REVIEW: Bonkers, brilliant celebration of Meat Loaf classics in Bat Out Of Hell
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
You’d need a pretty bonkers plot to sew together the classics that Meat Loaf made famous – and we certainly get that in Bat Out Of Hell, the musical. Brilliantly so. The result is a stunning, exhilarating start to 2025 at the Kings Theatre.
The gist is loosely Peter Pan in post-apocalyptic New York, a fact which harks back to the original conception of some of the songs before they ever became anthems for the late great Meat Loaf.
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Hide AdBut rather like the equally bizarre American Idiot and We Will Rock You, it’s not really about the plot – entertaining as it is. It’s about the music. And in truth, you find yourself just waiting for the next blast of rock pomp to batter your ear drums.
You never have to wait long, and the show absolutely does them justice. Just as you’d hope it’s a truly blistering Bat Out Of Hell that we get – but Sharon Sexton and Rob Fowler in the Sloane and Falco roles very, very nearly steal the entire night with their Paradise By The Dashboard Light. You just don’t want it to end. As for For Crying Out Loud, wow. Ditto You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth. Fabulous songs, scintillatingly delivered.
The icing on the cake is that the eight-piece band is live on stage – oddly the guitarists sitting in Raven’s bedroom. Whatever next! And it’s great to see the band in action. There are times, in fact, when you have to drag your eyes away from the keyboard players who are mesmerising – but then so too is the entire cast.
Sexton and Fowler give outstanding powerhouse vocal performances, matched every step of the way by Glenn Adamson, hugely charismatic as Strat, and Katie Tonkinson, genuinely wonderful as Raven. The ensemble are without exception terrific, class acts one and all in terms of dance, energy and sheer stage presence. And somehow, the songs make sense – never more so the terrific Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are.
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Hide AdYou need something extraordinarily over the top, operatic, bombastic and just plain huge to do justice to Meat Leaf. Bat Out Of Hell honours his memory wonderfully. If you need something to shake you out of the drabness of January, this absolutely is it. Tickets on https://www.kingsportsmouth.co.uk/whatson-event/bat-out-of-hell/
The show is at Kings until Saturday.
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