This spring I am part of the repertory company for Great Lakes Theater Festival's production of THE TEMPEST, directed by Andrew May. In preparation for the performance I went to Netflix and queued up a copy of Forbidden Planet.I think in this version, my character is the alcoholic cook, but I'm not sure.
A sci-fi classic from 1956, starring a 30 year-old Leslie Nielsen as the captain, it's exactly the kind of movie MST3K used to send up, only with a plot, interesting characters and fabulous (even by today's standards) special effects.
Yeah, it's a little like TEMPEST, if you count a creepy philologist for the sorcerer Prospero and his slutty late-twenties daughter for the 14 year-old Miranda. Robby, the Robot (check the correct punctuation!) is either Ariel or Caliban, I can't tell.
What is most thrilling is that after a long day of supervising and rehearsing, and joining my family for library time, and then Harriett's 40th birthday party, everyone came home and promptly fell asleep, leaving me to make a Manhattan, pop some popcorn, and watch this chestnut with all the lights out, on my lonesome.
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And here was me, plumping for The Godfather on my own while everyone else in the house were seeing Becoming Jane.
Oh, and Flash Gordon was there, in silver underwear.
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