I'm disappointed- this will stall the now-relatively-inevitable but currently unplanned Batman musical YEARS. A whole new crop of composers will be valid to create it, but Jim Steinman's already died in the water, and just imagine what Sondheim could do with it if he wanted to.
What little there is of Steinman's Batman musical is AWESOME. Alas though, it's more Burton-y, and the world has adjusted to a Nolan Batman. ... I really don't think you could musicalise the Nolan Batman. XD
After Steinman's Tanz der Vampire, its cut-but-musically-expanded incarnation Dance of the Vampires (which supposedly used up most of his Batman trunk songs), and just his Meat Loaf golden era, one expected much better things from his Batman demo than what they got. It was all pretty mediocre.
However, tacked on to the demo were two songs by a Steinman fan and stylistic impersonator. One of them, "Merry Christmas Gotham City (Ribbons Of Blood), is written in a blatantly over-the-top style that almost comes across as a garish parody of Steinman's music and lyrics... but it works. And it's MUCH better than Steinman's own score for the show.
Batman has by far the most potential of any comic book character for stage adaptation. His world and all of the characters are so theatrical. I guess this is going to be like a traveling theme park show kind of deal. Alan Burnett is a great writer who's working on it, though. It'll probably be watchable family fun. I'm just hoping that something really interesting will come from the character eventually. Batman is probably one of the only franchise properties I'd ever be remotely interested in seeing on Broadway in some form, if done right.
OK, if you want more specificity, a singing Batman is only camp. It can't be done well as a serious work. It would be foolish, silly, banal, and laughable.
Now if you want a comic, camp Batman musical - that would be shooting fish in a barrel.
Actually, Batman, above all the other comic superheroes, is the one with the most potential for actual dramatization stretching beyond camp, as the Nolan spins have shown. As a character, he is human, unlike all (or at least almost all) of the other entities. He has no special powers, just a large trust fund and some fancy toys, making him a far more sympathetic character and thus, I believe, a ripe target for a fair musicalization.
The obvious master of musicalizing the human psyche, Mr. Sondheim, would be a great choice and I'd love to hear the magic he could work on exposing this wounded mortal on the legitimate stage. If that isn't enough to make you salivate, think of what he could do with the Joker, Harley Quinn (I would insist she be present in any musical adaptation) and Catwoman - all seriously screwed up mortals who could populate a dynamic musical with many layers far beyond the simple camp catastrophe most seem to think a Batman musical is destined for. And of course, to get the gay audience, throw Robin in there and finally give us the full-on love story we've all been waiting to come to fruition. Talk about a dysfunctional plot screaming MUSICAL!
Actually, Spider-man's the most musicalable with potential for dramatisation beyond the camp. Shame that's been ruined forever! But X-Men, however, aimed at the Spring Awakening/American Idiot crowd... that could be AWESOME.
"I never had theatre producers run after me. Some people want to make more Broadway shows out of movies. But Elliot and I aren't going to do Batman: The Musical."
This is currently one of my favorite quotes, as she is working on Spiderman: The Musical. Oh how times change.
"I never had theatre producers run after me. Some people want to make more Broadway shows out of movies. But Elliot and I aren't going to do Batman: The Musical." - Julie Taymor 1999