Batman: The Musical

I was talking about the prospect of a Batman musical earlier and I wrote this:

"To me, Batman was a human superhero. He didn’t have any extraordinary, supernatural powers. It was psychological. He was responding to an incident of trauma, and all of these characters, heroes and villains alike, seemed to have been psychologically affected by one thing or another.

When you put that against the backdrop of Gotham City, which to me is like a cartoon version of the dark side of NYC, suddenly it all starts to sound very exciting to me. A musical with a character triumphing for good in New York—that place where "West Side Story" one of the greatest musicals of all time was set.

Done right, I think it would have run like "Chicago" and "The Lion King". But that's the key thing, isn’t it? *Done right*. Did any of this make sense or am I just talking nonsense?"

Historically, there were articles surfacing in 1998 and 1999 announcing the development of a Batman musical. Warner Brothers had appointed a producer named Gregg Maday to run a new theatrical division for the company called Warner Brothers Theatre Ventures. This could be seen as a response to the success Disney Theatricals was having at that time with "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Lion King".

Disney Theatricals producing stage musicals could also be seen as a response to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh in the 1980s, mounting their epics still playing somewhere all around the world. They included: "Cats", "Les Misérables", "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Miss Saigon".

Disney had also experienced success with movies like "The Little Mermaid", "Beauty and the Beast", "Aladdin" and "The Lion King". Not only did this era come to be known as the Disney Renaissance, but it was also an attempt to bring the form of the American musical to a Disney feature. Movies like "Beauty and the Beast" arguably became successful long-running musicals because they were transformed from an already strong musical piece.

When you put all of this together, plus the resounding box office success of the 1989 "Batman" directed by Tim Burton, it's not difficult to see why somebody would want to produce "Batman: The Musical".

Artistically, just read what I said at the top.

In 1999, the New York Daily News announced that the "Batman" musical would be written by songwriter and producer Jim Steinman providing music and lyrics with playwright David Ives writing book. I am less familiar with the work of Ives, but let me tell you about Steinman, if you didn't already know, and please. Try to picture all of this in the context of "Batman".

Jim wrote all of the songs for "Bat out of Hell" sung by Meat Loaf and produced by Todd Rundgren. Meat Loaf himself resembled a great superhero from a comic book that never was, like Danny DeVito was saving the world from an asteroid (and not playing the Penguin.) "Bat out of Hell" also included the most extreme motorcycle crash song I've ever heard.

In 1993, Jim authored, produced and performed on the sequel "Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell" (forgot to mention that he also performed on "Bat out of Hell".) The epic music video for Number #1 single "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" felt like a version of "Beauty and the Beast" meets "The Phantom of the Opera" meets "Bram Stoker's Dracula".

In 1981, Jim released his album "Bad for Good", with wicked vocal contributions from Rory Dodd and Karla DeVito I must say, followed up by classics like "Total Eclipse of the Heart", "Holding out for a Hero", "Making Love Out of Nothing at All", "It's All Coming Back to Me Now", "No Matter What", and soundtrack work for films including "Footloose", "Streets of Fire" and "Wuthering Heights".

Jim had started out in musical theatre with the three hour rock musical "The Dream Engine", which led to productions like "More Than You Deserve" and "Kid Champion" at the New York Shakespeare Festival. Jim had even worked on a rock musical version of Wagner's "Das Rheingold" in collaboration with Barry Keating. Indeed, Barry himself composed the musical "Starmites" produced on Broadway in 1989 which established a comic book universe all his own. It was described as being like "Star Wars" meets "Little Shop of Horrors". An Off-Broadway revival is certainly due at this point and could run there for ten years.

When Jim came to work on the "Batman" musical, he had already returned to theatre with the rare achievement of having written lyrics for "Whistle down the Wind" and then music for "Tanz der Vampire". But imagine the man who wrote "Bat out of Hell" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart" writing songs for Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle, Batman, Catwoman etc. Can you see it? Can you visualize this dream engine?

Bruce Wayne watched his parents get killed in front of him in Crime Alley and his response was to become Batman protecting the citizens of Gotham City by night. Imagine someone who wrote the song "Left in the Dark", perhaps most famously recorded by Barbra Streisand, writing for Bruce Wayne and Batman. Again, this is the guy who wrote "I'd Do Anything for Love".

When all is said and done, does all of this not begin to make resounding artistic and commercial sense? Or to quote the song I just mentioned: "And maybe I'm crazy, but it's crazy and it's true".

Jim worked for several years developing the Batman musical with David Ives. Producer Gregg Maday described the book, the script, in a 2017 story with Forbes, as being like "Hamlet". Unfortunately, with the shuttering of the 2002 musical "Dance of the Vampires" (what should have been a triumphant success but this is another story) "Batman" never really managed to get off the ground. Actually, it didn't, but if you're in the Batman community and you haven't been living under a rock all these years, you can hear the demos at Jim Steinman's Dream Pollution site.

I first discovered this score when I heard the song "Not Allowed to Love", and mark my words. I have had the privilege of listening to a heck of a lot of music in my life, but this still remains possibly the most haunting song I've ever heard. And this, I believe, was intended for Batman and Catwoman to sing. Its presence in the "Bat out of Hell" musical for me was one of the show’s high points. That song just soared like a bat over the night skies over Gotham. It creeps into the reaches of the soul like Grizabella emerging at the eleventh hour of "Cats" to sing "Memory". I love "Memory" but even that is totally eclipsed.

The rest of the songs I will review below, in my own order:

"Vespers (Angels Arise)"---the opening sequence of Gotham City is a fifteen minute musical spectacular, and a visual one too I'm sure if it had ever been produced. The opening bars alone convince me that skepticism would have been brushed aside and a new classic would have been born.

"Graveyard Shift"---I'll admit. It's difficult to imagine Batman singing, but not Bruce Wayne. Due to the somber and operatic mood of the opening scene, this does manage to work. The allusions to past Jim Steinman songs don't bother me. There's something about making references to "Bad for Good" in a "Batman" musical that just really works too.

"In the Land of the Pig the Butcher is King"---at this point, I just need to hear Shuley Hensley singing this. This one is terrifying and fits right in with Max Schreck from "Batman Returns". The problem is whether Warner Brothers would have balked at a title like this in a time where they put out something like "Batman & Robin".

"Not Allowed to Love"---see my earlier comments.

"Wonderful Toys"---this is the Joker's comic song. I would also have loved to have heard a dark villain song, but totally this captures the Jack Nicholson portrayal from the film. So many great actors missed out on playing this role. Jim himself sings the demo and it is as iconic as his speech work for me.

"Catwoman's Song"---Karine Hannah knocked this blazing thing right out of the park. At the climax, which seems to be sampling Verdi's Requiem, I visualize that scene where Michelle Pfeiffer nukes the department store. That bit needed an explosion on stage! "Whistle down the Wind" had a barnyard fire. This needed an explosion.

"We're Still the Children"---there is something that haunts me at the back of my mind that this Jim Steinman song remains uncovered by any artist, to date, but there is a strong following of people who love it and that must be enough for me. This is Jim's demo, sung by a dying Catwoman forming a quartet with Batman and the ghosts of young Bruce and young Selina. In this version, Selina Kyle saw the Wayne's being murdered. This is one of the most haunting songs of Jim's career, let alone making a great moment for a musical.

"Cry to Heaven"---I included this as a bonus in my demos, but I don't think this was actually written for "Batman". It's based on "Vespers", but I believe it was written and recorded for a "Cry-Baby" musical. There is a "Cry-Baby" musical but none of it was written by Jim.

So that's the score, as far as most of us are really aware. What would it have been like? Could it still happen today? Should it still happen?

With everything I've said above, and will continue to say in this matter, I state most emphatically: MY OPINION IS YES!!!

One more note here then: years ago I ran a fan site for this musical, that's how caught up I was in the notion of this being a production, and it was even mentioned in a great book by Bruce Scivally called "Billion Dollar Batman". I still have all the files for the most recent draft somewhere. For now, there is this review that had to be included somewhere here in my blog.

Thank you for reading,

Ryan.