Bat Boy is a Gift to Us All

We give you the gift of Bat Boy. And he is a gift. He is all of us, caught in the duality of striving to be human, all the while the animal in all of us might in fact be the best of us. Because animals don’t lie.
– Amanda Weier,
Producer and Associate Artistic director

In the wild imagination of writers Kethe Farley and Brian Flemming, who wrote salacious tales at the defunct tabloid, Weekly World News, Three Indiana Jones wannabes explore a dark, damp cave. They discover a half human/half beast with bat-like features, sunken eyes, and elf-like ears. His grunting and crouches consistently pique their interest and they want more.

He’s a feral creature who has the most charming smile and cute pointy ears! Bat Boy (Ben Raanan does a fantastic job bringing the human side of Bat Boy) is happy living in his cold home with the rest of the misfits. The three explorers are siblings, Rick (Ethen Remez-Cott), Ron (Isaac Council) and Shelley Parker (Sandra Kate Burck).

They take a look inside hoping to discover something unique, something that the folks in Hope Falls will never forget. You know the old saying, be careful what you wish for because it might come true. They go inside and meet their prey, “Hold Me Batboy”. At first they run scared and that’s when the fun begins.

Rick and Ron capture Batboy and place him in a mid-size cage. They feed him meat and a big bag of Doritos, which he doesn’t like. They take him into town in a wagon inside a burlap sack. Sheriff Reynolds (Michael Lanahan) takes everyone to the town vet Dr. Thomas Parker (Scott Mosenson) and drops him off. Meredith and Shelley the wife and daughter, (Robyn Roth and Bethany Koulias, respectively) are scared. Meredith becomes attached to Batboy “Home for You” and names him Edgar, while Shelley crudely refers to him as Ugly.

Hope Falls is a very small town in Virginia. It doesn’t take long until the town discovers the Parker’s latest visitor and want him gone “Burn You Freak Burn.” Suddenly, Edgar becomes the town pariah, when a lot of cows start dying “Another Dead Cow.” Fearing for his life, Edgar and Shelley runaway “Inside Your Heart.” At the town revival meeting, Maggie the mayor, (beautifully played by Beth Robbins with charm and wit) hears many off-the-wall suggestions. Everybody wants Edgar dead. Lorraine (Grace Soens) wants to showcase him like a traveling sideshow.

Bat Boy goes to the meeting wearing a crisp white suit with matching kicks. He hopes the crowd will change their minds, especially when he speaks in an English accent he picked up by watching a lot of BBC daytime drama.

The townspeople at first like Edgar “A Joyful Noise (Reprise).” They teach him words through flashcards, and he graduates from high school.

No one wants Edgar to attend the meeting “Christin Charity (Reprise).” Hope Falls has turned into a powder-keg ready to explode. Edgar and Shelley run as fast their weary legs can take into the woods. The couple are soon married by the Greek god Pan (Amir Levi) and the creatures who act as witnesses “Children, Children.”

The women excel in their respective roles as strong, confident, tender women. Robyn Roth as Meredith, wife of Dr. Thomas Parker, exudes the mama bear role when it comes to her children, especially Edgar who grew up in the woods. Rebecca Larsen (Mrs. Taylor) mother to Rick, Ron and Ruthie, (Ethen Remez-Cott), (Isaac Council) and (Sandra Kate Burck) is the first to led the charge in getting rid of Edgar after he hurts Ruthie “Mrs. Taylor’s Lullaby.”

She, too, is a protective mother wearing her I-want-you-dead attitude with pride. Bethany Koulias, as Shelley Parker plays the enamored girl perfectly. She’s a lovesick teenager with a brave demeanor. She loves Edgar and will risk her life for him, similar to when Meredith protected Edgar from people including her husband, who’s so desperate for some sexual healing “Dance with Me Darling,” he promises not to kill Edgar if she gives it up to him. She does.

Chima Rok brings his best version of Bishop TD Jakes as the Reverend Hightower. During the revival meeting, he’s the only one with sense to calm the lynch mob. He suggests they perform a faith healing cleanse “A Joyful Noise” to get rid of the fear toward Edgar. When the Reverend speaks, the people listen. Rok is exceptional as the peacemaker. He speaks from the heart, and the congregation feels his powerful words.

To create this wild story in 1992, Farley and Flemming with composer/lyricist Laurence O’Keefe decided to do a musical based on a flat-out hoax and have it premiere, appropriately, on Halloween in 1997. A good story is good until it becomes a great helluva story and impossible to forget. There’s a lot of laughter, some caring moments. So, enjoy!

FACTS

• Batboy: The Musical won the Lucille Lortel Award, two Richard Rodgers from the American Academy of arts & Letters and the outer Critics Circle award in 2001, the Elliot Norton Award (Boston Massachusetts in 2003), and the Ovation Award (Los Angeles) 1998.
• The Weekly World News ran from 1979-2007, offering paranormal, supernatural stories like seeing Elvis eating at Burger King and finding a baby dragon floating in formaldehyde. Stories also included an extraterrestrial named P’lod who had an affair with Hillary Clinton, sightings of Hank Williams, Titanic survivors and the Hindenburg. Former WWN staff writer Bob Lind said in an issue of Mental Floss magazine, “We wrote these things straight for people who want what to believe these things.”

WHAT: Batboy: The Musical
WHEN: Now until May 18, 2025, Fri. & Sat at 8, Sun. at 7 p.m. Mon. at 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Open Fist Theatre Company is in residency at The Atwater Village Theatre l, 3269 Casitas Ave., Atwater Village
TICKETS: $26 – $45
RESERVATIONS: Call 323-882 6912 or log on to openfist.org.