Pete Moye’
Arts Button
“Return to the Forbidden Planet” kicks off the Cerritos College Theater Department’s fall 2011 season.
Directed by playwright Bob Carlton, “Forbidden Planet” is a musical play set in the 1950s using popular, previously-released songs.
“Forbidden Planet” is about a flight crew whose spaceship gets drawn to a mysterious planet.
Loosely based off of William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” and the 1950 science fiction film “Forbidden Planet,” which was also inspired from Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” the Burnight Center Theatre will house the production for its entire run on campus this semester.
What once began as an outside performance production, the play moved indoors in the 1980s, and uses comedic undertones throughout the production.
Theater arts major Matthew Cruz, who plays Chief Malnutrition, expressed his thoughts on the play, saying, “It is a great play with witty and easy-to-understand comedy. The music is also nostalgic to the era.”
The excitement of the Theater Department is the driving force behind the anticipation of this production.
“Forbidden Planet” is the first production in what is expected to be a well-received semester for the theater department.
Cruz also spoke about the difference between this production and others which are similar, saying, ” It [Forbidden Planet] has something for everyone. The comedy and music are great.”
Filled with chart toppers of the 50s and 60s, “Forbidden Planet” is expected to be widely entertaining.
The hope is that the combination of the music, comedy, and preformances will be more than enough to bring students out to see the show.
The theatre department said that they hope that students come out to support this show and all of the hard work that has gone into it.
With songs like “Great Balls of Fire” by Jerry Lee Lewis, “Born to be Wild” by Steppenwolf, “All Shook Up” by Elvis Presley and “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s in His Kiss)” by Rudy Clark, “Forbidden Planet” promises to have a wide array of entertainment value.
The production opens with shows on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. with closing weekend performances of Thursday, Oct. 20, Friday, Oct. 21, and Sunday, Oct. 22 at 8 p.m. and a Sunday, Oct. 23 matinee performance at 2 p.m.
Presale general admission tickets are $15. Cerritos College students with ID, staff, faculty, senior citizens, middle and high school students are all $12 if purchased before opening night. General admission at the door is $18 and $15 with ID.
