Show: Bat Out of Hell the Musical
Society: London (professional shows)
Venue: Dominion Theatre
Credits: Jim Steinman
Type: Sardines
Author: Chris Abbott
Performance Date: 19/04/2018
Bat Out of Hell the Musical
Chris Abbott | 19 Apr 2018 23:47pm
If you’re going to put on a 1970s rock musical using modern-day staging, then the Dominion Theatre is the ideal place to do it – and the resurgence of Jim Steinman’s Bat Out of Hell there, after previously being seen in Manchester and at the London Coliseum, was welcomed by a delirious first night audience of aging rockers from the first explosion and Kabuki drop, queueing up to take their selfies on the motorbike in the bar and leaping to their feet (though not perhaps with as much agility as in their youth) when it came to the finale.
Director Jay Scheib has a background in opera and it shows in his confident and expansive production, and this is quite definitely a rock opera and not in any way a jukebox musical. Its ambitions are high, and more than met by the music, staging and concept, if a little lacking in some of the dialogue, the banality of which was navigated with great skill by an excellent cast.
Leading that cast is Andrew Polec, returning to the role he has made his own and bludgeoning the audience into surrender from the opening monologue onwards; his performance is marked by excess but entirely appropriate that it should be so. Opposite him as Raven is Christina Bennington, a dynamic actor who holds her own through quiet commitment and some fluid musicality. As her parents, Rob Fowler and Sharon Sexton are never less than impressive, although they have some of the most melodramatic elements of the book to put over, Sexton in particular managing to bring an arch delivery to some of the more excessive dialogue which helps greatly.
The story, is based on Peter Pan, at some removes, although this might not have been easy to spot without the programme reference. Strat is closest to his precursor, Peter Pan himself, but Raven is only distantly related to Wendy, with no ambivalence regarding whether she will be a mother or a partner for Peter. Falco has something of Hook about him and Sloane certainly echoes J.M. Barrie’s obsession with inadequate mothers, but the most interesting character in this version of the story is the youngest member of The Lost, Tink. He was played in a touching and very well sung performance by Alex Thomas-Smith.
Unlike Tinkerbell, he is all too human but like her he is put in peril by the actions of Peter; thankfully, no audience interaction was requested to resurrect him. But the Peter Pan story is only source material here for a loose storyline that is brought to life by some timeless 1970s rock standards and very impressive staging. By the time the audience recognised the opening chords of I Would Do Anything for You, the cast could do no wrong. The choreography, by newcomer Emma Portner, referenced moves and attitudes from dances of the 1970s and 1980s and was performed with apparently inexhaustible energy by the young and talented ensemble. Portner seems to have an instinctive feel for the period, despite her youth.
Star of the evening for me was experienced designer Jon Bausor. If a production requires motorbikes, cars appearing by magic and then disappearing again quite unexpectedly, not to mention an act one finale which includes a trick with a motorcycle which was as satisfying as it was unexpected, who else would you want to design it but Bausor. This, after all, was the man who put an entire crashed plane in Regent’s Park for Lord of the Flies.
The staging uses multiple viewpoints and levels, with action often seen simultaneously on projected video and for real, and the set is built out into the theatre auditorium. At various points, in addition to Patrick Woodroffe’s lighting, the production uses fire, pyros and a deceptively deep pool of water, with the mouth of Hell on stage. And watch for the very impressive bats at the end; seen only fleetingly but therefore all the more impressive.
If loud rock music and Meatloaf are not your idea of entertainment, you won’t be going; but lots of people will be heading to the Dominion to re-live their youth, and Bat Out of Hell will enable them to do so in style.
- : admin
- : 19/04/2018