Stage productions arise from many inspirations, but how many can you name that trace their genesis to a farcical tabloid like the Weekly World News, which is to real news what Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are to actual journalism?
"Bat Child Found in Cave!" the front page headline read, and the creators of the musical "Bat Boy" (book authors Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming, along with composer/lyricist Laurence O'Keefe) took it from there. The result is a blend of science fiction, horror, musical comedy and bizarre melodrama now on the stage of the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse.
"Bat Boy," set in rural West Virginia, details the capture of the fanged and Spock-eared creature by local citizens and one family's attempt to incorporate him/it into the community.
As directed by Michael Dale Brown, it's frequently riveting and occasionally revolting.
Headlining the production is a bravura performance by Ryan Holihan in the title role of the conflicted young man who's instinctively out for blood but whose conscience forbids carnage. Holihan develops his character, "Charly"-like, from a savage predator into a warm, intelligent human being stung by the community's rejection of him.
The audience gets the picture of where the story is headed, toward a lesson in tolerance. Then comes Act Two, when the show's requisite villain becomes a horrific destroyer of life (and we're not talking about Bat Boy here). You might find a clue in the title of the number "All Hell Breaks Loose."
The show centers on the family of a veterinarian chosen to guard the creature. Stephen Hulsey is particularly frightening, if a bit eye-rollingly over the top, as the vet, while Elizabeth A. Bouton and Montica Reeves excel as his wife and daughter.
Complications arise when Reeves' character falls for the Bat Boy. Bouton breaks from her docile-mama mold to tear into the poignant "Three Bedroom House" number, while Reeves renders a touching performance in her overtures to the stranger ("Inside Your Heart").
A huge ensemble lends strong vocal and character support with Cathy Petz making the firmest impact, doubling as the town mayor and a traveling evangelist. Kyle Myers also portrays a local yokel and, in drag, a grieving mother.
Despite its initial outward appearance, "Bat Boy" is complicated, particularly in its intentionally convoluted second act when character relationships are altered, some drastically. That these unconventional tactics work attests the talent of the playhouse cast.
"Bat Boy" will make audiences laugh and shudder, often simultaneously, in this ambitious and highly effective production. It's a musical as bloody as "Sweeney Todd" and equally as entertaining.