From a fiery blast-off to a warp speed finale the pace hardly slackened with the youngsters attacking every scene and song with gusto.

Caught as they are between school-level performance and not yet having acquired any maturity of stage craft, shows such as this are all about approach and application and there could be no doubting all the cast's honesty of purpose.

They threw themselves at the task with a high-octane endeavour.

It was noisy and brash, some voices struggled to get anywhere near to pitch, although that was compensated by sheer dynamism, and at times the four-piece band, which certainly was the quality article, overstepped the fine line between accompanying and competing with voices, but there were remarkably few rough edges in a well-thought out and well-prepared performance.

With the concept of the show a blend of 1956 cult sci-fi movie Forbidden Planet and Shakespeare's The Tempest, a little knowledge of both helped to patch storyline gaps, but all is chivvied along by the wealth of great songs from the Fifties and Sixties (there's seemingly one to fit perfectly every situation in life). It might have helped for them to be listed in the dinky programme for the benefit of the young, who may not know what they are called, and as an aide memoire to the older generation who can't remember.

And the young cast really got into the groove of those songs from what to them must be an alien era.

The spaceship crew became an effective chorus line making a good sound, on the mark and never out of step in some lively choreography.

Among the principal roles, Peter Coppin was suitably stiff as the phlegmatic Captain Tempest, Luke Pick perpetually active as lovesick Cookie, Sarah Evans looked every inch a Fifties' girl as Miranda, Amy Reet displayed a fine singing voice as the Navigational Officer, and Steven Ballinger was boilingly manic as the mad Dr Prospero, his Shakin' All Over number reminiscent of an all-body workout video ... on fast forward.

The second half proved a tour de force for Kate Lavery, as Prospero's feisty wife Gloria. She has an immensely powerful voice with real ATTITUDE, a sort of young version of Ethel Merman. But the eyecatcher was Leanne Mae Machmail as Shakespeare's sprite Ariel transposed into a roller-skating robot talking like a Dalek. With a natural sense movement, spot-on timing and a stage presence that shouts 'I should be here', this young lady has the ability to go far.

College principal Malcolm Saville even had a film role as the newscaster/narrator – a nifty bit of casting there.

All was played out on an effectively stark black set with twinkly starlights, a sweep of white cloth that doubled as the film screen and a Yamaha keyboard acting as the space control – an inventive touch! Whirling spotlights during the up tempo songs added to the musical heat.

Considering this was the college's first attempt at a musical it was a thoroughly laudable effort. It was great fun, bursting with energy and there were plenty of good vibrations all round.

There's a second performance tonight at 7.30pm. Tickets at £6 (£4) are available from the box office (Tel: 01476 406158). It's well worth seeing!