Harvard's BAT BOY to Feature New Material by Creators Laurence O'Keefe, Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming

The Office for the Arts at Harvard has announced that its upcoming undergraduate production of the cult hit Bat Boy: The Musical will debut new scenes and songs by the show's original writers. Composer/lyricist (and Harvard alum) Laurence O'Keefe and bookwriters Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming have been holding writing sessions and workshops at Harvard, working directly with the undergraduate cast and crew to develop the new material.

Bat Boy is the story of a feral half-bat/half-boy, originally invented by the Weekly World News supermarket tabloid. The musical comedy's premiere Off-Broadway in 2001 garnered rave reviews and the show has received hundreds of productions worldwide, but the three writers have nonetheless continued to work on the show. "We made some great changes to the show for the West End production in 2004," says O'Keefe. "But we've always had some more improvements in mind."

O'Keefe said that a call from music director Cynthia Meng asking for advice gave him the idea to continue to develop the show at Harvard. "Cynthia's a great composer herself; she's scoring this year's Hasty Pudding show," he said. "That got me thinking: these performers are talented, flexible and fearless - the ideal stress-free environment to workshop new material. They reacted with great enthusiasm, or else they're faking it really well."

The students' excitement is genuine, according to director Ally Kiley: "Working with the writers has been an incredible opportunity to experience handling new material and to be involved in improving this famous show. It's been enlightening (and frankly really cool) to watch changes happen in real time and to workshop different versions of scenes as we approach a final version of the script."

As far as exactly what new material will be included in the production, O'Keefe says that even with just weeks before opening, it is too early to be specific: "This experimental process has been very much like the original Bat Boy workshops. We may still be making decisions right up to opening night. I'm sure the undergrads won't mind that at all. After all, they're Harvard students. How complicated can their lives be?"

Performances will take place at Farkas Hall (10-12 Holyoke Street, Cambridge, MA) on November 14, 15, 16, 20, 21, and 22 at 7:30pm and on November 23 at 2:30pm. Tickets ($8-$12) are currently on sale at the Harvard Box Office (Smith Center Arcade, 1350 Mass Ave, Cambridge; www.bit.ly/batboytickets; 617-496-2222), and may be purchased at the door pending availability.

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