Steinman developing BAT OUT OF HELL for the stage- Page 2

[regnad kcin]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 11:28pm

I think it could be great. I've always wanted to see Jack Black play Meatloaf in a biopic, and before I get hate-posts, picture it. It could work. I doubt it'll happen though.

[BrianS]

Posted: 1/3/08 at 2:15am

It'll be great as long as Michael Crawford has creative control.

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 1/3/08 at 4:39pm

@ regnad, which one? The musical or the biopic? The last biopic VH1 did of Meat, a woefully inaccurate film called "To Hell and Back," was supposed to star Jack Black as Meat, but negotiations fell through. And the chances of the Bat musical actually happening, IMO, are slim to none.

[Jon]

Posted: 1/3/08 at 6:07pm

All's I know about meatloaf is how to tell the difference between it and a cat.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 1/3/08 at 6:09pm

I'm probably one of the few who wishes he could finish that Batman musical...

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 1/3/08 at 6:22pm

Yes you are one of the few. Yay, more garbage!

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 1/3/08 at 6:26pm

why do they put this stuff here in the west end???

Did we not suffer enough with Rent Remixed, Desperately Seeking Susan etc...now we get this rubbish along with Flashdance

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 1/3/08 at 6:30pm

I've always wondered that too SandDman. I would think London'ers would be the first people to castigate this dreck. But then you know, Buddy, Mama Mia, We Will Rock You and Starlight all played for YEARS in england. SO who knows?

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 1/3/08 at 6:38pm

We like our good fun friday saturday night musicals here in the UK thats what keeps them running.Non theatre goers are huge fans of We Will Rock You etc and its them which keep them running (they go and watch the show and then go round the west end and get drunk lol)

We also love our 'real' musicals but they seems to be less and less at the moment.I think the west end theatre audiences are fighting back a bit now though with the early closing of DSS, the dumbed down camp as tits Rent Remixed etc.

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 10:07am

If you're gunna bash something, get your facts correct.

A) What's the difference between "We Will Rock You" and "Bat Out Of Hell"? "We Will Rock You", jukebox musical put together with Queen's greatest hits & book by Ben Elton. Story contrived and made to fit around Queen's greatest hits and I hated every minute of it. And I rarely "hate" anything, except ignorance.

"Bat Out Of Hell", based on a rock version of Peter Pan that Jim Steinman has been developing since 1970. Every one of these songs, all of the songs from "Bat Out Of Hell", "Bad For Good", "Dead Ringer", "Faster Than The Speed Of Night", "Streets Of Fire", "Secret Dreams And Forbidden Fire", "Original Sin" and "Back Into Hell" have some connection with Peter Pan, Wendy, The Lost Boys, Captain Hook and Never Never Land.

B) The show dates back to "The Dream Engine" in 1969, an epic 3-hour musical that premiered at Amherst College and was seen and optioned by Joseph Papp HIMSELF. "Hair", "A Chorus Line" etc. "The Dream Engine" was supposed to open out doors but the City vetoed the explicit content and Steinman struggled for years to modify and produce It because it was too ahead of its time. He did "More Than You Deserve" with Papp, he did "Kid Champion" and "Bloodshot Wine" and "The Confidence Man", LOOK IT ALL UP IN THE ARCHIVES, and discovered Meat Loaf at an audition.

"Neverland" was a workshop production that was supposed to go to Broadway in 1978, but Steinman chose "Bat Out Of Hell" where the songs became famous!! "Bat Out Of Hell" is one of the largest selling albums of all time, and Steinman finally returned to Theatre on "Whistle Down The Wind", with "No Matter What, one of the greatest selling singles from a Musical to DATE, and "Tanz Der Vampire" which took Germany by storm! For 10 years!!

C) "Neverland" has been in development for all of these years. It was going to be a screenplay. It was going to be a stage-show. It was going to be a screenplay. IT WAS GOING TO BE A STAGE-SHOW! Jim has come so close to producing ir over the last 20 years, and the last time it fell through was because Michael Crawford and the producers on DOTV ruined a show that was a German phenomenon. Jim bounced back with "Wuthering Heights" for MTV, and he's no stranger to the industry at all. Plus he had the masters for "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" misplaced by an incompetent company. He was sued to the tune of $100 million by Meat because he wanted to stop Meat's stupid album "The Monster Is Loose" that was nothing but False Advertising!

D) They've assembled some of the greatest talent in the world on this project. Gerald Scarfe is no fool either, and neither is Fisher. Scarfe did "The Wall" and "Hercules" etc. etc. Fisher & his people are responsible for staging "The Wall: Live", Pink Floyd '94 tour and other concerts that are some of the largest spectacles ever staged in 20th century entertainment!!

SHEESH.

PS.

"And the chances of the Bat musical actually happening are slim to none."

That is a load of kfing shullbit!

Updated On: 1/4/08 at 10:07 AM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 10:25am

Wow.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 10:45am

This sounds camp-TAGEOUS!!! With Steinman, what else could it be?

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 11:17am

You know he conceived and directed the bazzonk-o video for Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart"?

If this show doens't have flying choirboys with glowing eyes I'm walking out!

[sally1112]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 11:29am

This could be fun, but something about it makes me very, very nervous.

[MisterRussell]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 3:14pm

Y'know, I love Steinman's work, especially the power ballads of yore. But I'm so very disappointed that he feels the need to keep stealing from himself. "Well, who ESLE should he steal from?" you ask?

I'd just like to see him write somethin a little less grand and a little more original. By inserting "Total Eclipse of the heart" into not only DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES and WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND (I lost all interest in "new" Lloyd Webber when he caved on that one), Steinman sank to the last tier of composers I looked forward to hearing from.

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 4:13pm

I'm going to ask the question everyone is thinking: where the hell is "Total Eclipse" in WDTW? It'd actually be a sight better than Webber's score.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 4:22pm

"Total Eclipse..." is a gem, but I do think his underrated addition to STREETS OF FIRE, "Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young" is the definitive Steinman.

Check this out and tell me it could have come from any other writer

Updated On: 1/4/08 at 04:22 PM

[MisterRussell]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 7:32pm

Unbelieveably, the TUNE of "TEOTH" is used to the LYRIC for "A Kiss is a Terrible Thing To Waste."

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 1/5/08 at 1:25am

No, it is not.

[jbdc]

Posted: 1/5/08 at 11:16am

Maybe something that's been in development for 40 years will finally make it and blow everyone away.

Or maybe there's a reason it's been in development for 40 years.

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 8:42am

Knowing much of the circumstances, I'd agree, jb. There's a reason that the show has been in development for so long. Look at these two draft scripts (one under the title of "Dream Engine," and the second under the title of "Neverland" boasting some of the songs that later became famous on Bat Out of Hell and at least one from Tanz/DOTV). They're the kind of thing you'd expect a lunatic in the asylum dayroom (who's been asked to "be creative today") to write.

"Dream Engine": http://jimsteinman.com/dreamengine/dream_engine.htm, http://jimsteinman.com/dreamengine/dream_engine2.htm, http://jimsteinman.com/dreamengine/dream_engine3.htm

"Neverland": http://jimsteinman.com/neverland4.htm, http://jimsteinman.com/neverland5.htm, http://jimsteinman.com/neverland.htm

It might not have been out of place in the late Sixties, when non-linear musicals could have become the norm, but now it just won't fly.

Updated On: 1/14/08 at 08:42 AM