I'm somewhat surprised to see that the Batman Live stage show, currently touring the UK and Ireland hasn't gotten a thread of its own since it went on tour. I went to see it yesterday at Belfast's Odyssey Arena, so thought I'd put up my own.
Unlike the much-mocked Spider-man show, this is not a musical but it does feature music. Instead, it's mostly based around acrobatics, stunts, pyro and the like, though there is dialogue and a plot, of sorts.
The show features a large Bat-shaped backdrop, which different scenery is displayed on, as well as foreground scenery. The costumes are very much from the Batman Forever/ Batman and Robin school but I've no problem with this - much as I love the Nolanverse, it wouldn't lend itself to this sort of production.
After an intro to Gotham City, we see a young Bruce and his parents leaving the cinema and having their fateful encounter with Joe Chill. Conscious of the presence of young 'uns, the story here has Thomas Wayne chase after Chill, who has their id and addresses, so that the parents are shot offstage (though the scene was still well done and a little disturbing for young audiences). We then pan ahead to the circus, where the Graysons are being menaced by gangsters. This sequence goes on for a little while and I think the young audience is meant to identify with Dick/ Robin, who gets at least as much time as Bruce/ Batman. The sequence allows for some impressive trapeze and acrobatic displays and the Graysons' deaths are done in slo-mo, with the actors being slowly lowered from on high. Again, it's a little scary but not too graphic for young 'uns - I told my four-year old that they'd been hurt
The plot then has Dick going to live with Bruce, whose alter-ego is hunting down the Graysons' murderers. He first has a great aerial fight scene with Catwoman, before there's a scene in an underworld nightclub, which takes in Penguin, Riddler and Two-Face, who all combine to defeat an on-the-warpath Batman.
The Joker and Harley Quinn are involved and of course the Joker is behind all the machinations. Dick is kidnapped and rescued by Batman, the Joker takes over Arkham and Batman heads off to sort things out. By now, Dick knows his alter-ego and heads off as Robin to save the day... No prizes for guessing if he does or not.
It's a good, if pricey, show, with lots of stunts etc and even some magic - the Joker and Harley engage in a lot of tricks, which went down well. The Batmobile looked great and there was a fairly scary sequence with Scarecrow, as well as airborne trickery with Poison Ivy. The dialogue is hard-boiled, seemingly coming from the 1930s-50s, but as against that, you have a hi-tech Batmobile and Batcave, giving it much the same timeless feel as the Timm/Dini cartoon.
Unfortunately, no flash photography was allowed, lest it might distract the acrobats. I did get a few half-decent pics on the 'museum' (no flash)setting on my camera and pics of the cast taking their final bow. If anyone is interested, they can PM me and I'll e-mail some, so they can see what it looks like (I'm too much of a clutz to be able to attach any to the thread).
Unlike the much-mocked Spider-man show, this is not a musical but it does feature music. Instead, it's mostly based around acrobatics, stunts, pyro and the like, though there is dialogue and a plot, of sorts.
The show features a large Bat-shaped backdrop, which different scenery is displayed on, as well as foreground scenery. The costumes are very much from the Batman Forever/ Batman and Robin school but I've no problem with this - much as I love the Nolanverse, it wouldn't lend itself to this sort of production.
After an intro to Gotham City, we see a young Bruce and his parents leaving the cinema and having their fateful encounter with Joe Chill. Conscious of the presence of young 'uns, the story here has Thomas Wayne chase after Chill, who has their id and addresses, so that the parents are shot offstage (though the scene was still well done and a little disturbing for young audiences). We then pan ahead to the circus, where the Graysons are being menaced by gangsters. This sequence goes on for a little while and I think the young audience is meant to identify with Dick/ Robin, who gets at least as much time as Bruce/ Batman. The sequence allows for some impressive trapeze and acrobatic displays and the Graysons' deaths are done in slo-mo, with the actors being slowly lowered from on high. Again, it's a little scary but not too graphic for young 'uns - I told my four-year old that they'd been hurt
The plot then has Dick going to live with Bruce, whose alter-ego is hunting down the Graysons' murderers. He first has a great aerial fight scene with Catwoman, before there's a scene in an underworld nightclub, which takes in Penguin, Riddler and Two-Face, who all combine to defeat an on-the-warpath Batman.
The Joker and Harley Quinn are involved and of course the Joker is behind all the machinations. Dick is kidnapped and rescued by Batman, the Joker takes over Arkham and Batman heads off to sort things out. By now, Dick knows his alter-ego and heads off as Robin to save the day... No prizes for guessing if he does or not.
It's a good, if pricey, show, with lots of stunts etc and even some magic - the Joker and Harley engage in a lot of tricks, which went down well. The Batmobile looked great and there was a fairly scary sequence with Scarecrow, as well as airborne trickery with Poison Ivy. The dialogue is hard-boiled, seemingly coming from the 1930s-50s, but as against that, you have a hi-tech Batmobile and Batcave, giving it much the same timeless feel as the Timm/Dini cartoon.
Unfortunately, no flash photography was allowed, lest it might distract the acrobats. I did get a few half-decent pics on the 'museum' (no flash)setting on my camera and pics of the cast taking their final bow. If anyone is interested, they can PM me and I'll e-mail some, so they can see what it looks like (I'm too much of a clutz to be able to attach any to the thread).
