A good friend of mine works at our local theatre and often gets free/cut price tickets. Last week she called and asked me along to see Return to the forbidden planet, I'm not a great fan of sci fi stuff, but she was so excited I didn't really want to say no, that and the fact I hadn't seen her for a while and thought "why not!" I knew it was a comedy, and like most people I love comedy, so hoped that would be enough to entertain me, that and the fact it was supposed to be full of 1950's rock n' roll hits which I also love.
The cast all played more than one musical instrument, eg the female lead hopped from playing trumpet, Saxophone and drum, and male characters also jumped between electric guitars, drum and clarinets - no mean feat - I was really impressed - amazed even. The jokes were AWFUL, and for me didn't even fall into the category "so bad they were good" For example being set on a spacecraft, and the play loosely based upon Shakespeare!? "To beep or not to beep, that is the question" had everyone falling around - I did manage to pull off an extremely convincing fake laugh, to show my friend my appreciation, and another joke regarding the lead female's prom dress which she had purchased many moons ago from that exclusive, high class store- wait for it - Primark!!!! It was very silly, and even its most silly moments - cast grappling with the tentacles of a rubber monster, I had to dig really deep to find a way to convince my friend (who would have really wanted me to enjoy it) that I was!
The musical numbers, very much like the dreadful film Mamma Mia (another one I saw with a friend and had pretend I was loving!) were shoe horned into the performance, the musicians were talented without question, though the singing was screechy and awful, and I soon found myself becoming more and more irritated by what became for me little more than a self indulgent "look at me, aren't I amazing, especially the guitar riff than seemed to go on for about 20 minutes!!! Then there was numbers where the audience was instructed to get on their feet and "make some noise" and at regular intervals to flap our arms around in the air to get the spaceship moving!!!! Sorry mate - but it was my idea of HELL and I can't tell you, so I've had to let it go on here for the sake of my own sanity.
I looked up some reviews on line earlier - surely just one person found it annoyingly self indulgent and unfunny - not a soul, in fact I couldn't find a single bad word written about it. So it must be me, do I not like to have fun, am I afraid to let go, do I just "not get" farce? but hey, I don't think that's true. The last couple of stage shows I saw "The full monty" and "One man two guvnors" were fantastic and I left the theatre with that warm glow that you get! My friend did actually notice me yawning on a few occasions, but I think I managed to convince her that it was down to a combination of a hard day at work and my age lol! and not due to the fact I was bored and wish I could have teleported myself onto the bus home!
My question is this - Has anyone not enjoyed a film or play that they should have done? and pulled off an Oscar worthy show of "I'm having a great time here - let's go and see it again next week?!"
The cast all played more than one musical instrument, eg the female lead hopped from playing trumpet, Saxophone and drum, and male characters also jumped between electric guitars, drum and clarinets - no mean feat - I was really impressed - amazed even. The jokes were AWFUL, and for me didn't even fall into the category "so bad they were good" For example being set on a spacecraft, and the play loosely based upon Shakespeare!? "To beep or not to beep, that is the question" had everyone falling around - I did manage to pull off an extremely convincing fake laugh, to show my friend my appreciation, and another joke regarding the lead female's prom dress which she had purchased many moons ago from that exclusive, high class store- wait for it - Primark!!!! It was very silly, and even its most silly moments - cast grappling with the tentacles of a rubber monster, I had to dig really deep to find a way to convince my friend (who would have really wanted me to enjoy it) that I was!
The musical numbers, very much like the dreadful film Mamma Mia (another one I saw with a friend and had pretend I was loving!) were shoe horned into the performance, the musicians were talented without question, though the singing was screechy and awful, and I soon found myself becoming more and more irritated by what became for me little more than a self indulgent "look at me, aren't I amazing, especially the guitar riff than seemed to go on for about 20 minutes!!! Then there was numbers where the audience was instructed to get on their feet and "make some noise" and at regular intervals to flap our arms around in the air to get the spaceship moving!!!! Sorry mate - but it was my idea of HELL and I can't tell you, so I've had to let it go on here for the sake of my own sanity.
I looked up some reviews on line earlier - surely just one person found it annoyingly self indulgent and unfunny - not a soul, in fact I couldn't find a single bad word written about it. So it must be me, do I not like to have fun, am I afraid to let go, do I just "not get" farce? but hey, I don't think that's true. The last couple of stage shows I saw "The full monty" and "One man two guvnors" were fantastic and I left the theatre with that warm glow that you get! My friend did actually notice me yawning on a few occasions, but I think I managed to convince her that it was down to a combination of a hard day at work and my age lol! and not due to the fact I was bored and wish I could have teleported myself onto the bus home!
My question is this - Has anyone not enjoyed a film or play that they should have done? and pulled off an Oscar worthy show of "I'm having a great time here - let's go and see it again next week?!"
