Wednesday, 13 December 2006 01:12 pm
"I do not want to hurt you. I only want to KILL!"
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deckardcanineLast Thursday (yeah, late update), I watched a production of Bat Boy: The Musical at my old high school. I came mainly because my sister was playing the synthesizer. FWIW, she does it better than I do, having had more practice. I'm not sure if her job was harder than mine in Oliver!, since we both cheated on the hardest parts.
Not having the funds for mikes, they had the audience sit on stage, which might have been a first for a Wilson High musical but was not for a Wilson play (I was in one like that). As a result, seats were in short supply. My mom and I arrived on the first night and found a long standing room line, but two parents whom we knew with reserved seats never showed up, so we took advantage. The seat shortage may explain why the show ran four times instead of the usual two.
As first nights go, it didn't have too many mistakes. Some of the smaller singing parts were hard to hear, one cracked up a little, and the title character had misplaced his bat-like ears (leaving only his fangs to make him look other than purely human) for the first act, but that was basically all. I hear that there were some worse mishaps the next two days.
So what are my feelings on the musical itself? Mixed. As you may have inferred from the title, it's something of a sarcastic take on musicals, altho it doesn't go overboard like many others. The songs often sound pretty good, but none of them can stand apart from the musical. The Frankenstein-like premise -- a humanoid who wants to fit in but gets pressured to become the monster that so many believe he is -- makes it interesting. I honestly wouldn't be sure how to handle someone so human and well-meaning and yet so genetically disposed to attack.
Unfortunately, the same premise got me thinking a lot, and you don't want to think hard about this story. Not because it's silly, but because you will come to understand many highly disturbing things in it. I overheard people comparing it to Into the Woods and The Rocky Horror Show; I was thinking more along the lines of Little Shop of Horrors -- the orthodox version, not the movie with Rick Moranis and Steve Martin with dyed hair. BB:TM is more violent, more gruesome, and ultimately more tragic (if you actually care about these guys) than any of those. People in the front row were in danger of getting spattered with fake blood from one of the six deaths of sapients. I think other people did a better job of not taking it seriously, particularly for obviously fake things like the severed cow head.
Then there's the philosophy. I've said before that musicals, especially of the fairly comic persuasion, frequently have either a bad message or none at all. Guys and Dolls: "Marry the man today and save the fist for after." Grease: Girl, you'd best give your peers the impression of a slut. Once Upon a Mattress: Better an imperfect princess than a lovestarved kingdom. The Phantom of the Opera: Um, got me. Anyway, BB:TM seems to have something more decent to it than that, but it does a poor job of articulating the message. The last words sung are, "Touch your Bat Boy! Love your Bat Boy! Don't deny your beast inside!" That could mean that you shouldn't be judgmental of others because you're not so pure yourself, but it could also mean that you should allow your inner beast to emerge. I hope it's the former.
Don't get me wrong; I found the play primarily entertaining and leagues above the nihilist dreck of Urinetown. It's just not my cuppa tea. BTW, I've usually assumed myself to be sicker than my mom, yet she keeps liking dark musicals especially -- including Sweeney Todd, whose description makes me nervous. Maybe it's a matter of our favorite media.
Not having the funds for mikes, they had the audience sit on stage, which might have been a first for a Wilson High musical but was not for a Wilson play (I was in one like that). As a result, seats were in short supply. My mom and I arrived on the first night and found a long standing room line, but two parents whom we knew with reserved seats never showed up, so we took advantage. The seat shortage may explain why the show ran four times instead of the usual two.
As first nights go, it didn't have too many mistakes. Some of the smaller singing parts were hard to hear, one cracked up a little, and the title character had misplaced his bat-like ears (leaving only his fangs to make him look other than purely human) for the first act, but that was basically all. I hear that there were some worse mishaps the next two days.
So what are my feelings on the musical itself? Mixed. As you may have inferred from the title, it's something of a sarcastic take on musicals, altho it doesn't go overboard like many others. The songs often sound pretty good, but none of them can stand apart from the musical. The Frankenstein-like premise -- a humanoid who wants to fit in but gets pressured to become the monster that so many believe he is -- makes it interesting. I honestly wouldn't be sure how to handle someone so human and well-meaning and yet so genetically disposed to attack.
Unfortunately, the same premise got me thinking a lot, and you don't want to think hard about this story. Not because it's silly, but because you will come to understand many highly disturbing things in it. I overheard people comparing it to Into the Woods and The Rocky Horror Show; I was thinking more along the lines of Little Shop of Horrors -- the orthodox version, not the movie with Rick Moranis and Steve Martin with dyed hair. BB:TM is more violent, more gruesome, and ultimately more tragic (if you actually care about these guys) than any of those. People in the front row were in danger of getting spattered with fake blood from one of the six deaths of sapients. I think other people did a better job of not taking it seriously, particularly for obviously fake things like the severed cow head.
Then there's the philosophy. I've said before that musicals, especially of the fairly comic persuasion, frequently have either a bad message or none at all. Guys and Dolls: "Marry the man today and save the fist for after." Grease: Girl, you'd best give your peers the impression of a slut. Once Upon a Mattress: Better an imperfect princess than a lovestarved kingdom. The Phantom of the Opera: Um, got me. Anyway, BB:TM seems to have something more decent to it than that, but it does a poor job of articulating the message. The last words sung are, "Touch your Bat Boy! Love your Bat Boy! Don't deny your beast inside!" That could mean that you shouldn't be judgmental of others because you're not so pure yourself, but it could also mean that you should allow your inner beast to emerge. I hope it's the former.
Don't get me wrong; I found the play primarily entertaining and leagues above the nihilist dreck of Urinetown. It's just not my cuppa tea. BTW, I've usually assumed myself to be sicker than my mom, yet she keeps liking dark musicals especially -- including Sweeney Todd, whose description makes me nervous. Maybe it's a matter of our favorite media.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
no subject