Bat Boy the Musical Bat Boy the Musical takes its marks from a ridiculous article published by the Weekly World News. Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming are architects of the musical, building off of the absurd tail by adding love, hate, insensitivity, naivety and tragedy. The book is only as good as its weakest scene. This musical train leaves the tracks near the end of the 2nd act when the script is derailed by a long exposition scene that tries to wrap up all of the loose ends, only to kill the pace of the show and insert more absurdity and some misplaced and unneeded insertions to the storyline. It feels as if Farley and Flemming got tired of writing a musical and wanted to get the show over as soon as possible. The NSU cast and crew threw their energy and talent at this production with great verve in an effort to assuage by the flaws of the script. NSU Theater Department mounted this production in the freshly renovated Krikac Theater. The theater got some lipstick and a hair comb but there are significant technical limitations left in this space. Sound and lights have been transported in to round out the partial system that is housed in the theater. The sound which is always a problem at NSU productions was a bit better than I expected considering all 26 voices were crammed into two speakers swung from the ceiling in the dead center of the stage (no doubt a budget limitation of the remodel). Kudos to the sound designers, Tina Hanagan and Brian T. Schultz a.k.a Hiss Pop (it is an old joke between friends). It appears that every lavaliere microphone in the county was rounded up for this production, and a hand held mic was thrown in for good measure. This helped the audience greatly. Unfortunately the level drop from a mic’d performer to a non mic’d performer leaves the crowd with only half of the story. This is nothing new for NSU or Aberdeen Community Theater productions. The two theaters troupes should pool their funds and get an army’s worth of mics in their shared inventory. Many in the chorus were working their tails off to project over the electronics. I appreciate the effort very much. I was mostly impressed with the lighting effort of Hanagan and Joshua Frachiseur, the man of many hats. Considering the difficulty of lighting off of trees in the house, these two designers found color and texture where depth and definition were not possible, that was appreciated. I would have loved to see the lighting plot had this been hung in JFAC. The costume design by Nicole Frachiseur was well thought out and executed. A modern show, much of the costuming was a closet cleaning show, save one forest nymph filled scene. Even the rack pulling had definition establishing the well-to-do ladies apart from their bumpkin neighbors. The forest nymph costumes were fun if not a ton of work. The set had some troubles. The staging was designed by Josh Frachiseur. Of course it had to be a terrible exercise in set building when the scene shop is two hundred yards away, through narrow hallways and up a flight of stairs. I give high marks just for the pain endured. However I was on edge of my seat from the get go when the cave was on stage. It looked like the “stalag mite fall over” and it nearly did again in the finale scene, more glue and screws. I know Frachiseur is a man of superior castors but for some reason the living room was too much for the stage hands to handle. I don’t think the wagon unit found the same spike marks twice. Overall this was a huge endeavor, lifting the orchestra and making space where space isn’t. It was cool that they repelled in one performer – nice touch. Given a proper space, I know Frachiseur would have crushed this set. The orchestra was a handful of talented musicians led by the seasoned Mistress of the Pit, Mary Marion. The pit sounded nice. A bit loud at times, overshadowing the cast, but that is tough to manage when everything is plugged in and you are staged behind the cast. This is more of a function of the sound board technician. Marion also conducted the vocalists. This cast has some very strong singers in it. I was impressed by the depth of the crew. Of course we should only expect a strengthening cache of performers when many of them are vying for their degree in musical theater. The chorus was good. Diction evaded the town folk group in song. Often I had absolutely no idea what the large group was singing. But they had no visual on their conductor, and that has to be like herding bats. Overall though this group of troopers looked good and added depth to the performance. And they gave an honest effort at projection, don’t stop working on projection. The principles in the cast were very strong singers and actors. The troupe was led by Paul Hoselton as Bat Boy. He embodied the bat boy. His performance was as strong of a performance as I have seen on NSU’s stage in a while. Hoselton who wore a prosthetic tooth plate enunciated very well through is dentures. He still needs to find some control over his stage movement in “Apology to a Cow”. Manic can still have definition and control; it will look and feel more professional. Natalie Allcock should be happy with her performance. She has a good handle on her physical movement; her sing voice is strong and clear. She is a seasoned actress with more theater in her future. We know Yvonne Freese can sing and act. This show didn’t seem to challenge her talents much but when given a bit of meat in the script she did well with her servings. Occasionally Freese lets her speaking voice elevate into a screechy tone when her character’s emotions soar. Freese has the skill to get this under control. One of my favorites of the night was Dr. Parker played by Joseph Weseloh. I enjoyed the well rounded portrayal of this comic and tragic character. Weseloh has some singing chops. I could see a tiny tiny bit of Peter Griffin in his performance. Of course every stage father should emulate the Family Guy. The children with the names that begin with R’s were mean and spiteful. Well trained no doubt by their matriarch played by Em. Davis. This foursome brought some nice comedy and edge to the stage. Overall the whole troupe worked pretty well together. They certainly looked like they were having fun. This is a sign of a quality director. Josh Frachiseur was wearing too many hats though. At this level, no one should have to direct, design, build and light a show. Thankfully he had the help of strong capable people around him and I am sure he is grateful for their assistance. Overall the show was nicely done, sir. So how do I wrap up Bat Boy? The show would have benefited from a better equipped space. The production company was much stronger than the script. You can’t raise a cow on a hillside.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 13:32:40 +0000
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