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

Finally going to see this tonight, after missing it at the Coliseum last year. Booked a cheap ticket at the back of stalls starting to regret that slightly based off comments on here about the sound, hopefully it’s not too bad/bad enough to ruin the show, I’m mainly going for the songs (bad I know but ohh well)

.....the matinee I went to a few weeks ago was pretty much full in the stalls (for reasons already discussed) with just a small block of central seats just under the overhang empty. The front blocks of the circle were also full give or take.

We saw this last week.

I'll get the negative out of the way... It's been covered in this thread but oh my sweet god above the story and book are so, so bad. It's not that they're lacking, or underdeveloped, or boring or anything like that, it's that they're openly, outwardly bad. Completely inconsistent treatment of the villain (are we supposed to sympathise with him or not), more holes than a kitchen sponge, an incomprehensible world not based in any kind of logic and just presenting Meat Loaf's songs from beginning to end with no real effort made to give the songs new context or make them work within the story you're trying to tell; to give one example, I was given the impression that the story takes place in what was once Manhattan but Strat sings about "chilly California wind" in For Crying Out Loud. I am not the kind of person who can ignore all of this, musical theatre is a storytelling medium and if you're packing what you're doing as a 'musical' the story and book are fair game.

All of that being said... That cast. I was truly blown away by the huge amount of talent on that stage, for my money (with the possible exception of Hamilton) this has to be the most talented and consistent ensemble on the West End. You can tell that the cast was assembled with great care and attention, a wonderful collection of diverse and unique voices so you get a distinctive performance from everyone given the opportunity to sing. The acting amongst the ensemble is... Mixed, but the second any of them open their mouths to bust out those amazing songs all that goes away.

Andrew Polec's performance in particular is phenomenal and I've never seen anything like it in my life. His commitment, diction, intensity, stamina and energy is nothing short of superhuman and the West End is so lucky to have him. How he, multiple times a week, manages to belt out songs so demanding that even Meat Loaf at the peak of his powers refused to perform them is beyond me.

I'd say this show is more than worth seeing due to the staggering talent within the ensemble, one of the best leading performances in quite some time and some pretty great and effective staging (how did they do that effect with the pool??). The talent of everyone involved is enough to elevate some truly atrocious material into a wonderful show!

Have a great time wherever you end up. 🦇🔥❤️

Ended up staying in the seat I’d orginally booked, right at the back of stalls. I was considering asking for an upgrade but the woman in front of me in the box office queue also asked and was basically told no, so I didn’t bother even asking. The sound was fine, no issues with anything, could hear every word they said/sang and the band didn’t drown anyone out.
I did get to sit next to an irritating couple who decided they could and would sing along to every song. I turned round and simple said ‘sorry do you mind not singing along please’ which seemed to do the trick, there was no way I was going to let them sing over Danielle Steers without saying something (death glares weren’t working). They happened to leave at the interval and not return for act 2, no idea if they moved or left for good but at least they couldn’t sing over and ruin Act 2 for me.
Overall I really enjoyed the show, it’s not got the strongest of plots but I knew that going in. I’d happily go and see it again at some point, I saw one of the alternate Strat’s so I may return to try and catch either the other alternate or Andrew at some point.

I was also there last night and we upgraded ourselves The entire right block at the front of the stalls was empty so we sat in row K and no one turned up. Quite a few others moved up during the interval. It was a good view from there but I immediately noticed the sound issues. It wasn't always bad but especially noticeable when more than one person was singing. Simon Gordon was on as Strat last night, he was brilliant but as adrianics said, Andrew Polec is something special. I am considering going back to see him again at a later date.

An absolutely bonkers show, it really does make you leave thinking "I dunno what the heck I just saw, but I LOVED it."

Most definitely the latter

£15 tickets?

Also from the box office?

Todaytix £15 tix tend to be in E,F and G of the Circle or the back two rows of the stalls. I would go for the circle all day long as the sound gets a bit murky downstairs. Clear view of most of the stage if you’re quite central, although the £25 day seats can be pretty much anywhere.

Man, I was there too, could have said hello!

Great show indeed and was happy to see the Dominion nearly full after the dramatic reports here. Will see it again tomorrow and write more when I get home Sunday.

As promised, I'm going to write a bit more following my double treat this weekend.

Let me begin this by saying, sheesh, you guys don't half make a girl feel anxious. After the doom-mongering here I had pretty much expected to find myself among a few hundred lost souls in the vast emptiness of the Dominion Theatre. So I was a bit surprised and very happy to see the theatre virtually full on Thursday (couldn't see the back of the circle admittedly from the front stalls) and again on Saturday Evening. Then, tellingly, I spotted one gap in the middle of the stalls, presumably where the most grossly overpriced premium seats are. And if half the theatre has been filled through discounts, so what, it only shows that people DO want to see this, they just aren't willing to pay crazy prices like on Broadway and if this teaches West End producers a lesson, even better.

I had seen this in its very first incarnation in Manchester only and my first thought was that it looks so much better on the huge Dominion stage, so I'm glad it's found a home here. Most of the tinkering with the book has been beneficial too, though I do think it was a bad idea to cut "It just won't quit" early on as it gives us a better introduction to the two leads we're meant to care for.

I'm not going to gripe about the book, I think it's perfectly serviceable, albeit clumsy at times, but there are plenty musicals with worse books and let's not start mentioning the opera canon. And as a feminist who's heartily sick of the countless musicals in which women only ever bleat about loving/wanting/needing a man, it's nice to see strong females throughout here, from Zahara telling Jagwire she doesn't love him to Sloane leaving her jerk husband Falco and even Raven isn't just your moony-eyed damsel in distress needing rescue. If I find one fault with the production, it's the often too busy choreography, where I think they should have trusted in the songs (and performers') strength, most notably in the wonderfully moving "Objects in the rear view mirror" and in "Bat out of Hell". And what was up with the strange bopping around in "For crying out loud", I was just thinking, "For crying out loud, can you just stand still for a bit?"

I had the full first cast in both performances, and they only got better since Manchester. Even Christina Bennington has discovered facial expressions along the way since last year and improved quite a bit. Though speaking of facial expressions, who told Andrew Polec it was a good idea to spend most of the show with that bug-eyed open-mouthed look. Combined with his mad hair it was more deranged clown than the sexy young rock god everyone is in love with and such a perfect waste of a pretty boy. But his and Rob Fowler's powerhouse performances are still pretty much out of this world and the best thing I've seen in the West End for a long time, though there isn't a single weak link in the cast.

The atmosphere was great both evenings and I counted at least five middle-aged blokes in Show-T-Shirts in the front stalls alone, with standing ovations both evenings. So I'm really not longer worried that this will be some terrible sad flop, this will be here for a while, at least as long as they can keep finding performers on this incredible level (have I mentioned yet how much in love I am with Danielle Steers? That girl can SING). I know I will be back more than once before this year is over

Only fools rush in where angels fear to tread

But I'd place those guys in the "were already around in Meat Loaf's heydays" category, with the guy sitting next to me moving his lips to most of the songs, mercifully quietly, but still, aaaargh.

Also, I realized that I have pretty much reached middle age myself when my thought of the leading man is not "whoa, he's hot!" but "sheesh, someone should feed that boy properly", so it's all good...