‘BAT OUT OF HELL:—THE MUSICAL’: Andrew Polec & cast. Photo: Specular

JIM STEINMAN’S BAT OUT OF HELL: THE MUSICAL
Book, music & lyrics by Jim Steinman
Choreography by Emma Portner
Directed by Jay Scheib
Through January 5, 2019
Dominion Theatre
London, United Kingdom
https://www.batoutofhellmusical.com/

By Scott Harrah

Meatloaf was an iconic rock singer in the 1970s, with a string of classic hits featuring his larger-than-life persona and soaring vocals, but it was New York composer/producer Jim Steinman that wrote and conceived Meatloaf’s songs and helped turn the singer into a superstar. Mr. Steinman also composed mega-hits for everyone from Aussie pop group Air Supply to Bonnie Tyler (“Total Eclipse of the Heart”), Celine Dion and others.

This jukebox musical featuring both Meatloaf hits and classics by Air Supply, Celine Dion and others has had many successful incarnations throughout the United Kingdom, most recently in England at the London Coliseum in summer 2017, and a brief stint in Canada at Toronto’s Ed Mirvish Theatre from October 2017 to January 2018.

Bat Out of Hell: The Musical takes nearly all of Meatloaf’s big hits and attempts to weave them into a puerile narrative about a watered-down version of Peter Pan, set in an apocalyptic city called Obsidian and centers on the tale of Strait (Andrew Polac), who seeks eternal youth and has romantic designs on Raven (Christina Bennington), much to the disapproval of the young woman’s wealthy parents Falco (Rob Fowler) and Sloane (Sharon Sexton).

The narrative is often confusing and makes little sense. In addition, too much is happening on stage (but it all certainly looks spectacular, with Patrick Woodroffe’s high-tech lighting and Jon Bauser’s futuristic sets.) Many scenes are mostly shown on video screen projections by Finn Ross, because dramatic scenes unfold behind opaque curtains on various parts of the set. This might be great for a rock or pop concert, but it becomes tiresome in a West End musical.

The best aspect of the show is Emma Portner’s trenchant choreography. The dancers are always in perfect sync, and really flesh out the themes of all the hit songs. Show standouts include Rob Fowler as Falco; and Rhianne-Louise McCaulsky (the understudy for Zahara at the performance we saw).

The Meatloaf classics are all here, from “Bat Out of Hell” and “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That), “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad,” “You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night), plus Air Supply’s “Making Love Out of Nothing At All” and the Celine Dion standard “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now.” The reason for the other songs not originally performed by Meatloaf is that Jim Steinman wrote hits for many artists over the years. The Meatloaf songbook and other Steinman-penned hits always had the rock opera-style orchestrations and soaring vocals that lent themselves to music videos and over-the-top spectacle. Case in point: Ms. Dion’s 1996 smash hit “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,” purportedly inspired by Emily Bronte’s Gothic novel Wuthering Heights, and best known for a romantic music video in which Celine wore bodice-ripper period costumes and traipsed around an 1800s estate carrying candles, like a pop-music version of Cathy searching for Heathcliff on the Moors. (Meatloaf also recorded a less successful version of the song.)

Act I is actually weaker than Act II. Meatloaf’s all-time greatest hit “Paradise By the Dashboard Light,” the classic about losing one’s virginity, should be performed like the nearly nine-minute rock operetta that made it a golden oldie, but here the song is done with scattershot orchestration and minus the requisite passion and melodrama.

By Act II, the Meatloaf songs are performed with the proper instrumentation and soaring backup choruses that are the Meatloaf and Jim Steinman trademark, but one leaves the Dominion Theatre feeling like something is missing. Jukebox musicals are tricky to pull off on both sides of the Atlantic because one really needs to have a solid story (like Tina, currently playing in London at the Aldwych) to really capture the essence of any great pop artist.

Bat Out of Hell: The Musical certainly rocks the U.K. and the audience at the performance we caught seemed to enjoy the show. The production’s narrative is perhaps too hollow for a Broadway transfer to New York, but it’s flashy and razzle-dazzle enough perhaps for a Las Vegas run. If you are in London this summer and enjoy the Meatloaf songbook, it’s still a fun evening.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published July 2, 2018
Reviewed at June 22, 2018 performance in London

‘BAT OUT OF HELL—THE MUSICAL’: Andrew Polec & cast. Photo: Specular

‘BAT OUT OF HELL—THE MUSICAL’: Andrew Polec & cast. Photo: Specular

‘BAT OUT OF HELL—THE MUSICAL’: Andrew Polec, Christina Bennington & cast. Photo: Specular

‘BAT OUT OF HELL—THE MUSICAL’: Christina Bennington, Andrew Polec & cast. Photo: Specular

‘BAT OUT OF HELL—THE MUSICAL’: Danielle Steers & Wayne Robinson. Photo: Specular

‘BAT OUT OF HELL—THE MUSICAL’: Rob Fowler & Sharon Sexton. Photo: Specular

‘BAT OUT OF HELL—THE MUSICAL’: Sharon Sexton & Rob Fowler. Photo: Specular

‘BAT OUT OF HELL—THE MUSICAL.’ Sharon Sexton. Photo: Specular

‘BAT OUT OF HELL—THE MUSICAL’: Wayne Robinson. Photo: Specular

‘BAT OUT OF HELL—THE MUSICAL’: Danielle Steers. Photo: Specular

‘BAT OUT OF HELL—THE MUSICAL’: Danielle Steers & Andrew Polec. Photo: Specular

‘BAT OUT OF HELL—THE MUSICAL’: The cast. Photo: Specular

The post ‘Bat Out of Hell’: Meatloaf musical rocks U.K. appeared first on StageZine.

FOUR WORKING-CLASS MUSWELL HILL LADS: (left to right) Ned Derrington, John Dagleish, Adam Sopp & George Magure play The Kinks in ‘Sunny Afternoon.’ Photo: Kevin Cummins

SUNNY AFTERNOON
Original story by Ray Davies
Book by Joe Penhall
Music & lyrics by Ray Davies
Directed by Edward Hall
Choreography by Adam Cooper
Harold Pinter Theatre
Panton Street
London, United Kingdom
(0844 871 7622), www.sunnyafternoonthemusical.com

By Scott Harrah

Is this a British Jersey Boys about The Kinks or a jukebox musical/biography that simply works because the story is compelling and the songs actually compliment and even propel the action? Whatever the case, the show, winner of 4 Olivier Awards, including Best Musical, should be on any rock music lover’s list if you’re in London this year.

One really doesn’t need to know much about The Kinks to enjoy Sunny Afternoon because all the elements for a great story are here: The rise and fall and rise of a rock band in the turbulent 1960s. Some of the best scenes include their appearance on TV’s “Top of the Pops,” with go-go girls and the mad garishness of swinging 1960s London (thanks to Miriam Buether’s brilliant sets). Make no mistake, however, that because The Kinks never reached the popularity in the USA of The Beatles or The Who, this is an intrinsically British musical that might never take off in America but is particularly riveting to see in the U.K. In fact, when The Kinks finally do head to our shores on tour, the USA is portrayed as a land of corrupt trade labor union leaders and thick-accented New York/New Jersey Mafia types. The Kinks fail to appear on TV’s “The Ed Sullivan Show,” which was de rigueur for any band to truly make it Stateside at the time. Although The Kinks started in the 1960s, they weren’t really popular in America until well into the 1970s (when such songs as “Lola” were rock radio standards in the States).

Sunny Afternoon chronicles the story of Ray Davies and the Kinks, four working-class Muswell Hill lads, from their early days in North London playing a debutante ball to their early successes “You Really Got Me” and “Dedicated Follower of Fashion” to their troubles making it in America and all the greedy Americans that expected to be paid as The Kinks toured and made stage and TV appearances here in the Colonies. The group was temporarily banned by a musician’s union in the USA, explaining why The Kinks never had the U.S. success that other British bands did in that era.

Joe Penhall’s solid book, written in collaboration with the group’s Ray Davies, makes Sunny Afternoon more than your average “jukebox” tribute show. A scene with Ray Davies’ long-suffering wife Rasa (Lillie Flynn) is especially touching when she makes a transatlantic phone call to him from England while he’s touring in the U.S. and she gorgeously sings the haunting ballad “I Go to Sleep” (which was written by Ray Davies but never recorded by The Kinks, and was a minor success for Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders in the USA).

The story is heavy on biographical content, particularly brothers Ray and Dave Davies and their constant squabbling, as well as the band’s volatile relationship with their managers. Americans may have trouble relating to certain aspects of the show, such as the song “Sunny Afternoon” itself being performed in 1966 when England won the World Cup (one really does need to know 1960s British culture to appreciate the significance of this).

Director Edward Hall gets many trenchant performances from the cast and especially from John Dagliesh, with his razor-sharp portrayal of Kinks front man Ray Davies. At nearly three hours long, the show feels overstuffed at times, but there’s no other way to tell the story and also include all the great Kinks hits as “Stop Your Sobbing” (also a hit for The Pretenders), “A Rock and Roll Fantasy,” the hippie-dippy, psychedelic anthem “Waterloo Sunset” (which is used for a glorious finale), and more. Sunny Afternoon shines, and is a gleeful evening of entertainment that has a lot of heart and soul and truly rocks.

SIXTIES SENSATION: Carly Anderson & John Dagliesh in ‘Sunny Afternoon.’ Photo: Kevin Cummins

THE KINKS: (left to right) John Dagleish, George Maguire, Adam Sopp & Ned Derrington in ‘Sunny Afternoon.’ Photo: Kevin Cummins

CHRONICLING THE RISE & FALL & RISE OF THE KINKS: (left to right) George Maguire, Ned Derrington, Dominic Tighe, Tam Williams & Adam Sopp in ‘Sunny Afternoon.’ Photo: Kevin Cummins

SIXTIES SENSATION: The company of ‘Sunny Afternoon.’ Photo: Kevin Cummins

OLIVIER AWARD WINNER FOR BEST MUSICAL: (left to right) Lillie Flynn, John Dagliesh & George Maguire in ‘Sunny Afternoon.’ Photo: Kevin Cummins

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published July 1, 2015
Reviewed at performance on June 18, 2015 in London

The post ‘Sunny Afternoon’ Kinks bio-musical rocks appeared first on StageZine.