The cast of BAT OUT OF HELL, credit Chris Davis Studio
There are few shows as joyously unapologetic as Bat Out of Hell. This rock musical, built around the iconic partnership of Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf, doesn’t so much arrive on stage as explode across it. At Northampton’s Royal & Derngate, the current tour is a glorious spectacle: big voices, dazzling staging, and a score that still thrills almost 50 years on.
The storyline — part Peter Pan, part dystopian fairytale — is more an atmospheric backdrop than a narrative spine. Strat (Glenn Adamson), leader of the tribe of forever-young rebels, falls in love with Raven (Katie Tonkinson), the daughter of controlling Falco (Joshua Dever) and the spirited Sloane (Sharon Sexton). What matters most is the passion with which the cast throw themselves into every song, and here they excel.
Adamson is magnetic, his voice full of rock-star power. Tonkinson matches him in vocal fire and emotional intensity. Sexton and Dever bring wit and flair to their raunchy, comic duet Paradise by the Dashboard Light, which has the audience roaring with laughter and applause. Georgia Bradshaw and Ryan Carter, in supporting roles, deliver a goosebump-inducing Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are, showing the depth of talent across the company.
The design matches the scale of the music. Multi-level platforms, motorbikes, live video projections, pyrotechnics and confetti cannons combine to create a sensory spectacle. The orchestra, fully visible on stage, adds to the rock concert atmosphere. It’s a bold, brash production that never lets energy levels drop.
Of course, the reason it works so well is Steinman’s music: overblown, heartfelt, and irresistibly theatrical. Songs such as It’s All Coming Back to Me Now, Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad and I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That) feel as fresh and powerful as ever, here delivered by a company who clearly revel in their material.
This is theatre at its most exuberant. The plot may be light, but the performances, staging and sheer scale of the spectacle more than make up for it. Audiences in Northampton responded with delight — and rightly so.
Bat Out of Hell is at the Royal & Derngate until 20 September. Tickets are in demand, and with good reason: this is a night of pure rock-and-roll escapism that shouldn’t be missed.
Book now to experience the spectacle — Bat Out of Hell roars out of Northampton after 20 September.
