First look at Jim Steinman’s Bat Out Of Hell – The Musical

The world premiere of the long-awaited Jim Steinman’s Bat Out Of Hell – The Musical will take place in London’s West End at the London Coliseum, opening on Tuesday 20 June 2017, following previews from 5 June, for a limited season until 22 July 2017. This follows previews at Manchester Opera House from 17 February to 8 April 2017.

As with many great works of art, the genesis of the Bat Out Of Hell album occurred across a number of years. One of the songs was written while Steinman was an undergraduate at Amherst College in the late 1960s. In the 1970s, Steinman wrote a theatrical musical that was presented in workshop in Washington D.C. in 1974 and featured many of the songs that would ultimately appear on the Bat Out Of Hell album, which was released in 1977.

Bat Out Of Hell became one of the best-selling albums in history, selling over 50 million copies worldwide. 16 years later, Steinman scored again with Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell, which contained the massive hit I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That).

For the stage musical, the legendary and award-winning Jim Steinman has incorporated iconic songs from the Bat Out Of Hell albums, including You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth, Bat Out Of Hell, I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That) and Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad, as well as two previously unreleased songs, What Part of My Body Hurts the Most and Not Allowed to Love.

Jim Steinman’s Bat Out Of Hell – The Musical is a romantic adventure about rebellious youth and passionate love, set against the backdrop of a post-cataclysmic city adrift from the mainland. Strat, the forever young leader of The Lost, has fallen for Raven, daughter of Falco, the tyrannical, ruler of Obsidian.

Jim Steinman’s previous musicals include his collaboration with Andrew Lloyd Webber on Whistle Down the Wind, including the hit single released by Boyzone, No Matter What, and the musical Tanz der Vampire, which has been running for 20 years and has been presented in Vienna, Stuttgart, Berlin, Hamburg, Paris, Budapest, Warsaw, St Petersburg and Tokyo.

Directed by award-winning theatre and opera director Jay Scheib, the cast of Bat Out Of Hell – The Musical will be led by newcomer Andrew Polec as Strat and Christina Bennington as Raven, with Rob Fowler as Falco and Sharon Sexton as Sloane. Also starring will be Aran MacRae as Tink, Danielle Steers as Zahara, Dom Hartley-Harris as Jagwire, Giovanni Spano as Ledoux and Patrick Sullivan as Blake. Also in the cast will be Jemma Alexander, Emily Benjamin, Stuart Boother, Georgia Carling, Natalie Chua, Jonathan Cordin, Amy Di Bartolomeo, Jordan Lee Davies, Olly Dobson, Hannah Ducharme, Phoebe Hart, Rosalind James, Michael Naylor, Eve Norris, Tim Oxbrow, Andrew Patrick-Walker, Benjamin Purkiss, Anthony Selwyn, Courtney Stapleton and Ruben Van keer.

Bat Out Of Hell - The Musical has book by Jim Steinman with early writing by Stuart Beattie, music and lyrics by Jim Steinman, direction by Jay Scheib, choreography by Emma Portner, with musical arrangements and supervision by Michael Reed, set design by Jon Bausor, costume design by Meentje Nielsen, video design by Finn Ross, lighting design by Patrick Woodroffe, sound design by Gareth Owen, orchestration by Steve Sidwell, casting by David Grindrod Associates and musical direction by Robert Emery.

Jim Steinman’s Bat Out Of Hell – The Musical is produced by David Sonenberg, Michael Cohl, Randy Lennox, Tony Smith, and produced in association with Bat Out of Hell Holding Limited.

LISTINGS INFORMATION
17 February – 8 April 2017
Opera House Manchester
3 Quay Street
Manchester
M3 3HP

Performances: Mon-Sat at 7.30pm, Thurs & Sat at 2.30pm (no matinee on Sat 18 February)
Tickets: from £17.50
Box Office: 0844 871 3018 (subject to booking/transaction fees)
5 June – 22 July 2017

London Coliseum
St Martin’s Lane
London
WC2N 4ES

Performances: Mon-Sat at 7.30pm, Thurs & Sat at 2.30pm (7pm on Tue 20 June; no matinee on Thurs 8 June; extra 2.30pm matinee on Tue 22 August)

Director Jay Scheib is known for his genre-defying works of daring physicality, and his integration of new technologies in live performance. He is the recipient of both a Guggenheim and an Obie Award for Direction. His productions include Thomas Adès’ opera Powder her Face for New York City Opera, Fassbinder’s adaptation of World of Wires at The Kitchen in New York followed by an international tour, and the multiplatform staging of Platonov, or the Disinherited, premiered as part of the Without Walls Festival at La Jolla Playhouse followed by a three-week run at The Kitchen in New York. Scheib currently holds a Professorship for Music and Theater Arts at Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he directs the programme in Theatre Arts.

Emma Portner’s performance and choreography appear in Justin Bieber's Life Is Worth Living video as well as on his Purpose World Tour. She collaborated with Matt Luck on the short dance film Dancing In the Dark, which went viral and was screened at film festivals across Europe. In 2012, American Dance Awards named her "Young Choreographer of the Year”.

As Musical Supervisor, Michael Reed was responsible for the worldwide productions of many of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musicals, including Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Aspects of Love and Whistle Down the Wind. Michael was the Musical Arranger/Supervisor for Jim Steinman’s Tanz der Vampire, directed by Roman Polanski. Earlier this year, he conducted Sunset Boulevard at the ENO with Glenn Close.

Jon Bausor designed the London 2012 Paralympics Opening Ceremony, Great North Run, Newcastle and the Kinetic Torch for the Sochi Winter Olympics. Recent theatre designs include They Drink It in the Congo (Almeida), Imogen (Shakespeare’s Globe), Bugsy Malone (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith), The James Plays (National Theatres of Scotland and Great Britain) and Lest We Forget (English National Ballet).

Meentje Nielsen made her Royal Opera debut in the 2015/16 Season with Il Trovatore, directed by David Bosch, with whom she works widely in Germany in theatre and opera. She previously worked with director Jay Scheib when she designed the costumes for Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria for Darmstadt State Theatre.

Finn Ross has won two Oliviers, a Tony, a Drama Desk and an Outer Critics Circle Award for video design. His recent theatre work includes Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Broadway/West End), American Psycho (Broadway & Almeida), Betrayal (Broadway), Chimerica (Almeida & West End) and Closer (Donmar). Recent opera includes The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Royal Opera House) and, for the ENO, Benvenuto Cellini, Death of Klinghoffer, Death in Venice, Onegin, Simon Boccanegra, Damnation of Faust and Don Giovanni. Dance includes Frankenstein for the Royal Ballet.

For over 40 years, Patrick Woodroffe has created the lighting for rock concerts, operas, ballet, architecture and special events. He has lit and directed shows for artists as diverse as ABBA, Adele, Elton John, Bob Dylan, Lady Gaga, The Police and Michael Jackson. He has worked for over 30 years with the Rolling Stones as the band’s lighting designer and creative director. In opera, he has created works in houses in Vienna, Salzburg, Bregenz and Helsinki. Musical theatre credits include productions of Jesus Christ Superstar, Batman Live and Ben Hur, as well as the 25th Anniversary Performances of Les Misérables at the O2 Arena and The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall. In film, he lit Martin Scorsese’s Shine A Light, the film of the Rolling Stones in performance. In 2012, he lit the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the Olympic and Paralympics Games in London.

Gareth Owen’s many awards for theatre sound design include the Olivier Awards for Memphis and Merrily We Roll Along, as well as Olivier nominations for Top Hat and End of the Rainbow. He received Tony nominations for A Little Night Music and End of the Rainbow. He is currently designing the sound for the Robert De Niro/Dodgers production of the musical A Bronx Tale on Broadway.

Grammy Award-winner, Tony, Emmy and Olivier nominated arranger, composer, producer, conductor and trumpeter, Steve Sidwell has featured on numerous albums, television shows, advertising campaigns and films. Television commissions include the 79th Academy Awards, the London 2012 Olympics Closing Ceremony and the 2015 Rugby World Cup Opening Ceremony. Theatre credits include orchestrating Beautiful: The Musical and he won the 2015 Grammy Award for the Best Musical Theatre Album for this show. His other recent theatre orchestrations include Made In Dagenham and We Will Rock You. Album credits include the orchestration and conducting of Robbie Williams’s multi-platinum-selling album Swing Both Ways and Swing When Your Winning.

David Grindrod Associates have been responsible for the casting of Cats (Palladium, UK & International Tours), Chicago (West End & UK Tour), Chorus Line (Palladium), Evita (Adelphi), Groundhog Day (Old Vic), Hairspray (Shaftesbury & UK Tours), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (Palladium & UK Tour), Jesus Christ Superstar (Regents Park & Arena Tour), Mamma Mia! (Worldwide), Matilda (Cambridge), School of Rock (adult casting, New London), Sunset Boulevard, Sweeney Todd (ENO), Wizard of Oz (Palladium), to name a few.

Robert Emery conducts orchestras around the world, including the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Japanese Philharmonic, Singapore Lyric, Australian Metropolitan, Perth Philharmonic, and Birmingham Philharmonic. He has worked with such diverse musical talent as Sir Simon Rattle and Bernard Haitink through to Russell Watson, Blur/Damon Albarn and Petula Clark. He is a specialist in fusing rock/pop bands with symphony orchestras, and was the creative force and conductor behind The Lovebugs/Basel Symphony Orchestra and Seven/21st Century Orchestra in Switzerland.

David Sonenberg is a music manager and film producer. He is the producer of the Academy Award-winning film When We Were Kings about Muhammad Ali, and is the founder of DAS Communications Ltd, the management company that took on Meat Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell and set the industry record for worldwide sales of a debut album. DAS manages the creator of Bat Out of Hell – The Musical, Jim Steinman, and has represented artists, producers and writers such as The Fugees, The Black Eyed Peas, John Legend, Lauryn Hill, Jimmy Iovine and Fergie, to name just a few.

Michael Cohl is the former chairman of Live Nation. Cohl has overseen the tours of over 150 artists, ranging from Michael Jackson to Barbra Streisand to David Gilmour to The Rolling Stones. Cohl has also produced several Broadway and West End musicals, including Rock of Ages, Hairspray, The Lord of the Rings and Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark. Active projects in production include Transformers Live, opening in China in 2017, The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains, opening at London's Victoria and Albert Museum in May 2017 and the highly successful Jurassic World: The Exhibition. In 2005, Cohl was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame, and has received two Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, a Juno Award and the 2004 Billboard Legend of Live Award.

Randy Lennox is President, Broadcasting and Content, for Bell Media, Canada’s leading content creation company. Bell Media has premier assets in television, radio, out-of-home advertising, and digital media, including 30 local television stations, 30 cable channels, and 105 radio stations. Previously, Lennox was the President and CEO of Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company, where he helped elevate Canadian talent to the international stage, including Justin Bieber, Shania Twain, Drake, Shawn Mendes and The Weeknd, among others.

Tony Smith is best known for managing Genesis and its members throughout their subsequent solo careers, in addition to co-managing Pink Floyd since 2007. After founding the Hit & Run Music Publishing House, Smith expanded into film production, and has overseen the production of Children of Men (2006), Black Oasis (2005) and Eye of the Beholder (2000).

The London Coliseum, home of English National Opera, is London’s largest theatre. It was designed for Sir Oswald Stoll by Frank Matcham, the leading theatre architect of his day, and opened in 1904. The vision was to create a theatre of variety, for the public good, in the largest and most impressive theatre in London. In 2015 ENO announced a plan to open up the London Coliseum with a redevelopment of the front of house spaces, intended to encourage more people in to explore the beautiful interiors of the theatre.

Check out our recent interview with Meat Loaf and Andrew Polec below.