QUEANBEYAN Players is reviving “Return to the Forbidden Planet” with all its familiar songs.

Stephen Pike directs the show, with musical director Nicholas Griffin and choreographer Nickole Neal.

Pike figures it must be at least seven years since last time we saw “Return to the Forbidden Planet” in the region.

“It’s really a typical jukebox musical,” he says, “full of songs from the ‘60s and ‘70s… it was about due for a revival, it’s one of the most successful musicals of all time.”

You don’t need to be an expert to appreciate it and no one takes it too seriously, he tells “CityNews”, adding, “the author even addresses the audience to say, ‘I’ll bet you’re all confused now’”.

But, as Pike observes, we all know the story, “a simplistic version of Shakespeare’s ‘Tempest’.” In the musical, Captain Tempest and his crew battle to free themselves from the grip of the planet D’Illyria, but can they trust Dr Prospero? And so on.

There’ll be a lot of actors we’ve never seen before, but there’ll be a few familiar faces, too; Dave Evans plays Captain Tempest and Lachlan Whan, the antagonist Cookie.

Pike has been watching Whan with interest. He’s played wildly different roles in recent years, not least, in an apparent bit of anti-typecasting, Tony in “West Side Story”. But in Pike’s view, “his vocal range is very well suited to the rock ‘n’ roll type of music”. And there’s plenty of that.

“Return to the Forbidden Planet”, The Q, June 7-22, bookings to 62856290 or theq.net.au