BAT OUT OF HELL Will Play 8 Weeks At NY City Center In 2019- Page 27

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/1/19 at 6:05pm

I didn’t know Steers was going into “Six”! That’s VERY exciting to hear.

[Theater3232]

Posted: 9/1/19 at 6:28pm

The entire Grand Tier (mezzanine) was pretty empty this Saturday night? Can someone tell me a simplified version of the plot, since it sounds like many people are unable to follow the plot as presented?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/1/19 at 6:34pm

This review is very on-point

 

https://thebroadwayblog.com/bat-out-of-hell-review/

[ggersten]

Posted: 9/1/19 at 11:29pm

Jordan Catalano said: "I didn’t know Steers was going into “Six”! That’s VERY exciting to hear."

More information, please.

Ah, found it. She will be Parr in London - not Broadway, it seems  Well, I'm late to the news from last June

 

https://twitter.com/DanielleSteers/status/1144533475149701120


 

Updated On: 9/1/19 at 11:29 PM

[SmoothLover]

Posted: 9/1/19 at 11:32pm

I did want to mention, since this thread will be disappearing soon, that my friend who works at City Center said that the cast and producers have been super friendly to the City Center employees.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 9/1/19 at 11:52pm

Well, I'd hope the hell so, with the unruly audiences they've been attracting.

[mpkie]

Posted: 9/2/19 at 12:31am

Jordan Catalano said: "I didn’t know Steers was going into “Six”! That’s VERY exciting to hear."

She actually said her schedule was crazy, as she's going into rehearsals immediately after Bat to join the Six London cast this fall (September?) and will be here in February. I'm pretty sure she meant she was coming with it and not only that the show is going to be here. Given she came here with Bat, I don't think its out of the question for Six.

I do hope it's true. I haven't exposed myself to much material on Six yet but honestly would watch her in anything. 

[mpkie]

Posted: 9/2/19 at 1:37am

Theater3232 said: "The entire Grand Tier (mezzanine) was pretty empty this Saturday night? Can someone tell me a simplified version of the plot, since it sounds like many people are unable to follow the plot as presented?"

The plot is SO SILLY! I believe Andrew Polec described it as "Peter Pan" and "Romeo and Juliet" had a rock and roll love child. Maybe... on drugs.

ACT 1

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

In the future, terrible chemical wars caused a bunch of 18 year olds DNA to be frozen, so they never age. They are referred to as "Freezers" but actually call themselves "The Lost" and live in the subway tunnels of a post-apocalyptic city called Obsidian.

They have been fighting with the city's dictator named "Falco". The Lost's leader is the main character named "Strat" who meets Falco's daughter "Raven" and it's love at first sight.

He pines for her, she pines for him, they can't be together, etc. During her 18th birthday party Raven admits to her parents she's in love with Strat, and Falco is enraged and says he will kill him if she doesn't stay away. However, her mom "Sloane" supports her.

Raven's parents (Falco and Sloane) are in a loveless marriage. Cue really epic rendition of "Paradise By the Dashboard Light" as they recount their teenaged lust.

After hours, Strat sneaks into Raven's room and they truly meet for the first time. And then run away together and drive off in Strat's motorcycle.

Partway through epic titular song "Bat Out Of Hell", Raven chickens out and runs home. Strat speeds up on his bike and crashes and presumably dies.

ACT 2

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

They say he's dead :'( but... DUH!! He didn't die. He is nursed to health by his friend "Zahara" using Raven's blood and brings Raven to him. Zahara has a mini-storyline starting in Act 1 -- she's been working for Falco secretly while being a member of The Lost, and another member "Jagwire" is in love with her.

Sloane at this point has had enough of Falco's cruelty and also runs away from home. Raven and Strat have a mock (?) wedding.

Strat's best friend "Tink" is in love with him and hates Raven as a result. He betrays The Lost by telling Falco their location to exchange Raven for their safety. Falco shows up and an accidental gunshot from Falco kills "Tink". Strat no longer wants anything to do with Raven. Womp womp.

Raven abandoned, alone... doesn't hear from Strat for 6 months. He finally comes back sneaking into her room, and they reconcile. Sloane and Falco reconcile as well. Via epic well-known Steinman tunes.

The end!!

Updated On: 9/2/19 at 01:37 AM

[Phillytheatreguy10]

Posted: 9/4/19 at 2:19am

Anyone know who Joey Taranto replaced? Saw he started tonight on insta.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 9/5/19 at 3:38am

I saw the show last Friday. I must have lucked out because the audience was fine. A bunch of people did leave at intermission. Since I've clearly been too lazy to post my thoughts until now, I will just say that if you're interested and can get a relatively cheap ticket, go. It's a fun time. The cast is enthusiastic in spite of the weaknesses of the material and if you like Steinman, I think you'll enjoy their renditions of some of his biggest hits. 

If I'm not busy I'll revive this thread to talk about the plot but I feel like it really wasn't that complicated or difficult to follow. The problem is that it's missing connective tissue in a lot of places. Like, why is the villain so upset? What's really pushing the parents apart and then together? Act 2 is very sloppy in fitting the songs to the plot and just... telling the story in general. But the gist of the story is pretty simple. You've got three main couples and a little bit of Peter Pan mainly with the Strat/Raven/Tink dynamic. The problem comes when you try to find depth or character motivation or understand the way plot threads resolve. But in broadstrokes, it makes sense. 

[raddersons]

Posted: 9/5/19 at 8:54am

Two weeks later and my biggest question is still: Why was Lena Hall sliding off that couch?!

[mpkie]

Posted: 9/5/19 at 6:58pm

raddersons said: "Two weeks later and my biggest question is still: Why was Lena Hall sliding off that couch?!"

Both ladies do that (so well!) I assume to physically show their boredom and restlessness with being pretty much locked up by Falco in that tower.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 9/5/19 at 7:47pm

Yeah. Super campy but was funny

[Mark Waltz]

Posted: 9/6/19 at 9:34am

I haven't had so much fun laughing at and with a show since "DOTV" (Why there was never a follow-up to "Not SInce Carrie" with a book called "Not Since DOTV" still baffles me) and "Spider Man 1.0". My friend, not a rock fan, looked at me after the first number with a "Springtime For Hitler" open mouth gape, and it became a recurring gag between us. There were several musical moments that sounded like "Dance of the Vampires", and one of the second act numbers was the exact same music as one of Michael Crawford's dramatic solos.

I was thinking that this would have been great at a medium sized Off Broadway house (like New World Stages) if there was room for the seemingly large set. But at the cavernous City Center, there were bound to be lots of available seats, and for the Wednesday evening show (week before Labor Day), about 1/4 of it was empty. People either left or switched seats at intermission, and some did leave before intermission. But other than some members of the audience rocking out (not unexpected, and not too distracting), their behaviors were pretty decent compared to what I expected. At any rate, it was a night of theater I'll remember with great fondness, even though I thought it was about 15 minutes too long. 

Updated On: 9/6/19 at 09:34 AM

[Lot666]

Posted: 9/6/19 at 2:34pm

Mark Waltz said: "At any rate, it was a night of theater I'll remember with great fondness, even though I thought it was about 15 minutes too long."

I agree completely with that statement.

[Pammylicious]

Posted: 9/8/19 at 5:37pm

Just came back from this afternoons matinee. Don’t know if I witnessed the last show at city center or there is one tonight. Audience packed and ate it up. Very few intermission defectors.

I loved the show my husband loved it more. The effects were brilliant and startling. For the 1000x I listened to Paradise I would have never imagined the story Steinman put it to. Fascinating piece of work. Seriously liked it better than the Broadway shows I saw this season.

Would you have liked to be a Frozen?

[zainmax]

Posted: 9/9/19 at 10:41am

I'm glad that I went, even though I'm still not 100% sure what I witnessed.

[bwaylyric]

Posted: 9/9/19 at 11:56am

Andrew Polec fractured his foot during the show.

BreakALeg
 

Updated On: 9/9/19 at 11:56 AM

[ren598]

Posted: 9/9/19 at 12:06pm

bwaylyric said: "Andrew Polec fractured his foot during the show.

BreakALeg
"

I was shocked when he showed up at stage door after the final performance with crutches.  I had tickets to both shows on the last day.  He was out for the matinee but in for the evening performance.  There was no indication he was injured in any way.  I give him major prop for toughing it out and doing stage door afterwards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoCWIqm6N4w

 

[mikem]

Posted: 9/9/19 at 1:21pm

I saw the show at the Saturday matinee, and Polec was on.  Someone told me afterwards that Polec had been on crutches at the stage door on Friday night.  Does anyone know when the fracture happened?  The guy who told me, who had seen the show several times already, said that Polec was favoring one foot and was usually jumping around more, but I would never have guessed. 

Did anyone here see his understudy (or anyone else's)?

As for the show, I think I went in with the right expectations and had a lot of fun. Christina Bennington seemed to be having a bit of an off day, but in general, the voices were great.  And Lena Hall is so fantastic on stage -- funny and sings like a dream.

[ren598]

Posted: 9/9/19 at 1:50pm

mikem said: "Did anyone here see his understudy (or anyone else's)?"

I saw the show 3 times in NY, but only once with Andrew Polec.  The first was the Sunday evening performance on 8/11 with Will Branner as Strat.  The second was the matinee on the last day (9/ with Joey Taranto as Strat.  Then finally the last performance of the run with Andrew Polec as Strat.  Will and Joey were good, but neither can match Andrew vocally.  I would have been very disappointed if I missed Andrew completely in this run, but he was well worth the wait.  Even if it did take until the final performance to finally see him.

Updated On: 9/9/19 at 01:50 PM

[RexInLights]

Posted: 9/9/19 at 2:23pm

I decided to give this a shot on Saturday evening and I frankly don't have the words. Besides the obnoxious and rowdy audience (the ushers had to constantly tell everyone to be quiet and behave) this was without a doubt one of the worst musicals I've ever seen. It's utter nonsense, and not in a good way. Shrill, idiotic, and poorly conceived in every way. The vocals were okay. Lena Hall sounded good, as always. 

[mpkie]

Posted: 9/9/19 at 9:34pm

mikem said: "Does anyone know when the fracture happened? The guy who told me, who had seen the show several times already, said that Polec was favoring one foot and was usually jumping around more, but I would never have guessed."

This person on twitter has the full details - https://twitter.com/PolecFans/status/1171014471638294528

Appears he broke his foot on Wednesday, and continued to do the remaining 5 out of 6 shows. He only missed Sunday matinee when Joey Taranto went on as Strat.

Rock 'n roll is dangerous, y'all!

A fracture is no joke, you can prolong the healing process by weeks or months. I really wish Andrew the best of health physically, mentally, vocally, etc. That boy needs to rest up! And I really need to see him in something else *ASAP*! lol

I actually feel so bummed out about the show having ended. I "only" saw it twice, plenty in this time frame but not enough in the general sense. Damn it if it isn't a damned good time and performed so damned well! I didn't think such a thing as a "guilty pleasure musical" could exist, but this is it!

Also the casting of the leads... they are pure magic to my ears. Andrew Polec, Christina Bennington, and Danielle Steers are basically Bat Out Of Hell. No one else could measure up. And the Lena Hall and Bradley Dean duo make such glorious icing on the top. And Tyrick Wiltez Jones' voice beautifully complements Danielle's. 

There was nothing confusing to me the second viewing. Yes, I would cut some things, but I genuinely loved this production (of course the brain must conveniently block out the horrible choreo). XD

[ggersten]

Posted: 9/10/19 at 1:31pm

mpkie said: "Jordan Catalano said: "I didn’t know Steers was going into “Six”! That’s VERY exciting to hear."

She actually said her schedule was crazy, as she's going into rehearsals immediately after Batto join the Six London cast this fall (September?) and will be here in February.I'm pretty sure she meant she was coming with it and not only that the show is going to be here. Given she came here with Bat, I don't think its out of the question for Six.

I do hope it's true. I haven't exposed myself to much material on Six yet but honestly would watch her in anything."

The Bway cast was officially announced and Steers is not in it.

 

[SmoothLover]

Posted: 9/11/19 at 12:10am

I overheard someone say at Joe Allen that Bat Out Of Hell was being filmed for PBS. It should be interesting.