[NEohioPAL] Review of "Bat Boy: The Musical" at Blank Canvas Theatre

[Bob Abelman via NEohioPAL]

Blank Canvas’ ‘Bat Boy’ goes for the jugular


Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics

  

For four years now, Blank Canvas Theatre has lived the schizophrenic existence of offering serious American classics such as “Twelve Angry Men” and “Of Mice and Men” alongside irreverent musical comedies the likes of “Debbie Does Dallas” and “Psycho Beach Party.”  



This year is no exception. The company’s most recent production was Thornton Wilder’s somber “Our Town” and its next will be the outrageous cult classic “Reefer Madness.”  



Squeezed in between – literally as well as artistically – is the current production of Keythe Farley, Brian Flemming and Laurence O'Keefe’s short-lived Off-Broadway show “Bat Boy: The Musical.”



“Bat Boy” is a modern-day gothic tale ripped from a supermarket tabloid headline and set to rock-gospel music. It features a young man – born half boy and half bat – who, after being found in a local cave, is educated, socialized and loved by the Parker family but struggles to find acceptance among the unenlightened locals. 



Everything about this musical – its broadly drawn small town characters, its wildly parodic overtones, and its quirky show tunes with titles like “Another Dead Cow” – is built for laughs.



But imbedded in the work are some rather serious themes drawn from classic literature, such as Bat Boy’s inability to fight fate (Aeschylus’ “Prometheus Bound”),  the townspeople’s fear of those who are different than themselves (Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”) and the intriguing complications that arise within the Parker family household (Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex”).  And a few songs, such as “A Home for You” and “Children, Children,” are beautifully built ballads.



As a result, some productions – including the one offered by Great Lakes Theater several years ago – choose to accentuate all that is dark and dramatic in the musical by pushing the play’s pathos to the forefront.  



This Blank Canvas production certainly has the potential to do the same. 



For more of this review, go to www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/.  
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