By Jaehun Lee
Arts Reporter
After a successful 2015-2016 season which included one breathtaking production after another, South Stage opens its new season with Bat Boy: The Musical, which will run from Thursday, October 13 to Saturday, October 15.
Based on a famous tabloid story published on the World Daily News in 1992, Bat Boy is about a half-boy, half-bat “Bat Boy” (played by senior Aaron Foster) who is discovered in a cave in a small town in West Virginia. The townspeople do not know what do to with the Bat Boy, so they have him stay with the town veterinarian’s family who take him in and raise him as a member of the family.
The cast shows South Stage’s depth in terms of actors; Bat Boy’s cast includes just four seniors. Senior Yuval Dinoor is relieved to see that the future of SouthStage looks bright.
“The younger actors really dominate much of our cast,” Dinoor said. “It’s been cool to work with some of the incredibly talented sophomores and juniors, and it makes me happy knowing that they’re going to be running the show here at South Stage in the coming years. I’ve had such a positive experience as part of the theater department and it feels great to be leaving it in good hands.”
Fall season productions face more time pressure due to the fact that they have less than two months to get show-ready. Bat Boy has additional challenges such as unorthodox music and a complex and twisted story.
“Bat Boy has been different from other productions because of how weird the show is,” junior Juliet Cable explained. “The music has many erratic chord progressions and lots of key and time signature changes in each song, and the plot itself is unpredictable and strange, too. It’s been cool to work with that kind of content.”
As a result of the challenging material, however, rehearsals are more intense and “tiring and stressful” in the words of sophomores Bobby Lovett and Emma Martignoni.
“We’re the opening to fall season, which means we have to go up and be show-ready pretty quickly,” Martignoni explained. “It’s especially difficult when it’s a musical and you’re dealing with fight choreography, fake blood, and the whole half-bat, half-boy concept.”
Sophomore Tommy Cable, who will make his South Stage debut in Bat Boy, agreed with Lovett and Martignoni, but deemed the process worthwhile.
“It’s been a very time-consuming and long process, and at times very tiring,” Cable said, “but I’ve definitely gotten closer to many people I didn’t talk to that much before the show and as a cast, we’re all really good friends.”
Among many of Bat Boy’s features is a diverse selection of music as well as Principal Joel Stembridge playing the bass.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Dinoor said of the music. “Within the first 45 minutes, we do a Broadway kickline, a Texas two-step, and two rock numbers.”
Bat Boy also features senior Ethan Koss Smith as the musical director and junior Windley Knowlton and the choreographer.
“Working with Ethan and Windley has been so fun,” Dinoor added. “It’s cool to see my peers and friends in their element and be a part of their vision.”
It seems to continue a recent trend in South Stage to stay away from “traditional musicals” like Fiddler on the Roof and Guys and Dolls, and instead opting for rock musicals, such as The Rocky Horror Show, or musical satires, such as Urinetown.
Cable also believes Bat Boy continues the trend putting on shows that will start discussions. The show contains important messages about acceptance and staying true to yourself among others, two prominent and pertinent issues in society today.
“South Stage is trying to get people to talk about serious topics or interesting subjects with a great show to spark that,” he noted. “With Bat Boy touching on acceptance of differences– which could be interpreted in relation to many issues– and sexual and domestic abuse, Urinetown talking about poverty and totalitarianism, and Rocky Horror’s focus on gender and sexuality, these show choices gave and will give audience members something to talk about.”
Cable especially encourages audiences to come and see how Bat Boy is mistreated by the townspeople.
“I think they [audience members] should relate this to their own life, however that may be,” he explained. “Seeing manipulation and disrespect lead to tragedy should make people think of how this is true in real life as well.”
Lovett agreed, adding that the show has a special emphasis in arguing against discrimination.
“The message of discrimination is obvious,” he stated. “There’s still rampant discrimination today, based on literally anything you could think of. It’s a core part of the show and really gets you thinking about how bad discrimination is and its effects.”
Martignoni, however, saw a different message in Bat Boy.
“I think [Bat Boy] tries to say that everyone has a bad side, and you shouldn’t have to hide the parts of yourself from others that aren’t perfect,” she said. “At the same time, we shouldn’t alienate people because they have a darker side to them; the sooner we come to accept that everyone has their dark side, and try to work with it and compromise and talk about it, the better people and their community grow to be as a whole.”
Martignoni hopes the audience will look past the absurdity and be able to take away a meaningful message from the show.
“It’s a complex show because it seems absurd at first. You’ll think ‘Why in the world did they do this show? What the heck is going on?!’” Martignoni admitted. “But if you’re able to look past the blatant absurdity of the show and recognize small realities in it, you’ll arrive at a moment in which you realize what that message is, and your mind could be blown away like mine was during the first read-through.”
