Review of Bat Out of Hell - The Musical at Milton Keynes Theatre

This tour of Bat Out of Hell - The Musical has become sadly a double-tribute as it tours throughout the UK into 2023 and the love of its creator Jim Steinman, and the man who made his work world-famous, Meat Loaf, both lost in the last year, runs through the cast in this impressive version of the show.

The storyline of Bat Out of Hell takes the Peter Pan idea and warps it into a dystopian world of a group of youth known as The Lost trapped forever at 18 years of age. The centre of this group is Strat, who, after a chance encounter, becomes under the spell of Raven. Of course, into this mix must come a megalomaniac, as all dystopian worlds really need. This is the father of Raven, Falco, who, with his wife Sloane, battle The Lost, Raven’s relationship with Strat, and indeed their own very bizarre relationship, to the backdrop of Steinman’s music.

Bat Out of Hell doesn’t start particularly well, be it the performance or a show issue, for the first twenty minutes there is a lack of clarity in the lyrics and dialogue, such that it is was very difficult to follow, but the characters and storyline do quickly gel together and finally, after about half-hour, this becomes a very different show.

It is safe to say really that this really, truly gets going with the very musical Who Needs the Young and the superb Paradise by the Dashboard Light both performed with style, craziness and total brilliance by Jamie Jukes as Falco and Laura Johnson as Sloane. Paradise by the Dashboard Light also has my new favourite ending to a song, and brings just one part of the great, if occasionally corny, humour in the book, also by Steinman.

Jukes and Johnson were both on as alternates for the evening, from the main performers, but both were superb. Jukes brings a devilish glee of danger to Falco, and while perhaps his story progress in the second half isn’t totally believable as a character, Jukes remains an impressive presence.

It was an excellent delight to see that Johnson was performing as Sloane as I had seen her a few years back in Hair in Manchester, and there she was excellent, and in this production no different as the constantly drunk mother, who was troubled in her own ways. It was an extremely quirky performance brimming with character.

Martha Kirby brings a hint of charm and danger to her role of Raven, very innocent in appearance, but forthright and angry at life and her parents and has a huge drive towards her new passion of Strat.

As Strat, Glenn Adamson looks every bit the trapped 18-year-old in body but rises above that stature in his musical performances and movement. The show-stopping Bat Out of Hell is a tremendous piece of performance from Adamson and sets the bar very high for the second act to reach.

My companion for the evening remarked that as we were leaving at the end of the evening, an audience member remarked about the second half that it was “pointless”. Maybe they were only there for the song Bat Out of Hell. They clearly were not there for what became a solid story above the quality of many jukebox musicals and a series of brilliant other songs from an exceptional catalogue. You can’t please everyone I guess.

The audience certainly seemed thrilled for this show most of the time and it is easy to see why, as well as the excellent lead performances, there is, as always, a lot of depth through the company. Particularly impressive were Joelle Moses and James Chisholm as Zahara and Jagwire, respectively. Their performance of Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad is a show highlight, with Moses in particular, showing some stunning vocal talent.

Also, with charm, was Killian Thomas Lefevre, who makes an excellent job of one of the more poignant songs in the show, Not Allowed to Love, and allows a moment of calm in this mostly raucous show.

The set from Jon Bauser looks true grit and ruggedness, dark and cavernous, suiting the show perfectly. The set also has a great screen upon the set which benefits the show from Finn Ross’ video design. What is something that takes some getting used to is the onstage camera lady, who gives us an up-close and distorted insight into the world of Falco, Sloane and Raven in their home, portrayed like a goldfish tank on stage. The video works for the scenes within their home but often becomes an annoying distraction when the main stage is populated. During the scene featuring Strat and Raven and performing Making Love Out of Nothing at All the video becomes an annoying distraction. Less use would have given this neat feature a much better impact.

Iestyn Griffiths directs his magnificent band through all the huge, familiar numbers, while Xena Gusthart’s gritty and brawling choreography cleverly creates the brutality and challenging world, with some delightful touches of contemporary dance as well. Director Jay Scheib keeps the complicated and dynamic show rolling at all times, and garners superb performances from the entire company.

Bat Out of Hell brings an extremely curious and surreal story to the music so familiar to us, which does nothing but entertain and thrill for most of its duration and is an extremely worthy tribute to music legends Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf.

Loud, crazy and hugely entertaining. Do anything to get a ticket, even that.
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Performance reviewed: Tuesday 14th June 2022 at the Milton Keynes Theatre, Milton Keynes.

Bat Out Of Hell runs at Milton Keynes Theatre until Saturday 25th June 2022.

For further details about Milton Keynes see their website at http://www.atgtickets.com/venues/milton-keynes-theatre/

Production photos: Chris Davis Studios