Reviewed by Michele Markarian
Bat Boy the Musical. Story and Book by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming. Music and Lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe. Directed by Jeremy Johnson. Choreographed by Rianna Fallon. Presented by The Umbrella Stage Company, 40 Stow Street, Concord, through November 8.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from “Bat Boy the Musical”, knowing little about the plot and being familiar with only one song. One could surmise from its title that it was about a marginalized person – what is a Bat Boy? – but despite its pointedness, “Bat Boy the Musical” is funny and fun. If you are familiar with the show, Umbrella Arts’s production, under Jeremy Johnson’s capable direction, won’t disappoint.
Bat Boy begins in a cave in rural West Virginia, where three teenage siblings come across a feral being with fangs and pointy ears (Johnny Shea). They beat him and capture him, but not before he bites Ruthie, one of the teens (Vanessa Calantropo). The townspeople, when presented with the creature, are horrified but also intrigued. “People would pay good money to see a bat boy – we could be the next Branson!” exclaims one, before Bat Boy is hauled off to the home of local vet Dr. Thomas Barker (Brian Demar Jones). The doctor is away, but Mrs. Barker (Meredith Parker) and their daughter Shelley (Michelle Moran) are there to receive Bat Boy, where he is put in a cage while they figure out how to take care of him. Mrs. Barker develops a fondness for Bat Boy, and it pains her that he is unable to eat any of the foods she concocts for him. He does, however, manage to better himself by listening to BBC tapes, which give Bat Boy a plummy accent, heightened sense of fashion, and a desire to fit in. Despite his surface rehabilitation, when he shows up at the local Revival, led by Reverend Hightower (Maria Sylvia Norris), the townspeople drive him away. Young Ruthie has just died, allegedly from her bite wound, and they assume it was the fault of the Bat Boy, whom they also blame for the deaths of the village farmers’ cattle.
Bat Boy flees to the forest, where he is joined by Shelley, who loves him despite his unorthodox feeding habits. The forest is also the scene for the show’s most hilarious musical number, “Children, Children”, where, led by Pan (Kai Clifton), the cast dresses as animals and get it on with one another in some unconventional combinations while Shelley and Bat Boy do the same. Ultimately, they are discovered, and Bat Boy’s true parentage is revealed, with unfortunate consequences. While the premise sounds dark, the show is laugh-out-loud funny.
The musical talent overflows in this production. As the Barkers, Jones and Parker are strong actors as well as singers. Their energy feels like something out of a John Waters movie, with Parker getting a big laugh as she tells her daughter, “Don’t talk like a slut, Shelley.” Norris almost stops the show with her powerful belt in the rousing number, “A Joyful Noise”. Moran’s pure soprano is thrilling to listen to; she harmonizes well with both Parker in the sweet “Three Bedroom House” and Bat Boy in “Let It Be Me”. Shea gives a brave and impressive performance as Bat Boy, going from feral to cultured to loving to nasty, while managing to elicit sympathy from the audience each step of the way.
“Bat Boy the Musical” is not all camp and frivolity – the last number, a reprise of the opening number, “Hold Me Bat Boy,” carries some lessons learned along the way: “To scapegoat folks is wrong”; “Let go the fears to which you cling”; “Don’t deny your beast inside”. In short, Don’t be afraid of otherness. Everyone of us has a shadow that needs to be integrated.
