Return to the Forbidden Planet, a jukebox musical loosely based on Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” and the scifi classic “Forbidden Planet,” comes to Rockland Country Day School this Spring. This musical includes rock and roll classics from the 1950’s and ‘60’s.
Gina Martin, an active supporter of the musical theatre at RCDS, will choreograph the production. Ms. Martin was trained as a classical dancer and danced on Broadway after she moved to New York City from Fort Wayne, Indiana. She worked on several shows and projects with the greats Agnes DeMille, Gwen Verdon, and Peter Gennaro.
RCDS will will stage Return to Forbidden Planet on April 16th, 17th and 18th in the Putter Gymnasium on the campus of Rockland Country Day School. The student cast will perform classic rock ‘n roll songs including Wipeout, Good Vibrations, Great Balls of Fire, Shake Rattle and Roll, Gloria and Born To Be Wild.
Guitar and songwriting instructor Billy Roues and musical instructor Julia Liu will serve as musical directors. Gina Martin will choreograph the show. Dennis Predovic will head set design, with help from students in set construction.
Performances will be at 7p on April 16th; 2p and 7p on April 17 and 2p on April 18. For tickets, contact Drama Director Marsha Predovic at 845-268-6802.
The theater program at the school is also participating in the Metropolitan High School Theater Awards. The initiative, which was established by Danielle Rudess of the Helen Hayes Youth Theater, celebrates the hard work, talent and enthusiasm of students in high school musicals throughout Rockland and Westchester counties, as well as Bergen County, New Jersey. In recent years, RCDS has collected several nominations and awards from this competition.
Tim Bidon, a senior at Rockland Country Day School, has been chosen by LoHud theater columnist Peter Kramer as one of three student writers who will contribute to Kramer’s blog, “My High School Musical: Along for the Ride as Musicals Come to Life.” Tim will study journalism at Ithaca College in the fall.