Jim Steinman’s rip-roaring musical is tearing up cities throughout the UK earlier than its residence again in London’s West End in 2023. Featuring the best hits of Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf, this all-guns-blazing barrage of rock will not be for the faint-hearted.
Set to the music of the multi-million-selling album of the identical identify, this musical is loosely based mostly on the lynchpins of JM Barrie’s Peter Pan; ‘Loosely’ being the operative phrase. For these destined to witness this present, it would be best to learn on as I try and untangle the plot of this present in as few sentences as potential.
The vocal performances delivered by the corporate, particularly Adamson, Kirby, Fowler, and Sharon Sexton, are completely and unequivocally among the greatest I’ve ever heard. Supported brilliantly by the vocally gifted ensemble, the present depends on these piercing voices to carry this iconic music to life. Where this present falls down is within the work itself. With a plot as murky as a swamp, and much much less fascinating, it feels that these exemplary performers are doomed from the outset. The script is tough to decipher; is it purposefully wacky and tongue-in-cheek, or is the theatrical inexperience of Steinman the foundation trigger? What can’t be denied is Jim Steinman’s means to jot down, however the e book of Bat Out of Hell lacks the pizzazz and storytelling that you just discover in his music work. The course fails on essentially the most half to drag out the small nuggets of narrative which are current, and so we’re left with a 5-star live performance wrapped in a 1-star story. The choreography on this present, tailored by Xena Gusthart, is one other alternative so as to add context to the story. Instead, a lot of it’s superfluous and infrequently takes away from in any other case incredible performances.The set design from Jon Bausor works exhausting to painting the darkish and dingy world by which this manufacturing is about. The glass penthouse residence of Flaco represents the outdated world, with the rubble and tunnels beneath a results of the chemical wars of yesterday. This is all paired with a superb video design from Finn Ross. Whilst overused, the stay video components projected across the stage allowed the viewers to rise up shut and private with particulars that in any other case can be missed, bringing the talents and element of tv to the stage. Patrick Woodroffe’s lighting harnesses rock as if this can be a stadium tour, and the manufacturing is all the higher for it.
This exhibits faults lie past the management of the performers. Although the ensemble usually lacked the power of characterisation and of motion that we come to count on in an expert present, the entire firm labored exhausting and introduced the fabric to life properly. Pairing these good voices with the songs of one of the profitable albums in historical past offers you a profitable components. But a few of these basic songs really feel shoe-horned into the work, which additional detracts from this outlandish manufacturing. With heart-thumping rock rumbling via the auditorium, it’s troublesome to not be in awe of this gargantuan present, but it surely wants extra than simply good musicians, songs, and vocalists to make it nice.Review by Max Topliss
Seat: C6 | Price of Ticket: £49.50