“Bat Boy” Bloody Entertaining

Musicals produced by regional theatre groups are usually titles drawn from the standard list of Broadway hits from the 1940s through 1960s, and maybe the 1970s. This week and next, however, Grand Forks area audiences have the chance to see the North Dakota premiere of the 1997 musical satire, “Bat Boy: The Musical,” which ran for over eight months off-Broadway in New York in 2001.

The Crimson Creek Players are now performing this unashamedly peculiar cult hit at 8 pm weeknights Tuesday through Friday at the Fire Hall Theatre in downtown Grand Forks. The final performance will be June 26. Tickets are $15, or $12 for students and senior citizens.

“Bat Boy: The Musical” is a lively amalgamation of musical styles by Laurence O’Keefe, which may call to mind various Broadway hits and pop songs from 20s jazz to tango to rock, country, gospel, and hip-hop. The story was inspired by a 1992 supermarket tabloid feature about a half-boy, half-bat supposedly discovered living in a cave.

Playwrights Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming had originally planned to do a campy parody of all sorts of tabloid news stories, but eventually settled on sort of a “South Park” style treatment that’s more like “Nosferatu” meets “My Fair Lady,” with more than a touch of “The Elephant Man” and the controversial 17th century melodrama “Tis Pity She’s a Whore” thrown in, among numerous other literary allusions.

The plot, in brief, has three pot-smoking West Virginia teenagers finding the Bat Boy in a cave. After he bites the girl on the neck, her two brothers capture the Bat Boy and turn him over to the redneck sheriff, who leaves him in a cage at the home of the local veterinarian, who is on vacation.

Both fascinated and repelled, the vet’s daughter Shelley and her mother Meredith eventually name him Edgar and tutor him in language and manners, while the outraged and narrow-minded local citizens meanwhile blame him for a recent cattle plague, and the alcoholic vet is horrified to see him when he gets home (for reasons only gradually made known). Of course Shelley and Edgar fall in love, but there are a lot more twists in store that are more surprising and potentially disturbing.

The show is basically a wickedly comic indictment of intolerance and hypocrisy. It can easily be seen as condemning homophobia and racism, but analysts can have a field day trying to identify and interpret all the socio-political-religious subtext going on and various, possibly conflicting, implications. A film version is reputedly in development for director John Landis, but it’s material one would more likely expect of Tim Burton (animated or live-action, with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, no doubt), or possibly David Lynch or the Coen brothers.

Crimson Creek has staged the show with ten actors doing the 19 different characters, five of the cast members handling two, three or four roles. A show like this needs constant energy and strong voices, and this cast has them to spare. Cody Oss plays the title role with a creepy sympathy and alternate bursts of energy and lethargy that fit the part. Kathy Tingum does a good job as the impetuous Shelley, who first wants to keep Bat Boy as a pet, then is disgusted by him, then falls in love with him.

Maura Ferguson keeps things moving while pulling various characters and plot threads together as Meredith, and Matt Hippen is properly troubled as Dr. Parker. Filling out the other characters, some more memorably than others, are Teran Ferguson, Gabe Gomez, Courtney Jones, Beth Laidlaw, Margaret McDonald and Ken McGuran.

Margaret McDonald makes a strong Mayor Maggie, Courtney Jones is a bundle of energy in whatever character she’s playing, Beth Laidlaw is especially notable in her roles of Mrs. Taylor and Reverend Hightower, and everyone has a great time in costume as amorous forest creatures “doin’ what comes natcherly.”

Chris Berg directed the Grand Forks production of “Bat Boy.” There’s a well-designed set in the intimate Fire Hall Theatre space designed by Ben Klipfel, with good live musical accompaniment directed by Natalie McComas, nice choreography by Laura Dvorak, and effective lighting (some of it only candlelight) by Lindsay Escobar, and sound by John Ferguson.

For those whose taste in musicals is not limited to classic showtunes and perennial Broadway hits, and don’t shy away from controversial subject material, Crimson Creek’s “Bat Boy: The Musical” should provide a welcome alternative that is somewhat reminiscent of last year’s hit “Trailer Park,” and while even darker than “Sweeney Todd,” manages to be a bit more upbeat.