Bat Out Of Hell The Musical - MCR/Dominion/Tour/Peacock/Tour

Steve Steinman?

Hopefully going to manage down this week and catch a show.
Is there any word on day seats yet?

First Dominion visit today, and it’s it great shape. Everything that was sh*t sbout it before still is, but all that was great is more so. Andrew Polec has a phenomenol voice, and tbh I wasn’t expecting him to be on for the Weds matinee, but he was and was on fire. I’m still devastated that Danielle Steers wasn’t on the New Years honours list for her performance and it’s even better now, and the Falcos are a touch drunker/funnier. I wasn’t that taken with the new Jagwire, and the new Tink may aswell have been Layton Williams character in Bad Education. At least by camping it up a bit that story arc is clearer, and Polec doesn’t shy away from their relationship being a possibility in early scenes, meaning that Tinks defection later on actually makes sense. As others have said; it looks a whole lot better here than it did at The Coliseum. It fills the stage and encroaches on the auditorium more. Seeing the whole picture from about a third back onwards would be fine. The very rear stalls are a bit letterboxed but I think I’d happily sit in most of the stalls seats from about row D back. I really hope it does well with weekenders and tourists. I’d like it to stick around for a bit.

I went to the matinee today after hearing good word of mouth and was interested after hearing that it was originally written as a musical before becoming pop songs.

Unfortunately, it's not the show for me. The script is absolutely awful and I found myself rolling my eyes multiple times. All the jokes not getting Tink's very easy name right, really? Leave that for pantomime!
The girl playing Raven; I wasn't sure if it was her acting or her character but she was very whiny and annoying. Why are she and Strat in love? when did they meet? Why do we follow the other Lost couple? Why does she work for Raven's family?

Undeniably the vocals for the principals and the cast were amazing and very impressive to be doing that once let alone 8 times a week. I did like the character of the Mother and I thought the actress playing her was great, she got me invested in her story and character arc and it was always better when she was on stage, for me.

This show has stupid amounts of money, i cannot imagine the budget for this show! A huge ensemble that doesn't double up as anything really, when the flaming heart came down for the finale (for no reason!) my mouth dropped open! Most shows would kill for their marketing budget alone.

Also, I was "forced" to stand for the end because i wanted to watch the finale and curtain call but who knows at jukebox musicals how long they can go on for so i sat for as long as i could before feeling awkward and joining in.

It was nice to see such a splashy, spectacle of a show but with the empty vessel of a story that I just didnt care for it didnt really satisfy me. I dont mind being in the minority and clearly the show has lots of fans who enjoy it!

Is there a schedule for Stat as far as when the standbys perform or it is just random?

I saw the show this week with the Alternate Strat and thought he was great! In fact, I kind of loved the whole show! It's definitely the most bizarre musical I've seen in a while in terms of story, but the songs are great and the production design is pretty cool. It was sort of irresistible!

(I've written a full review on my blog if anyone's interested 😉)

I usually read your blog regularly and occasionally tweet you, but ive dodged your Bat one purely as I knew I was seeing it. Will definately read it later though!

Lovely review on your blog   It always makes me happy to read this kind of thing from people who were full of doubts/not really interested initially but allow themselves to be won over. 

Just three more weeks waiting for me!

As for the Strat roulette, judging from the Westend Understudies tweets, the alternate seems to be doing Mondays, one of the Wednesday shows and the Saturday matinees?

It didn't happen in the Coliseum. Personally I'm finding the alt Strat weak compared to Andrew Polec. God knows what all the nonsense was in the car scene with the waiters - I don't remember that and it was hugely distracting. In general the interval vibe is good though and folk seem to be enjoying it. The choreography is tighter, but still messy. The feedback on out of the frying pan was irritating though the guitar solo was good. The slight look of annoyance from the MD to the soundbooth said alot. I think this is a pretty tech show so think there's alot of radio waves frying our brains!

Well my view after today's matinee is that it is a better show for being at the Dominion. It feels tighter - perhaps a little crowded on stage compared to last year. I thought Christina Bennington was excellent as Raven (as she was last year) - to me she is perfect for the role and well deserving of the plaudits that some people have given her. I thought the alternate Strat was okay (though poor articulation with words being lost... others didn't seem to have such problems) - Andrew Polec has set a very high bar and will always be my preference in the role. I didn't think that Rob Fowler and Sharon Sexton (Falco and Sloane) could be any better than they were last year, but they too were superb. Danielle Steers as Zahara remains the star vocally - just fantastic. Jagwire was much stronger in this production, played by Wayne Robinson. I'm still not warming to Giovannio Spano's "Ledoux" - too much facial gurning and "arm acting" for my liking, but clearly a superb dancer with a strong voice. (Heaven's above, I couldn't do a fraction of what any of these guys do on stage, so I'm being a bit cheeky critiquing them.) I can't think of anything to say about "Blake" - no disrespect to the actor in the role, but it is a bit of a vanilla character. Personally I find the character of Tink irritating (though integral to the 'plot' obviously). However, Alex Thomas-Smith was very good and made the most of his song which really showed off his singing ability.

As I said in my half-time update, I don't previously recall the ensemble that danced whilst Falco and Sloane do Paradise By The Dashboard Light. I might be wrong and I'm sure somebody better informed can clarify, but boy were they a distraction in what used to be a really fantastic showstopper. Over-directed I think. At times there is a bit of sensory overload going on with the technical tricks and gimmicks. But it is such fun and really very well executed nonsense. Sound was largely good, though where I was sat (left stalls row R) the bass was flooding out the midrange at times.
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Finally, thanks to the two women sat directly to my right who managed to talk ALL the way through. Not just the occasional comment, but a full on commentary and conversation largely instigated by the older (mother?) of the two. That combined with the silly cow two rows in front who decided to tap a WhatsApp message midway through Raven's "Heaven Can Wait" (there is very little lighting until the last section of the song, so the bright screen was very obvious).

I try to live and let live, but I really do wish that people would have some respect for the performers and the audience around them. Just because some folk get tickets as either a day seat or via TodayTix for much less than the face value, it shouldn't mean that they should treat it as a cheap day out. There will be many people who have paid the full whack and possibly even saved or made other sacrifices in order to see the show, and they should be allowed to enjoy the show without these random acts of selfishness. If we cannot respect our arts and those who create such magic (even if it is "just" a jukebox musical) then as a society we are in a pretty poor state. For me, it's akin to taking a cheeseburger into the National Gallery. You just don't do it. It lacks couthicity.

Rant over.

I feel exactly the same way about that! great song, performed well, but who are they (at that point)?!

Yes and no. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_All_Coming_Back_to_Me_Now

He wanted to do it but Steinman wouldn't let him. Even took him to court to stop him! Gave it to Celine instead, but Meatloaf did it a few years later.