BAT BOY The Musical
Shaftesbury, London
Bat Boy The Musical
Music and Lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe
Story and Book by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming
Presented by Bat Boy (UK) Ltd, Michael Alden Productions, West End International Ltd., Kevin Schon and John Newman for Newpalm Productions, in association with West Yorkshire Playhouse, NJNG Productions, PLUS Entertainment and Matthew Spain
At the Shaftesbury Theatre, 210 Shaftesbury Avenue. London, WC2H 8DP
2½ hours, including one interval 20 minutes
Tickets: 020 7379 5399
Currently booking until 30 October 04
Review: Peter Kinsey 8 September 04
A Bloody Good ShowIn an American town, three potholers discover a feral creature, part bat, part boy.
Placed in the care of the local vet's wife, Mrs Parker, he is educated and passes high school graduation with flying colours (sorry!). Then the blood begins to flow
This musical is very much in the satiric style of Little Shop of Horrors, but delights far more in the gothic and grand guignol. By the end the body count is pretty high (I'm including the local cattle and a pet rabbit) and enough red stuff has been spilt to fill a couple of tankers. It's all over the top vampiric fun, with a serious underlying theme of small town prejudice.
One good reason for this is the virtuosity of Deven May as Bat Boy. He gives a marvellous physical performance in both senses: his assumption of battiness (I'm sure that's not the right word, but it is appropriate for mad moments) is wonderfully complete and convincing; he also rises remarkably to the gymnastic and vocal demands of the role, at one point doing pull-ups, hanging high on a bar, while singing full out.
His characterisation has a wealth of pathos, warmth and humour so that, like the townspeople, who at the end admit to the beast within them (Love your Bat Boy!), the audience too are rooting for Edgar (for so Mrs Parker had re-christened him, in unconscious and fitting homage, no doubt, to the great Allen Poe).
In parallel with their characters, the rest of the company, provide strong support to Deven May throughout. Not only Rebecca Vere, John Barr and Emma Williams as the Parkers and Andrew Bolton as Sheriff Reynolds, but also the ensemble, who engagingly deliver some clever cross-dressing doubles, most formidably Maurey Richards as the distraught and vengeful Mrs Taylor, as well as the evangelical revivalist, Rev. Hightower.
This whole bloodfest is excitingly directed by Mark Wing-Davey, himself no stranger to weirdness, as the still-remembered Zaphod Beeblebrox in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a quite different sort of double.
Bat Boy: Deven May
Meredith Parker: Rebecca Vere
Dr. Thomas Parker: John Barr
Shelley Parker: Emma Williams
Sheriff Reynolds: Andrew Bolton
Rick Taylor, Lorraine, Mr. Dillon: Gareth Richards
Ron Taylor, Maggie, Clem: Julie Jupp
Ruthie Taylor, Ned: Robyn Isaac
Mrs. Taylor, Roy, Rev. Billy Hightower, Institute Man: Maurey Riichards
Bud, Daisy, Doctor, Pan: David Beckford
Ensemble: Robert Archibald, Tim Dreisen, Thomas Goodridge, Rachel Lynes, Wyn Moss, Amanda Villamayor
Director: Mark Wing-Davey
Designer: Madeline Herbert
Musical Director: Iain Vince-Gatt
Choreographer: Lynne Page
Lighting Designer: Tony Sympson
Projection Designer: Mark Logue
Sound Designer: Mike Walker
Company Stage Manager: Mig Kimpton
2004-09-12 11:38:00