Stockton Globe – until 5 February 2022
4****
Our first visit to the beautifully restored Stockton Globe was to see Bat Out of Hell. With less than two weeks since the passing of Meatloaf, this was always going to be an emotional experience.
Bat Out of Hell is a marmite of a musical. You either love it or hate it with nothing in between. Undoubtedly there will be comparisons between the original version of We Will Rock You. Both were at home in London’s Dominion theatre and both contain iconic rock anthems. WWRY set in the future had the Bohemians, a group of young hip kids looking for their saviour to bring back rock and roll. In BOOH we have the Lost, a group of kids stuck at age 18 forever in a kind of futuristic Peter Pan.
Leader of the Lost is Strat (Glenn Adamson), he is in love with Raven (Martha Kirby). If this is Peter Pan then Raven’s dad Falco (Rob Fowler) is Captain Hook. Her alcoholic, deeply unhappy mother is Sloane (Sharon Sexton). Their daughter appears to be the only thing they now have in common. Tink (Killian Lefevre) who was frozen as an adolescent is jealous of the growing relationship between Strat and Raven and betrays them to Falco. It is a storyline but is a weak and disjointed storyline. The staging is a tad bizarre with weird audiovisuals projected on a back screen to show what was happening in a different part of the production. And due to the cavernous stage at the Globe, Jon Bausers epic set design looked tiny.
But there are positives. Jim Steinman’s music and lyrics obviously. Joelle Moses (Zahara) has some powerhouse vocals. The choreography designed by Meentje Neilsen, adapted by Xena Gusthart is exhilarating. Bausers costumes are fabulous, the little pink pants especially. But for me, it was Fowler and Sexton, stealing every scene they were in. A couple in real life, they have extended their BOOH characters with the show Vision of You, giving Falco and Sloane their back story. With Sexton clearly expecting a new edition, it would be interesting to see the dynamic of her maternity replacement in a part she has made so firmly her own.
The music is the real star, the band (Lestyn Griffiths, Kennedy Aitchison, Ben Witherstone, Mark Cox, Hugh Richardson, Elliot Henshaw and Dave Danford) led by Robert Emery rock out the score in a lasting memory to much loved and deeply missed Jim Steinman and Meatloaf
It might be baffling and bizarre, but it’s a bloody good night out