BATMAN Live Stage Show in the Works

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 4/26/10 at 4:27pm

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/139039-Batman-Live-Stage-Show-in-the-Works

[darquegk]

Posted: 4/26/10 at 4:32pm

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.

[tazber]

Posted: 4/26/10 at 4:40pm

Again?

Whatever happened to Steinman's Batman?

[Weez]

Posted: 4/26/10 at 5:28pm

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

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/26/10 at 6:53pm

I heard a demo of Sondheims Batman & it is awesome

The Jokers Song is possibly the best he has ever written.

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 4/26/10 at 8:32pm

Steinman's Batman really isn't anything to write home about.

[Jewtopia]

Posted: 4/26/10 at 10:34pm

Tbh, it's probably one of the worst things I've ever heard

[darquegk]

Posted: 4/26/10 at 11:06pm

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.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 4/27/10 at 11:36am

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.

[bethnor]

Posted: 4/27/10 at 11:51am

hmmm....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebI8H5nq5L4

[newintown]

Posted: 4/27/10 at 11:56am

Batman doesn't sing. His life is internal and silent. His silence speaks much more eloquently than any lyrics could.

[Midnight Radio]

Posted: 4/27/10 at 11:58am

Please refrain from posting illegal bootlegs of Broadway shows.
And was that you walking out before curtain? You should be ashamed.

[bethnor]

Posted: 4/27/10 at 12:03pm

Batman doesn't sing.

wrong, wrong, wrong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57zFkL9GSZA

rachel york as circe.

[newintown]

Posted: 4/27/10 at 12:14pm

wrong, wrong, wrong

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.

[greensgreens]

Posted: 4/27/10 at 12:28pm

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!

[Weez]

Posted: 4/27/10 at 2:05pm

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.

Updated On: 4/27/10 at 02:05 PM

[bethnor]

Posted: 4/28/10 at 11:42am

Harley Quinn (I would insist she be present in any musical adaptation)

i second that motion.

tell me a number like this wouldn't bring the house down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp6wLXj4-5A

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 4/28/10 at 2:18pm

Oh man, that brings back some Saturday morning memories. Harley & Joker would have so much potential.

[chrissydee]

Posted: 4/28/10 at 2:35pm

Where can I hear Sondheims Batman?? Anyone PM me a link?

x

[slmlbl]

Posted: 4/28/10 at 3:18pm

directed by Taymor, with music by Bono, opening at the Hilton?

[emo_geek]

Posted: 4/28/10 at 5:21pm

Julie Taymor in a 1999 interview:

"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.