I had very little idea what I was getting into when I went to see this show. I went mostly because Doug Storm was in it, whom I had got to know a little bit during the run of The Scarlet Pimpernel in New York. And I’d seen some rehearsal pics and stuff, which looked pretty odd, but I decided to give it a shot anyway, and I’m so glad I did!
My first and only complaint would be that the sound balance in the theatre was a bit off. Perhaps it was just where we were sitting (Renee and I rushed it, so we were in the second row), but it was a little hard to distinguish the lyrics above the music at times. So when I later bought the cast recording, I heard a lot of stuff I hadn’t caught before. 🙂
But, that aside, I really enjoyed the show! The music was wonderful, and the whole thing was very, very funny, but in a really intelligent way (well, mostly…the animals in the forest scene was pretty low-brow ;-). “Hold Me, Bat Boy” has become one of my favourite songs in general, and there are many others that I really enjoy. Deven May was just perfect as the Bat Boy/Edgar, making the most of the eccentricities of the character without making it two-dimensional. Kaitlin Hopkins really impressed me, as I wasn’t familiar with her before, and she and Deven together really carried the show.
Because the cast is so small, many of the cast members played several roles, and the scenes where more than one character played by the same person were in the same room were just hilarious. People were pulling wigs off, and putting on hats, and doing all sorts of other silly things to show which of their characters was speaking at a given time. And the thing that made me laugh the hardest was when Doug Storm as Rick was killed, and all the townspeople were standing over his body, and he got up and put on his wig to be Lorraine, still looking down at his body which was no longer there. 🙂
Before anybody even asks, I am not going to give away the secret of the ending, but just suffice it to say, it’s as twisted and unusual as the rest of the show, and definitely worth taking a trip yourself to find out what it is! I hope to see one of the regional productions of the show myself before too long!
Doug Storm: “When are you seeing the show?”
Me: “I just did…”
Doug: “Oh no! That show *sucked*! You’ve gotta come back.”
The cast: (in order of appearance)
Bat Boy
DEVEN MAY
Ruthie Taylor
DARIA HARDEMAN
Rick Taylor
DOUG STORM
Ron Taylor
KATHY BRIER
Sheriff Reynolds
RICHARD PRUITT
Bud
JIM PRICE
Clem
KATHY BRIER
Mr. Dillon
DOUG STORM
Daisy
JIM PRICE
Maggie
KATHY BRIER
Lorraine
DOUG STORM
Shelley Parker
KERRY BUTLER
Meredith Parker
KAITLIN HOPKINS
Roy
TRENTH ARMAND KENDALL
Ned
DARIA HARDEMAN
Dr. Thomas Parker
SEAN MCCOURT
Mrs. Taylor
TRENT ARMAND KENDALL
Reverend Hightower
TRENT ARMAND KENDALL
King of the Forest
JIM PRICE
Insititute Man
TRENT ARMAND KENDALL
Storytellers, Townspeople, Animals
FULL COMPANY