Show - 'Return to the Forbidden Planet' was a great success and so enjoyable for both cast and audience. Here is the official NODA review (received Sept 19)
RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN PLANET
DAWLISH MUSICAL THEATRE COMPANY - SHAFTESBURY THEATRE, DAWLISH
VISIT – MAY 15TH 2019
Director: Marylin Adams Choreographer – Hannah Cridge Musical Director – Peter Whittle
This show is a favourite of mine, having seen the first professional tour of it some years ago. This jukebox musical was originally conceived as performer/musician piece where most of the cast also played the instruments. This clearly cannot happen for most amateur productions (although I have seen one that performed it that way) but it matters not and in fact probably, in my opinion, focusses the attention more on the characters. I always think it rather distracting if characters are playing the instruments as well as I end up thinking about the logistics of that instead of the actual characterisations.
Forbidden Planet is loosely based on Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” , and takes its inspiration from the 1950s B movie “Forbidden Planet” which has become something of a cult sci-fi movie. Therefore, given that the music is well known, as is the source material, most audience members would be somewhat familiar with elements of this show. This was somewhat of a departure from the norm for Dawlish, and it was disappointing to see only a half full house for what turned out to be a very entertaining production.
Marylin always directs a well thought through piece and this was well staged and cast. An attractive set, created in house, contained all the elements necessary from flashing lights and panels, to sliding doors, to video screens, to hand held iPads and monster tentacles appearing through flaps and down from the flies. The costumes (purchased I believe as a job lot from another company) were all in keeping with the set.
Lighting and sound by orange box were excellent and the overall look and feel of the piece was really good. In fact, I thought the technical aspect of the show was the best I have seen at Dawlish.
Obviously, this show can be played largely tongue in cheek, although for it to work, the cast have to play it straight. This they did. It is in turn very melodramatic (purposefully), comedic and camp and works best played straight and to the audience. The set (being the bridge of the space ship) acting very much as an amphitheatre for the action that unfolds.
The band was located side stage, but in view of the audience, and supported the cast well and produced an excellent sound. I did wonder how the cast would cope with the well-known pop classics that pepper this show, but they coped very well indeed.
Andrew Malcolm gave a strong and entertaining performance as Captain Tempest, maintaining a good dominance of his crew and an understanding of the Shakespeare elements of the script. Gemma Castro- Silva, a newcomer to Dawlish but well known in Torbay, showed her excellent vocals to good effect as Miranda. Mike Hewitt was suitably melodramatic as Dr Prospero and Ian Clatworthy was nicely hapless as the love lorn cookie. I really liked Elizabeth Borbon’s performance as the science officer / Gloria.
The musical numbers were choreographed neatly to respect the abilities of the cast and the space limitations whereby an already small stage was further limited by the fairly extensive stage set.
If you love the 50s and 60s rock and roll classics, as I do, then you cannot fail to enjoy this show, and I felt this was certainly up with the best that I have seen at Dawlish. It was such a shame that it did not appear to be box office but I suspect Dawlish audiences are perhaps a bit more traditional in their tastes. Those that were present on the night I attended certainly had a ball and enjoyed it greatly although it was entertaining to listen to the ladies in front of me trying to decipher the story and what it meant!!!
Here is a review of the show by Linsie Way-Kemp:
If you forgot to buy your boarding pass and missed Dawlish Musical Theatre Company's production of Return to the Forbidden Planet then you missed an absolute treat of a show.
The plot follows the crew of a routine survey flight under the command of Captain Tempest, Andrew Malcolm. Captain Tempest speaks with the ships new Science Officer, Elizabeth Borbon, and they argue about the importance of men and women on earth. During their argument, their ship gets caught in a meteor shower. Their spaceship is drawn mysteriously to the planet D"ilyria where the crew meet mad scientist Doctor Prospero, Mike Hewitt, who has been marooned on the planet since his wife and science partner Gloria sent him and their daughter Miranda, Gemma Castro Silva, into space. Dr Prospero offers to help repair the broken spaceship and he, his daughter and their robot Ariel, a roller skating Paul O'Brien, come aboard. The ship's cook, Cookie, Ian Clatworthy, is instantly taken by Miranda's beauty and falls in love with her, a love he thinks she returns, however, she has fallen for Captain Tempest. Cue a love triangle, a tentacled monster attack. X-Factor liquid to help Prospero take over the world and many popular, well-known songs to keep your toes tapping for the whole evening. The Bosun Arras, Rob Stephens, and Navigation Officer, Branwen Cook, kept their eyes on proceedings and were always there to warn us of any impending dangers ... but was it "two beeps or not two bleeps, that is the question".
For me to compliment everyone individually would take far too long. However, each and every one of the people on that stage was fabulous. Everyone looked busy on that spaceship, everyone had a job to do and that made it all look very real. During the very well sung songs, everyone looked like they were enjoying themselves and the smiles were infectious. The four dancers, Choreography by Hannah Cridge, dances their way through space with energy and kept us all informed about how to 'reverse polarity' to save the spaceship and all on board. We were also lucky enough to have a couple of little cameos from our very own David Force, which really linked the acts together nicely.
From the opening number of Wipeout to the closing number of Great Balls of Fire and songs such as Good Vibrations, Shake Rattle and Roll, Who's sorry now, and Teenager in Love in between the DMTC rocked the Shaftesbury Theatre big time. The live band, Frazer, Michelle, Sarah, Mark and Isabelle under the Musical Direction of Peter Whittle, were exceptional, you absolutely cannot beat live music. Well dons guys.
The set was, in my opinion, one of the best I've seen on an amateur stage. Craig Timms, Marilyn Adams and their team should be very pleased with themselves. The set was amazing from the stars twinkling in space to the control panels flashing their lights, everything was how you would imagine a space ship to be. The lighting and sound was by Orangebox Productions and I'd say it was worth every penny. Theres not much point having a fantastic set without fantastic lighting and sound to compliment it. The costumes were out of this world, very creative and well thought about.
The whole production was in the capable hands of Marilyn Adams. What a fantastic job Marilyn! To have the band actually on display could have been detrimental to the cast by taking away some of the stage space, however, the staging was done very well and not once did it look crowded. You really should be very proud of yourself, Marilyn, you gave Dawlish an excellent show.