The much awaited Bat out of Hell finally graces us with its presence at the Coliseum in London- a chance for Meatloaf and musical theatre lovers alike to come together to experience a spectacular show of hard rock, guitar solos and headbanging wrapped around a good storyline gathered together from Meatloaf’s repertoire.
As jukebox musicals go, this is one of the more impressive. With an extravagant set that rises over the audience like a wave ready to crash down, it’s hard not to be swallowed up by its impressive display. The storyline is very good as well; we encounter a Romeo and Juliet style scenario crossed with Peter Pan, set 100 years in the future. There’s nothing that hasn’t been thought about with this production, as we are even treated to a period newspaper titled ‘The Obsidian Times’, volume 13, issue 666 on our seats, which includes detailed stories relating to the show. This is an extremely clever touch.
However, the set and the staging, as spectacular as they are, often limit the cast. Due to the front of the stage being cut off at the sides, the available space is that of a wide diamond shape, forcing the chorus to be dancing further back and the leads performing in clever but distanced raised areas further upstage. Though dramatically dressed, these areas are too far away to really engage with the emotional performances of the leads. To combat this, the company resort to having a visible camera operator follow them at points. While understandable, at times this feels awkward and forced. Acting for television and performing for stage (particularly one of that size), require two entirely different approaches and this doesn’t work to their advantage.
The choreography also doesn’t seem to entirely fit with the era at points. With Meatloaf’s music coming from the last 50 years and the production being set 100 years from now, I was expecting less of a contemporary vibe. However, there are plenty of headbangs and acrobatics to compensate for this!
In terms of the book, Jim Steinman has cleverly managed to weave the story around the songs, although some of them do feel as though they had been dropped in for the sake of being used. That being said, the songs are too spectacular not to use so this is forgivable.
The lead roles certainly triumph in this performance. Rob Fowler as Falco dominates the stage with his impressive performance, mirrored by his wife Sloan (Sharon Sexton). Together they create some of the best moments in the piece. Raven (Christina Bennington) also sings effortlessly songs that are incredibly challenging – but it doesn’t faze her in the slightest.
For a stage that is famous for being graced with opera, Bat out of Hell certainly punches through tradition in a loud and extremely fun way.
Bat out of Hell is playing at the Coliseum Theatre, London, until August 22.
Photo: Specular
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