By: Rosie Sharman-Ward
Jim Steinman’s uncompromising musical Bat Out of Hell blazes across the stage of Theatre Royal Plymouth, loud, brash and musically stunning. Its high energy and concert style vibe has given it cult status and there are many excited returning fans in the audience.
Set in post Apocalyptic Manhattan, renamed Obsidian, we find ourselves amidst a divided society. Deep in the now unused subway tunnels are a gang of teenagers whose DNA was frozen by the chemical warfare, they are now 18 for ever and call themselves “The Lost” Disgusted by these wastrel youths, the ruler of Obsidian, Falco, and his minions regularly clash with them. These scuffles cause injuries to both sides but a cut to Falco’s own face sees him explode with rage and vow revenge. He will destroy the tunnels, forcing out the Lost and build houses on the land.
In the middle of all this Falco’s daughter Raven is approaching her 18th birthday and as with most people of that age she is rebellious and curious. She sneaks out from under her father’s domineering presence and witnesses one of the fights. More importantly she sees the leader of the Lost, Strat, and well, let’s just say opposites attract! During the skirmish Strat frees himself from his attacker by shedding his shirt, (this seems to happen to him a lot). Raven retrieves it and smuggles it back to her room. Falco finds her wearing it and forbids her to go near him again, threatening to shoot him if she does. Raven is a defiant teenager, I think we all know what comes next!
For me the music reigns supreme in this production. The cast are magnificent, both as singers and dancers, the lead characters perform the songs better even than Meatloaf (sorry not sorry!) Glenn Adamson as Strat really delivers the big numbers, his Bat Out of Hell was one of my favourite moments in the show. He could probably just sing a concert version and most of us would be happy. Katie Tonkinson’s Raven is a great vocal match bringing the tender moments to their duets as well as belting out the songs. The duet version of Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad between Zahara, Georgia Bradshaw and Jagwire, Ryan Carter, is truly heart rending.
My personal awards go to Rob Fowler as Falco and Sharon Sexton as his disenchanted wife Sloane. Fowler’s Falco is convincingly disturbing; his despotic, coercive manner renders him very creepy and unpleasant. Sexton is a perfect foil conveying by small gestures and amusing body language her disillusionment with a love grown stale. They light up the stage as they sing together and their scene reminiscing about steamy nights parked up when they were young is just brilliant if uncomfortable, like accidentally catching your own parents making out!
Jon Bausor’s set and costumes including the use of screens for moody projection, and Patrick Woodroffe’s lighting extravaganza are exciting. I sat in the back of the stalls and even I was lit up with rainbows at one point.
The music for Bat Out of Hell was always destined to be the score for a musical rather than an album. It takes its inspiration from Peter Pan with a pinch of West Side Story thrown in, and stirred until darker.
Overall, it is a spectacular show for performances, having an incredible band onstage is a bonus. A talented, hardworking cast pounding out fabulous tunes is always going to amaze, surely a good night out? I’m off to ride my Harley into the sunset – well I can dream, can’t I?