Six months had elapsed since I last saw a rehearsal or played in a show! I didn't have any remote idea of the show or the storyline except from reading the short blurb in the theatre brochure.

The curtain went up after a brief overture which the band played well to get the show going. The first number went well and it felt like something I had heard before. The cast had been prepared well by the production team and there wasn't any doubt in my mind that the show was well suited to the teenagers' tastes with entertaining disco style songs.

Unfortunately the song names were not something I can refer to as they were not listed in the programme, rather like the long production list that was distinctly missing!

The 'Annie' style first scene reminded me of "Hey hobo man'' from that great American show and the actors gave very confident performances, particularly Iain Levey as the scatty scientist Professor Gruber who impressed me with his variety of acting as he took on different roles.

The chorus scenes were very well done with every actor sticking to his or her appointed task. This aspect of youth theatre is often overlooked but nearly always is often the hardest to achieve.

The first scene was lively enough but had little substance to get the show moving.

Danielle Cavender played Diane Parks the would-be star and this role suited her well. She showed suitable disappointment when things didn't go as she wanted them to and helped give the rather dubious story line more interest. Her singing was excellent throughout.

The news reader Kim Roden spoke clearly and gave the character considerable expression and maturity.. She also sang a very nice solo.

The three spacemen played their roles well, and got good reaction from the packed house of the Saturday night. It was not their fault that the writing didn't seem to be up to much and I was thankful when the short space scenes were over so that we could get back to the more substantial scenes around the nations, which were often humorous and entertaining.

The different congressmen and women were played with plenty of liveliness and there were some good solo singing efforts, especially from Megan Levey, Suzy Mounter and Ellie Creasy. Robbie White impressed me with his emerging singing voice and his own brand of youth theatre acting added plenty of fun to the show as he blundered around choosing his stars!

Musically the show didn't seem to have that much to offer but the songs were well rehearsed and new musical director Mary Williams gave the cast good grounding in the songs with smatterings of two-part harmony, well balanced and executed in places.