Bob Carlton’s Return to the Forbidden Planet landed at the Wycombe Swan last night and it’s not hard to see why the show has won an Olivier award for best musical.

Inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the sci-fi spectacular, Return to the Forbdden Planet follows Captain Tempest and his crew aboard their ship as they get caught in a meteor shower, meet mad scientist Dr Prospero on mysterious planet D'Illyria and battle an awful monster.

The show was brilliant, full of fabulous music, great acting, humour and all the special effects you could ever want, including bubbles, fire and haze – not to mention the green tentacle monster that plagues the crew.

The two-hour show was packed full of classic hits that had the audience on their feet, including Born to be Wild, Monster Mash, I Heard it Through the Grapevine and She’s Not There.

I was thoroughly amazed at how talented the entire cast were, playing a range of instruments each, as well as singing and acting beautifully.

Everyone on stage was flawless in their acting, singing and instrument playing, but Mark Newnham, playing Cookie, was particularly outstanding.

When I interviewed Mark last week, he told me his favourite part was his big guitar solo near the end of act one and he looked like he loved every minute of his breathtaking performance.  He looked completely at ease with the guitar, playing it with his teeth and behind his head effortlessly, which was very impressive.

Sean Needham as Captain Tempest and Sarah Scowen as Miranda were also fantastic and Jonathan Markwood played the mad scientist Dr Prospero perfectly; possibly partyl attributed to his previous Shakespeare experience in The Taming of the Shrew and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  

If you were expecting friendly robot Ariel to roller-skate around the stage, unfortunately Frido Ruth, who has played Ariel for over 20 years, was unable to join the current tour due to injury.  

The role was played wonderfully by Joseph Mann instead, but unfortunately no roller-skating robots on this tour.

The Shakespearean language was a little hard to follow in some places, but legendary founding member of Queen, Brian May, saved the day with his handy appearances via video projection as the newscaster to explain what was going on.

This show definitely shouldn’t be missed; the audience were on their feet singing and dancing along whether they were eight or 80.

Overall, the show was brilliant. The audience were promised a night full of rock ‘n’ roll tunes, stunning special effects and great acting, and that is exactly what we got.

Return to the Forbidden Planet is showing until Saturday, February 21. Tickets are priced between £15 and £29.50. Book them now at www.wycombeswan.co.uk or by calling the ticket office on 01494 512 000.