Preview Thoughts on Bat Out of Hell

I will say up front that I assumed Bat Out of Hell was not really going to be my kind of show.  But when I was offered tickets, I thought, hm, why not?  I could also take an office chum, for whom I was sure that it would be his kind of show (I was right).  I also picked up an extra ticket for my office chum's son, and so it was that we all went to City Center earlier this week.

I know many of the famous songs from the seminal album and I'm generally a fan of crazy 70s/80s rock music, and also of the performer Meat Loaf, but this was never one of my absolute favorites.  Not like, you know, Barry Manilow's albums.  I don't have all the songs memorized and the ideas of biker chic and hell-as-metaphor-for-cool has never been my thing.  I was clearly in the minority, however.  The City Center audience was filled with superfans, most of whom were wearing Bat Out of Hell t-shirts and who were singing, rocking along, and loving the show throughout the evening.  Too bad my experience didn't really equal theirs.

I didn't really find Bat Out of Hell too terribly enjoyable.  It was so loud, my ears were ringing, and I don't think an epileptic could see it, there were so many blinding and flashing lights.  I actually laughed out loud a couple of times at the sheer ludicrousness of what I was seeing.  Not with glee, but with a sense of disbelief.  But it wasn't so bad it was good, like Dance of the Vampires.  I mean, one of the seminal theater experiences of my life was seeing Michael Crawford, squeezed into a tuxedo that was at least one size too small, singing "Total Eclipse of the Heart."  LOVED that, it was AMAZING.  Didn't love this.  This show was just sort of stupid and sexist, not well-directed, with terrible choreography and performers who were incredibly amazing singers but not so amazing actors.  It was a long night for me.  I will probably sound like my grandmother as I try to describe things, but oh well.  I own it, along with the fact that I was the only person with quibbles.  It seemed to me that everyone else had the best time ever.  Normally, I don't post bad reviews, but this seems criticism-proof, and people have been asking me about it, so...

photo credit: Little Fang

Someone needs to explain to me why, whenever a show is 'post-apocalyptic', women end up wearing bustiers.  Does the new atmosphere require that women's busts be protected?  And lifted?  I don't get it.  And I saw entirely too much of the lead gal's undergarments.  All of the costumes, at least for the women, seemed to me leftovers from male fantasies from music videos of the 80s, which don't really play well now.  Vests are also apparently really important when your DNA has been stunted and you will now be eighteen forever.  And leather pants, of course.  The plot of the show is seriously ridiculous and even with its nonsense, I still had trouble understanding what was going on a couple of times.  The Losts (those DNA-stunted-teens-who-will-be-teens-forever-apparently) are running around and live in subway tunnels.  They're followed by rich people who can get the police to try to snuff them out.  The self-appointed leader of The Losts falls in love with the daughter of the richest man in town.  So, as my office chum said, it's sort of Romeo and Juliet combined with Road Warrior.  Oh, with some Peter Pan thrown in (there's a character named Tink).  Uh huh.

photo credit: Little Fang

There were some pretty cool lighting effects, I have to admit.  The whole sequence that ended the first act was exciting, though I didn't quite know what was going on.  I don't understand why there was a videographer, except that the set design kept about 3/4 of the audience blocked from seeing some action, so I guess the video helped people see the hidden set pieces.




I found the choreography to be especially egregious - there was one number, a power ballad (naturally) between the two leads, and they seemed to be leaping like frogs around the stage.  It was quite bizarre and not very romantic, I must say.  There seemed to be two members of the ensemble who only ran on stage to do the dances, then ran back offstage.  They couldn't be DNA mutants all the time?  It was very strange.  The direction just sort of laid there, as well.  At one point, the Losts are (again) hiding from the adults and someone yells "Get down!  Hide!"  And everyone just looks around and slowly lowers to the ground.  It was also very strange.

The singing, though, was fantastic.  All of the performers had incredible voices and did justice to those songs.  I'm happy to acknowledge everyone's amazing singing talent.  Listening to a cast album should be a fun experience (not that I'll buy it, though, I'd rather just listen to Meat Loaf, to be honest).  I had forgotten, though, just how long all of those songs are.  Yikes - each time one of the songs had yet another verse, I'd think "more isn't always better, Linus, it's just more," which is a bad paraphrase of a line from a favorite movie.  I think the composer/lyricist/bookwriter is maybe a little too in love with his own voice.  In doing a little online research, it seems he's been working on this material for about 50 years now.  He really has something he wants to say with it, I'm just not the audience to receive it, I guess.  My office chum LOVED IT.  Thankfully for everyone else, I was in the back of the house, politely smiling and applauding, and everyone else was loudly proclaiming their love.  More power to them.  Someday, hopefully, I'll be the one screaming up front for the next Barry Manilow musical...