At what point in musical theatre history did the audience start to realize that producers would make a musical
from just about any source no matter how trite and meaningless?"
Was it with Cats? Not that all these adaptations are poor, some of these seemingly bad ideas turn into commercial and artistic successes. Take The Lion King for example. I go back and forth on the Disney property - is it brilliant realization of Julie Taymor's auteurship, or simply an overpriced and overblown puppet show? I think the theatre world will continue for a long time to wonder what source material has yet to be plundered . . . after all, Broadway is supposed to welcome Spiderman in a few months.
Bat Boy is a relatively new musical, first playing off-Broadway in 2001. Drawing from the sketchy details of the original fake tabloid article from the Weekly World News, the plot of Bat Boy starts as an origin story, but begins to drift as it progresses, seemingly lifting plotlines from Frankenstein, Our Town, Romeo and Juliet and more. It's as if writers Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming felt their title character was original enough that their story didn't have to be. The music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe are enjoyable and clever, though nothing seems catchy enough to hum on the way out of the theatre. This CSUS production boasts beautiful sets and some clever bits of staging, though it doesn't quite overcome all the shortcomings of the script and seemed to drag a little. Ed Brazo directs a large cast and elicits some nice performances. But it seems as if the Bat Boy script presents a schizophrenic challenge worthly of Bat Boy's own half-bat, half-human lineage - is this a larger-than-life parable on society's aversion to outsiders, or is this meant to be pure camp in the tradition of the ridiculous tabloid that actually gave birth to Bat Boy? This production seems to split the difference, succeeding on some fronts (Bat Boy's struggles for acceptance provoke empathy throughout) while failing on others (why is one death funny and another one tragic?). There's a sequence in Act 2 that inexplicably brings the Greek god Pan on stage to sing and encourage the creatures of the forest to mate that, while funny and performed well, pushed the limits of my suspension of disbelief. I had to chuckle to myself as I thought, "I'm with you on the mad-scientist-cattle-conspiracy-paranormal-interspecies-mutant musical so far, but now THIS is too much!" So, bravo to the production for the most part - you had me til the forest creature sex number. In the end, I can recommend this as a fun evening out. Bat Boy runs for one more weekend, and there are some great discounts on October 31st for Halloween, including $5 tickets for high school students for the 5pm performance and $5 tickets for the 9pm performance if you attend in costume. NOTE: This show has plenty of adult themes and some on stage violence, so it's not appropriate for children. REMAINING PERFORMANCES: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 @ 6:30 PM Tickets $10-$15
LINKS:
CSUS Department of Theatre and Dance page for Bat Boy The acting and singing are a bit of a mixed bag, though every time I see a show at CSUS, there are a few delightful standout performances. This time it was Amanda Morish as Meredith Parker, as Bat Boy's adoptive mother, and Peter J. Carroll as Bat Boy that impressed me most. Morish handles a difficult part with skill, conveying a range of emotions from the angst of difficult circumstances to the joy of motherly love. She sweetly expresses comfort to the newly displaced Bat Boy in "Home for You," one of several moments when Morish owns the stage with her voice and presence. Carroll has the daunting task of transforming from feral cave creature to refined, BBC-accented average teenage boy in front of our eyes. The role's like Eliza Doolittle guest starring on "Fringe," and Carroll performs it well, especially considering he's practically naked at one point, and throughout the show he wears prosthetic ears, fangs and a headset-style body mic.
Thursday, October 29, 2009 @ 6:30 PM
Friday, October 30, 2009 @ 8:00 PM
Saturday, October 31, 2009 @ 5:00 PM and 9:00 PM
Sunday, November 1, 2009 @ 2:00 PM
Jeffrey Callison interview with Ed Brazo, Peter J. Carrol and Amanda Morish
Buy your tickets for Bat Boy on tickets.com
Buy Bat Boy (2001 Original Off-Broadway Cast)
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