Since being discovered in a cave outside of Wheeling, West Virgina
in 1992, Bat Boy has been one busy Chiroptera. The subject of several sightings reported exclusively by The Weekly World News (Boca Raton, Florida’s most trusted tabloid), Bat Boy has consistently made headlines-escaping from the captivity of government scientists, attending the University of Northern Kentucky, backing the Gore-Lieberman ticket, misappropriating several cars in the Detroit area, and fighting alongside U.S. forces in Iraq. He was even knighted by the Queen for his valour in combat. Still, after all that, the burning question lingers: can Bat Boy sing? Can he dance? The answer to both-perhaps not surprisingly-is yes.
Described as one part My Fair Lady and one part Edward Scissorhands, Bat Boy: The Musical won an off-Broadway cult following after a successful debut run in 2001. Penned by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming, with music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe, the fantastic tale of Bat Boy has spread like a plague, popping up on independent stages all over the U.S. and Canada.
Inspired by the reports in the Weekly World News, Bat Boy’s story is incredibly dark and twisted, including a gutsy surprise ending that could have been lifted from the lyrics of Pixies frontman Black Francis.
The main plotline finds Bat Boy adopted by a seemingly pious small-town family who secretly tame the bloodthirsty creature into a polite and upstanding gentleman. Bat Boy’s principle obstacle is the overriding prejudice harboured by the narrow-minded townsfolk who blame him for attacking a reckless cave explorer. The locals (portrayed mainly as slack-jawed yokels) also suspect that Bat Boy is behind a mysterious rash of cattle mutilations and want to see him put down, Old Yeller style.
Taken as a whole, Bat Boy’s struggle for acceptance and companionship is a good story that suffers considerably from poor editing and an uneven ensemble cast. While some numbers like “Comfort and Joy” stand out, others, like the lengthy and pointless graduation scene, should have been chucked out completely. Likewise, the performances ranged widely-veteran actor Jayne Lewis did a superb job in the role of Bat Boy’s “adoptive” mother, leading the cast with her consistent vocal skill and hilariously deadpan acting style, while Jenni Burke struggled with timing and pitch as the Reverend Billy Hightower.
In the difficult role of Bat Boy, Jay T. Schramek was mostly adequate, but left a little to be desired. Schramek’s strength was in his physicality-it was always fun to watch as he smoothly hooked himself upside down from the top of his cage to take a quick bat nap, as were his violent and untamed outbursts. Schramek’s weaker moments were during the musical numbers, where his singing voice failed to resonate with the same power as his spoken words.
Standout performances were given by David Rosser, who was hilariously spooky as the sex-starved Dr. Parker, and Graham Coffeng, whose caricature of Rick Taylor, the dope-smoking rocker, was also good for a couple of laughs.
It was interesting to note that this musical, which preaches themes of universal acceptance and social tolerance (with a pretty heavy hand), would at the same time sweepingly depict rural Americans as uneducated bigots, quick to use violence and a scapegoat to solve their problems. Using this Brechtian catch-all approach to providing an intolerant foil for Bat Boy works against the central purpose of the story. Pigeonholing all smalltown Americans-in exactly the same way that Bat Boy is misunderstood, no less-makes the story seem contradictory and inauthentic at heart.
Also detracting from the performance was the unbalanced sound coming from the live band. Sequestered on the upper left side of the multi-level stage, the band was at times too loud, then in other moments not loud enough. And while some songs like “Hold Me, Bat Boy” were good pieces of musical theatre pop, others like “Parker’s Epiphany” sounded too much like bad covers of 80s top 40.
All that said, Bat Boy: The Musical wasn’t a total waste of time. The opening scene in the bat cave was well thought out and nicely directed. The use of shadow play was especially entertaining, as was the mounting tension leading up to Bat Boy’s first appearance. There were also a number of truly funny moments in the script-one of best included a giant severed cow’s head and about six litres of fake blood.
As a side note, to the people talking loudly behind me throughout the performance: Go to hell. Nobody else cares if your friend Jessica thinks that Bat Boy is hot.
