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Also this issue: Paperback Riders Industry Standard Hanging in the Balance Telling the Truth Twists of Fate Highway to Art Weathering the Storm Art of the Deal |
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May 29-June 4, 2003
art
 The boy is mine: Shelley (Christina Gianaris) can't resist the bloodsucking Edgar (Ben Dibble). |
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Bat Boy invades suburban household! With terrifyingly good results!
Of how many musicals can it be said that the inspiration was a series of legendarily cheesy articles in a supermarket tabloid (Weekly World News)? Bat Boy must certainly be the first. But if you think the source material sounds unpromising, guess again -- the show is sheer bliss, and dazzlingly executed by the delectable 1812-ers.
Our titular hero is just as described: half-boy, half-bat (the fangs and ears give it away). BB was found, squealing and bouncing inside a cave, by a bunch of dope-smoking kids on a spelunking holiday. Hours later, Bat Boy is caged in the Cleaver-esque living room of the Parker family of Hope Falls, W.Va. Mrs. Meredith Parker takes on the role of nurturing mom (she names him "Edgar"). Daughter Shelley, a quintessential teenager, is initially grossed out, but gradually warms to her strange companion.
What are we to make, though, of husband and father Dr. Thomas Parker, an oddball veterinarian who seems to view Edgar as some sort of potential experiment?
Can an unrepentant bloodsucker become an educated, productive member of the local community (a veritable repository of hicks and evangelists)? Will girl and Bat Boy find true love? Who/what is Edgar, anyway and how did he get that way? These are the issues central to Bat Boy, and the show even incorporates a touching, anti-prejudice theme that would have pleased Rodgers and Hammerstein.
I'm less sure how that famous team would have felt about songs like "An Apology to a Cow," in which Edgar serenades a bleeding head, but I was completely won over by Laurence O'Keefe's music and lyrics, which run the gamut from bring-down-the house gospel to Cole Porter-ish wit:
I will discuss Copernicus,
Who ruined all our fun,
And showed we're just
A ball of dust
That limps around the sun.
O'Keefe has a deft way with musical parody -- who could resist the opening number, in which the ensemble intones "Hold Me, Bat Boy!" in that intense, assaultive, annoying Phantom of the Opera style? Fans of more traditional musicals will love the way Bat Boy evokes favorite "song button" moments, from "The Rain in Spain" to "Shall We Dance?" And the show's book -- by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming -- is every bit as witty as the score.
Bat Boy's charms depend greatly on the production -- and here again, 1812 emerges triumphant. It would be impossible to over-praise the astonishing Ben Dibble as Edgar, who executes every move with balletic grace, and whose singing and acting range effortlessly from feral whimpering to Noel Coward-style badinage to operatic baritone grandeur. Dibble is in every way adorable. The other cast members are nearly his equals. Mary Martello (Mrs. Parker) remains unflappably demure, even pressed against a gurney with her legs spread (you'll just have to see it). Tony Lawton (Dr. Parker) manages to be creepy and charming at the same time. Christina Gianaris (Shelley) is the very embodiment of Gen X. And the ensemble includes some of 1812's most beloved theatrical loonies (Peter Pryor, Dawn Falato, Aaron Cromie, Dave Jadico) doing what they do best.
Obviously, uber-credit for the entire event belongs to Bat Boy's director (and 1812 co-founder and artistic director), Jennifer Childs, who has provided a wealth of comic opportunities. (My particular favorite is a Disney-esque forest ballet that subtly but markedly turns raunchy, but every audience member will have her own list of "best moments.")
In strict fairness, I should probably report that the nearly three-hour show would be even better if trimmed by 20 minutes; and that (apart from Dibble, Martello and the clarion-voiced Joshua Lamon) the musical contributions aren't quite up to the theatrical ones.
No matter -- Bat Boy's delights far outweigh these small cavils. I simply can't imagine a better show to chase away the impending summer doldrums. Book early; I'm certain that rapturous press and word of mouth will make Bat Boy a sellout.
Bat Boy, The Musical
Through June 15, 1812 Productions at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St., 215-592-9560.
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