Can the Bat Boy be tamed and civilized by the love of a family when the townsfolk suspect he’s the reason their cattle and children are dying? All this waif of a boy, who has pointy ears and needs blood to survive, longs for is to belong and be loved.
“Let me walk among you. Let me show my face. I could learn to live with you, I can earn my place,” the lonely Bat Boy sings in the Belfast Maskers’ latest offering at its Basil Burwell Community Theater.
The community theater company, founded in 1987, again proves that it can harness the talent in Waldo County to produce quality theater to rival some of the professional groups farther afield. While its “Bat Boy: The Musical” has some technical flaws, its talented cast overcomes them to wring all the campy pathos out of its songs and script.
“Bat Boy: The Musical” is based on a 1992 story in the defunct tabloid Weekly World News about a half-boy, half-bat found living in a cave in West Virginia. The show premiered five years later at the Actors’ Gang Theatre in Los Angeles with the book by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming and music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe.
In style and tone, it is a second cousin to “Little Shop of Horrors,” which closed Sunday after a month-long run at the Bangor Opera House. Both musicals feature blood-thirsty creatures and characters longing to be loved and neither takes itself too seriously.
“Bat Boy” director Erik Perkins, who also designed the set and ran the spotlight, expertly uses all of the stage in the former Universalist Church on Court Street. Under his direction, this cast forms a fine ensemble that transitions expertly from the campy characterizations to the poignant and conflicting emotions woven into the script and the songs.
Meredith Parker (Maggie Machaiek), veterinarian Dr. Parker (Andrew Lipman) and their daughter Shelley Parker (Olivia West) form the family that takes in Bat Boy (Miles Mailloux). Machaiek, who is among the strongest and finest singers in the cast, gives a layered performance as the traditional wife and mother who strives to understand, educate and protect Bat Boy. Hers is a layered and sincere performance.
As Shelley, West is open, sweet and attracted to Bat Boy. She convincingly defends him to skeptical townsfolk and argues with her mother over her relationship with Bat Boy. West and Machaiek’s duet, “Three Bedroom House,” is a moving song about the mother and daughter’s desire to run off with Bat Boy and build a new life somewhere else. The women forge a bond that made everyone in the audience Sunday believe they were really mother and daughter and their voices blend beautifully together.
And then there’s Lipman, who at times seems like he’s in a different play than the rest of the cast. The actor is a forceful presence on stage but he wears the character’s insanity like a cheap suit from his opening scene. The plot would be better served if Lipman slipped a bit more slowly into murderous madness. The actor needs to dial back the creepiness in the first act and focus more on the vet’s humanity to fit in with the rest of the family.
The small statured Mailloux is physically perfect as Bat Boy. His transformation from squeaking animal to conversive blood-drinking human transfixes the audience. The actor makes the audience feel Bat Boy’s pain at being unable to reconcile the animal and homosapien sides of his nature. It is a truly mesmerizing performance.
About half the cast of 12 portray multiple characters. Sheriff Reynolds (Gwyneth Sauvage), Maggie (Dakota Wing) and Rev. Hightower (Zachary Field) stand out for their fine comic timing and embrace of the campy elements of the show. Sauvage nicely balances the sheriff’s need to please the town’s voters in advance of an upcoming election while showing compassion for the Bat Boy. She also has a powerful and expressive singing voice.
Wing looks like he played football or soccer in high school, so just putting him in a dress and curly wig induces laughter. As the town’s mayor, he perfectly parodies how many small town politicians run a raucous town meeting. Field flawlessly captures the enthusiasm of television evangelists everywhere.
The pace and the action is slowed a bit by some clunky scene changes. The rotating set piece appears to be awkward to move and is unusually noisy. The other aspects of the show, including the costumes, designed by Kelly Gubbels, lighting by Zafra Whitcomb and choreography by Julia Clapp are great. Music Director Dominic Williams gets the most out of his talented singers with just a keyboard and a drum set.
“Bat Boy” is a strange and quirky little musical that ventures into the absurdity that was a staple of tabloid journalism. It also highlights the dangers of society and individuals ostracizing and harassing those who are different and shows how love and understanding can, at least for a while, let a “freak of nature” enjoy being part of a community.
“Bat Boy: The Musical” will be performed at 7 p.m.Thursday through Sunday and at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Basil Burwell Community Theater, 17 Court St., Belfast. Parental guidance is suggested due to violence, sexuality and other disturbing material. For information, visit belfastmaskers.com.
