“Save me Bat Boy/Sink your fangs into my soul/Only you can make me whole!” These phrases, which may sound like they’re plucked from a bad horror-romance movie, belong instead to the opening number of “Bat Boy: The Musical.”
Bat Boy—pointy ears, fangs, and all—comes to campus, courtesy of Columbia Musical Theatre Society, for four performances this weekend in Lerner’s Black Box Theater.
The show is a departure from past CMTS productions, which have, for the most part, included traditional musical theater fare such as last spring’s “Cinderella” and “Little Shop of Horrors.” However, the cast and production team are confident that Columbia students will appreciate the edginess offered up in the tale of a half-boy, half-bat trying to find his place in a closed-minded small town.
“What’s awesome about the show is that it’s a dark comedy. It’s not Rodgers and Hammerstein... It’s so far from your typical musical,” the show’s director, Nina Pedrad, CC ‘11, said.
“Bat Boy” is also notable for finding inspiration in tabloid newspaper articles. A supposed real-life bat boy was made famous in Weekly World News in 1992.
“Everybody knows about Star Magazine and Weekly World News, and to turn it into an actual show that has stakes and consequences,” cast member Remy Zaken, CC ‘12, said. “It’s hilarious and it’s tragic.”
Despite the farcical nature of the show, “Bat Boy” also attempts to portray a number of unexpectedly deep themes. Ricky Schweitzer, CC ‘11, who plays the titular Bat Boy, said, “It [the show] is really just about being taken out of your surroundings and just being different in a place where everyone is sort of the same.”
“We have this concept of ‘the other,’” producer Hillary Kritt, BC ‘12, said. “It’s this half-bat, half-man who ends up being more human than anybody else.”
Although many students might prefer to leave the idea of the other behind in University Writing, “Bat Boy” promises to put a twist on its message by telling it through rock music. “It’s a hard core rock musical. The songs are catchy,” Pedrad said.
Kritt added, ”The word I’ve been using to describe it is ‘kick-ass.’”
Fortunately, the cast of “Bat Boy” seems qualified enough to succeed with the high-octane score. The romantic leads, Schweitzer and Zaken, have both been working as professional actors since elementary school, including a stint together in the national tour of “Ragtime.”
Oddly enough, Schweitzer and Zaken played siblings in “Ragtime,” but they must now transition to the potential awkwardness of playing lovers. Zaken conceded that her stage relationship with Schweitzer seems a bit incestuous. “It does feel like I’m falling in love with a brother,” she said.
Pseudo-incest not included, CMTS hopes for a provocative hit with “Bat Boy.” As Kritt said, “We kind of want people to be questioning things they have been thinking about theater.”
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