Customer Reviews

Bat Boy (2001 Original Off-Broadway Cast)

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

When I originally heard about a musical named BATBOY opening, I imagined something about baseball or caped crusaders. (Hey, I'm from Missouri so it is easier to imagine that than a musical based on a supermarket tabloid headline. ) Imgine my surpirse when I listen to the album. I LOVED IT!

And after my terrible review of the new ROCKY HORROR SHOW, I find it amazing that I'm giving my highest rave reviews to BAT BOY. Especially, since BAT BOY is a direct decendant of ROCKY plus a little LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, HAIR and even some Lloyd Webber's original JOSEPH. Actually Laurence O'Keefe, the composer, has probably written the most varied musical score since JOSEPH. He doesn't miss a musical style and he uses them all well.

The entire cast is first rate and production of the CD is outstanding. And be it musical comedy, tragedy or drama I recommend it to you whole heartedly!

By the way, RCA (BMG) seems to be the only major recording company willing to take a chance on the musical theater these days, and they are to be commended for it. Now, if they'll only release a few more of the old shows whose masters they still have tucked away in their vaults.

I bought this CD on a dare, and I couldn't be more happier with it. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. (Well actually I was expecting a very badly written musical that had songs that... well in a word....) This CD FAR exceeded my expectations and then some. It is a very thought provoking story about the pressures of being different. First they hate you, then they grow to love you then someone who you thought was your friend frames you for the murder of two people and eveyone wants you dead. Sound tricky? It's not. Especially the way Laurence O'Keefe blends many different style of music into one heck of a show. There is a very nice eclectic mix of styles on this CD. There is your Broadway Standard (Show You A Thing or Two), Country (Another Dead Cow, one of my personal favorites), Gospel Number (A Joyful Noise) and even an "I'm Going Crazy and Listening to the Voices In My Head" Song intermixed with the Act 1 Finale (Comfort and Joy.) If this doesn't make you want to click your mouse button and buy this CD, then I don't know what will. Oh yeah and by the way, I really like this and I think you will too.

I was fortunate enough to see "Bat Boy" live in Minneapolis, and just had to buy this delightful soundtrack featuring the New York company as a keepsake. The story, based on a character from the "Weekly World News," dramatizes the life of a bat-human hybrid in a story equal parts "My Fair Lady" and "Tommy." The musical numbers are universally well written, extremely witty, and the performers on the CD have excellent vocal range and intonation.

The plot of the play will reveal itself quickly by listening to the songs, several of which are real standouts. "Hold Me, Bat Boy" (and its reprise) is so catchy that you will not be able to get it out of your head for weeks. "Mrs. Taylor's Lullaby" is perhaps the most amusing song on the CD, while "A Home For You", "Comfort And Joy", and "Inside Your Heart" are great classical musical vehicles designed to show off vocal talent to excellent effect.

To my knowledge this is the only musical that is based on a recurring tabloid character (still featured in the "Weekly World News") and touches on themes of evil veterinarians and bovine plagues all the while maintaining a tongue-in-cheek ambience alongside excellent (yet austere) production values.

The music from "Bat Boy" is great, the cast is excellent, and the plot is a one of a kind. "Bat Boy" is a wonderful show to see live, and I recommend it and this CD to anyone, especially those with an offbeat sense of humor.

I love Bat Boy! To be honest, I'm quite obsessed. This is an amazing cast recording featuring amazing talents especially by Kerry Butler (Hairspray, Little Shop of Horrors~revival) who can make anything funny. What I like most about Bat Boy though is that it knows it's totally insane and you'd never think it'd work but it does (and I must say, very successfully). With hilarious lyrics, fun, upbeat music, and an extraordinary cast, Bat boy is an intelligent show that's much better than most Broadway shows. It's just a shame it never made it to the Great White Way.

What a fantastic musical! I have not seen it(yet!) but being a big fan of Kerry Butler, I bought the cd with the intention of listening to her first recording. Although I thought Kerry was fantastic, I couldn't get enough of the whole cd! It reminds me a little bit of "Rent" and "Rocky" and is so original and funny. The music is WONDERFUL-if you want to hear an impressive sample of rock, gospel, typical boradway showtunes, touching ballads and duets, and even a little rap, this is the cd for you. The songs I especially love are "Hold me bat boy," "Show you a thing or two," "Comfort and Joy," "Inside your heart," and "Three Bedroom House." THe leads are AMAZING!!!!!!! Buy this cd-you won't regret it!!!!!!!!

It is thanks to the reviews on Amazon that I decided to buy this CD. The album cover and premise is enough to scare someone away. Thankfully I was persuaded to get it. I absolutely love this musical.

The story, despite the silly premise from a tabloid newspaper, is very well told and developed. You really feel for the characters. The singers are very talented - particularly the title character. I can't imagine someone doing a better job playing Bat Boy. The tunes are very melodic and memorable. You will find yourself singing along with many of the songs. The musical also has a powerful meaning (told with much humor).

There are a couple weaknesses. The father's actions are not explained well. He is a bit psycho, but I never really got why. The history of the story is not fully told on the CD. You are left with a few holes in the plot progression and development. I think I generally figured out what is not explicitly told us, but I could be completely wrong. It would be nice if the CD, or at least the book, explained what is missing. Without the history, you are left guessing.

Yet these facts are easily overlooked due to the power of what is there. It is thoroughly enjoyable. I highly recommend it to anyone. Great music, great story.

There are some show albums that can be played as background dinner music. I'm not suggesting an uncomfortable, silently seething supper like the "American Beauty" household endured nightly. No, there are certain Lerner and Loewe, Rodgers and Hammerstein melodies that would make a nice complement to a salad and a sorbet. (Yes, a spoonful of sugar does help the medicine go down!)

"Bat Boy" is NOT one of these. The music is blaring, the singing is occasionally feverish, and the lyrics are way-out there. In other words, this is not your grandmother's musical-comedy.

I was one of the lucky people who got to see "Bat Boy" performed live onstage in NY's Off-Broadway circuit. The sad thing about any theatrical performance is that it's so ephemeral. It only exists for the moment between house lights dimming and stage lights fading out. A videotape of the event can't do it justice; if it's great, it will live on in memory for a time, but the nuances will fade.

"Bat Boy," the cast album, does a fabulous job of resurrecting the humor, the energy, and the outlandish plot line of this sci-fi/social commentary musical. Based on the tabloid sightings of a bat boy, this show is so much more than just an X-Files episode set to a dance beat. Composer/lyricist Laurence O'Keefe writes a score that doesn't just advance the storyline; his music and lyrics also parody (brilliantly) all the conventions that have come to trademark a Broadway musical.

The lovable underdog who is groomed for bigger and better things: that's the basis of "Gigi," "My Fair Lady," and even "Hairspray." Here the metamorphosis is lampooned and celebrated with the rapid-fire "Show You a Thing or Two," where the Bat Boy is taught a la Eliza Doolittle to enunciate, act more civilized, and even do a subtle soft-shoe dance routine.

It's a funny moment theatrically--it suffers a bit on the cast album because it's minus the visuals--but the whole show is filled with that wisdom of "Here's what audiences expect and this is what you'll get, but it'll be surprisingly renovated."

"Bat Boy" is the perfect title for this reworking of American musical theater. It hangs the conventions upside down, and the audience is smitten. The cloying sweetness of Disney is parodied in "Children, Children," and if you haven't seen the show, when you hear the album, picture the cast dressed in cheesy "Waiting for Guffman" style costumes with stuffed animals tied and stapled to their leotards. They attempt to "re-create" the multimillion-dollar special effects of "The Lion King" with a few plush pets picked up at Toys R Us.

Laughable, likeable, and lingering--that was my impression of the entire troupe of actors. I'm glad I have this album as a testament to their memorable night in the theater. I recently saw leading lady Kerry Butler in the Broadway hit "Hairspray." Her voice is as powerful as ever, but her role is quite small and subdued compared to her work here. I've not sighted Deven May, the Bat Boy, anywhere post this production. What a shame! Any theatrical producers out there, hire this fellow. He's got the energy of Robert Morse and the vocal prowess of Robert Plant. That's a lethal combination. One that would make theatergoers rabid for more.

Okay, so I saw "BatBoy" twice here in NYC last year, and although it was my favorite show of 2001, I put off buying the album for over a year. I finally bought it a couple of days ago and have been listening and laughing ever since.

As anyone who's heard it can attest, the score is all over the place, which is what makes it so funny. Each time I listen I start giggling at how part of one song will parody "Jesus Christ Superstar," part of another will parody "Godspell," and another, "Lion King" or "Miss Saigon" and so on. The more you know and love (or even dislike some) musicals, the funnier it is.

I think the people who trash the soundtrack, in fact, are probably not huge fans of musical theater--or else they take the art form very seriously and can't see that the stylistic excesses of famous past shows are just that--excessive. "BatBoy" skewers everything from powerballads to community sing-alongs to church revivals.

But it's not just a collection of wicked parodies. "BatBoy" also succeeds very neatly as its own original work. There are so many great songs in it that you remain consistently entertained throughout, and the three leads are all terrific.

Much of the humor comes across in the writing (like that terrible rap sequence from "Watcha Wanna Do"), but for those who haven't seen it, I want to explain the staging of "Children, Children" in Act II: Shelley and Edgar are in the woods when a seven-foot-tall Pan, complete with hooved feet, teeters out to urge them to make love (on a sofa sleeper that opens to reveal a flowery, grassy mat). The entire cast comes out with various store-bought stuffed animals taped or strapped to their bodies. It's like "The Lion King" done by a doesn't-quite-get-it community theater on a $40 budget. And THEN, when you don't think you can laugh anymore at the absurdity of the stage picture, Pan urges all the animals to mate wildly outside their species--and that's when all the stuffed animals start getting it on with each other in this terrible, terrible hump-and-grind sequence.

If that strikes you as even a little bit funny, then you probably will get the humor of the soundtrack.

Talk about fresh, honest, pure, unadulterated joy! While this show is destined to be done again and again, this original cast is one of the finest ensembles assembled in New York in years. Their ultimate tribute will come in the form of future company productions in which actors will be unable to create any interpretation other than that presented by the amazing talents of the original cast. There is not a false move here. Look for each of the leading actors to be "discovered" as future stars. Where did they come from? They were all together on a single stage performing a brilliant score together while New Yorkers flocked to Urinetown to glean humor from spoofing famous musicals of the past. Thankfully, Bat Boy takes a risk and takes us into a future full of comfort and joy!

I bought this CD based on reading review after review praising the show. I was not disappointed. A very modern score performed by some strong voices is always a welcome addition to my collection. While I think I need to listen to it a few more times to get all the jokes, some of it is very funny. More than that, though, this is simply a strong score with some fantastic songs, most notably: Three Bedroom House, Let Me Walk Among You, A Joyful Noise and my personal favorite - Children, Children. The only reason I gave this CD 4 stars is because the quality of the recording isn't what it should be - it sounded kind of muffled at times to me. I thought it might be my stereo, but another CD proved me wrong quickly. If you like intelligent, humorous musicals with some strong music, I do recommend this CD.