West End Wednesday: Bat Out Of Hell
Bat Out Of Hell is a 2017 jukebox musical that is based on the album of the same name by Rockstar Meat Loaf. The musical has a book, music and lyrics by the original Bat Out Of Hell trilogy album writer: Jim Steinman. The musical is a post-apocalyptic re-interpretation of Peter Pan. It chronicles the story of outcast bohemian Strat, the leader of rebel group ‘The Lost’, who falls in love with the daughter of the tyrannical leader of their city Obsidian, causing an even bigger feud.
The show started life back in 1968 when composer Jim Steinman wrote a newspaper article about the contemporary issues the world was facing in that era. He soon developed that into a rock musical called The Dream Engine. The show starred Steinman himself as a rebel leader of a tribe of youths and also included a few songs that would later come to be in Bat Out Of Hell. The rights for the show were soon purchased by Joseph Papp of the New York Shakespeare Festival. Papp moved him off the show onto rock musical, More Than You Deserve, and introduced him to singer Meat Loaf. Over the next few years, he wrote most of the songs that would make it onto the Bat Out Of Hell album.
In 1977, Steinman went to work on the newly re-written version of The Dream Engine, now entitled Neverland, which kept the main themes of the original show but wrapped it in a loose re-imaging of Peter Pan. The same year that the Bat Out Of Hell album was released in the late 90s, they re-wrote Neverland into a film script that then became Bat Out Of Hell. The musical was announced in 2008 with a workshop finally taking place in New York in 2015. A cast was then assembled the following year for a 2017 UK premiere.
The musical was directed by Jay Scheib, with choreography by Xena Gusthart, musical supervision by Michael Reed, set design by Jon Bausor, costume design by Meentje Nielson, video design by Finn Ross, orchestrations by Steve Sidwell, lighting design by Patrick Woodruffe and sound design by Gareth Owen. It premiered on 17 February 2017 at the Manchester Opera House where it opened to sold out audiences and rave reviews. The opening night cast included Andrew Polec as Strat, Christina Bennington as Raven, Rob Fowler as Falco, Sharon Sexton as Sloane, Dom Hartley-Harris as Jagwire, Danielle Steers as Zahara and Giovanni Spano as Ledoux. After closing in April, the show transferred to the London Coliseum to enjoy a summer run with a view to return to the West End in 2018 at the Dominion Theatre. The show enjoyed a winter run in Toronto before premiering at the Dominion on 23 April 2018, extending twice and breaking box office records until closing on 5 January 2019.
The show has enjoyed productions and tours in North America as well as globally. A UK tour was scheduled for this year, however was abandoned during rehearsals due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hopefully this will be rescheduled in the near future.
Bat Out Of Hell is a rip roaring, non-stop shot of rock ‘n’ roll adrenaline to the jugular! If you haven’t got on it already Besties, please do, because these vocals are FIRE!
Cast recording available on Spotify and AppleMusic!
FACTS:
Music: Jim Steinman
Lyrics: Jim Steinman
Book: Jim Steinman
Theatre: The Dominion Theatre
Run: 29 April 2018 – 5 January 2019 (around 264 performances)
OLIVIERS
(NOMINATED) Best sound design – Gareth Owen
