The award winning hit musical Bat Out Of Hell literally exploded onto the Grand Opera House stage this week, and it definitely took some, if not the whole audience, by surprise.
The cast, the set, the songs, the production, the everything were all just perfection in what some in the audience were saying is the best musical theatre they have ever seen, EVER. I can’t disagree with that, Bat Out Of Hell was beyond anything I ever expected. I did expect iconic music, but what we all got was so much more. We got a classic rock opera musical with dance, comedy, great characters, a touch of Rocky Horror and Little Shop of Horrors all to the classics of Meatloaf and Jim Steinman.
The audience were shoulder shaking in their seats itching to get up and give their best Meatloaf impersonations, they were taken back to their youth and I’m guessing they just wanted to be 18 again and a bit of a rebel, many probably still rebelling.
By the time the lights came on for the interval we all sat there in awe at what we’d just witnessed. The audience was notably buzzing.
Glen Adamson as Strat blew us all away, he was the perfect rock star and teenage rebel. Martha Kirby as Raven, WHAT. A. VOICE! Rob Fowler as Falco, who from a distance resembled Leonardo DiCaprio, gave us all the biggest surprise and gasp of the show, and Sharon Sexton was perfection as rebellious sassy Sloane.
Essentially it’s about love, raw rebellious teenage love, and love as middle aged parents adulting and remembering their youth. A few people we talked to were most definitely reliving their rebellious years in they minds but also maybe a little glad that they’d been there done that already and happy to be reminded of those days of listening to Meatloaf and being a teenager.
If you can get tickets this is without a doubt a highlight of what’s shaping up to be the best musical theatre season the Grand Opera House has ever had!
Jeff
