Saturday 11 February 2012

Bat - The Musical


Jukebox Musicals - these are musicals specifically written around the catalogue of a particular performer
Recent "must see" musicals have included:

Billy Joel (Movin' Out)
Four Seasons (Jersey Boys)
Queen (We Will Rock You)
Rod Stewart (Tonights The Night)
Abba (Mamma Mia)
Madness (Our House)

and not all of these were written by Ben Elton.

For no other reason than "I haven't listened to this for years", I spent 40-or-so minutes listening to 'Bat Out Of Hell', and came to the following conclusion:

The Track Listing is wrong - changing the order provides a sort of narrative/story, meaning 'Bat Out Of Hell' may be considered as a Concept Album, or indeed ideal source material for a mass-marketed popular jukebox musical.
The Actual Track Listing of the album is:
"Bat Out of Hell"
"You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)"
"Heaven Can Wait"
"All Revved Up with No Place to Go"
"Two Out of Three Ain't Bad"
"Paradise by the Dashboard Light"
"For Crying Out Loud"

The "pimped version" is:
"All Revved Up with No Place to Go" - Boy getting ready to go out.  But where?
"You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)" - Boy Meets Girl
"Paradise by the Dashboard Light" - Boy and Girl do it
"For Crying Out Loud" - Argument, followed by Boy's pleading and explanation
"Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" - Girl's response
"Bat Out of Hell" - Boy is miffed.  Rides off in a temper, but he din't see the bend in the road
"Heaven Can Wait" - He's not yet dead, but is clinging on

And all the above takes place in one evening.
A little far fetched perhaps, but it may be the next "pop music" musical in the West End.
And expect to see a primetime BBC Saturday evening show called "The Meat Raffle" (or something equally witless ("Meet Meat"?)).  It will be hosted by an over-excited leprechaun (Graham Norton) and will probably have a judge panel of David Essex, Paul Nicholas, Elaine Paige and Andrew Lloyd Weber.

  

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