Wild Child: Tabloid darling Bat Boy stars in the latest University of Chicago musical
“Bat Boy: The Musical” is a play based on a recurring feature in the Weekly World News tabloid about a boy who grows up in a cave isolated from mankind with bat-like features—sharp, pointy ears and fangs—until he is discovered in his hideout. The plot of “Bat Boy” is very much like that of French author Michel Tournier’s 1967 novel, “Friday or The Other Island,” a spin on the original “Robinson Crusoe,” where Crusoe finds an uncivilized human being who can’t communicate (he can neither talk nor read), gives him a name, Friday, and chooses to “raise him” as a man.
In director Augie Praley’s rendition of “Bat Boy,” a production of the University of Chicago’s University Theater that goes up this week, there is a similar, and successful, emphasis on wanting to civilize the savage-like creature. The child is given the name Edgar after he is handed off to Doctor Parker, the town veterinarian (Morgan Maher), in the hopes that he will get rid of the ravenous animal. Edgar, played forcefully and humorously by Lucas Whitehead, is initially only capable of grunting and groaning. However, with the patience and care of his adoptive mother, the wife’s doctor (a nurturing Molly Zeins), the young man is quick in learning to imitate and repeat the sounds and words she makes. In fact, he becomes cultured to the extent that from the moment he learns how to speak, his words are pronounced in a highbrow British accent—a little something he picked up from “BBC language tapes.”
For the most part, “Bat Boy: The Musical” is catchy and witty, possibly due to the cooperative and creative vibe which permeates the play. While the musical numbers are not sung in pitch perfect voices, they are sung in good humor, and the lyrics are often funny, such as those in “Touch Me Bat Boy” and “Can’t Rid Ourselves of our Christian Charity.” Furthermore, the entire play is accompanied by live music, which consists of a bassist, a keyboardist, and a drummer, and this contributes enormously in setting the tone and mood of the production. While the play is not concise—it does run over two hours—the actors are all effective in their parts. This good showmanship pervades the play, where there are many comical if not slightly bizarre moments, such as the birth of ‘the Bat Boy’ and a rendition of an Adam and Eve story between Edgar and the veterinarian’s daughter, Shelley (Amelia Baxter-Stoltzfus).
“Bat Boy: The Musical” is worth seeing, if anything, for the experience—as Praley explained, he modeled the décor and setting “on early ‘60s horror films.” Sometimes, the play strays away long enough from the comedic to create dramatic segments, and ultimately it manages to leave a mark on its audience. In its attempts to humanize Bat Boy, someone who only happens to look “different,” as his adoptive mother assures her daughter when he first enters their lives, it is a real testament to the fact that we are not born as man or woman, but that we are only raised as such.
First Floor Theater, Reynolds Club, 5706 S. University Ave. June 5-7. Thursday-Saturday, 8pm. $6.
