A TIME UP AT BAT BOY By Peter Filichia
As I watched the excellent production of BAT BOY at City Center, two other musicals came to mind.
ANNIE and FOLLIES.
You’re laughing.
Fine.
But back in 1977, many walked into the Alvin Theatre thinking that they’d see a spoof about an eyeballs-deficient moppet who would say “Leapin’ lizards!” every other second.
Instead, they came to care about both Annie and Daddy Warbucks, two fully realized, three-dimensional characters. Theatergoers were soon solidly rooting for them.
Similarly speaking, those who didn’t know BAT BOY when it opened 24 years ago didn’t expect to become emotionally involved with Edgar. That’s the name that Mrs. Parker insisted that this strange creature have, all to make him more human.
The audience new to the musical became genuinely invested with Edgar during Laurence O’Keefe’s deft song, “Show You a Thing or Two.” Here’s where the boy displayed how desperately he yearned to become fully actualized and educated. He was intent on learning every detail he could about humans and their pleasures.
Talk about a song moving the action forward: Edgar started off saying “Hee ba za cat” when trying to repeat Mrs. Parker’s “Here is a cat,” but in a week’s time, he was citing the Champs-Elysees. We delighted in his every success.
When Edgar didn’t remember a name that he felt he should have recalled, the poor soul became overly frustrated for making such a mistake. And that’s when theatergoers officially fell in love with him. They wished that Edgar wasn’t so hard on himself – which also served as a reminder that they shouldn’t beat themselves up when they made mistakes.
Getting an audience to empathize was remarkable, considering that O’Keefe and librettists Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming originally got little from their source material. All that they had inherited from Weekly World News was a front-page drawing of a frightening-looking beast whose stories were headlined “Bat Child Found in Cave,” “Bat Boy Sighted in New York Subway,” and (my personal favorite) “Bat Boy Fights in Iraq.”
These stories and others had n-o-t-h-i-n-g to do with what the collaborators brought to BAT BOY. Hence, the credits don’t just say “Book by” but “Story and Book by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming.” The two are entitled to the extra credit for the extra heart they added.
Six months after BAT BOY opened in 2001, 9/11 happened. That the musical was playing at a theater located fewer than three miles from the World Trade Center debris caused many to stay away from that part of town; a premature closing occurred.
Since then, though, there have been well over 500 additional productions here and abroad. The vast majority have been in high schools, which is why at BAT BOY’s first Sunday night performance at City Center, many could be heard during intermission and after the show fondly reminiscing about their own productions.
They also noticed what was missing, and that’s what brought FOLLIES to mind.
During its 1971 pre-Broadway tryout, Phyllis’ “The Story of Lucy and Jessie” replaced “Uptown, Downtown.” That cut song resurfaced ten years later on MARRY ME A LITTLE’s cast album, which offered songs that had been excised from Stephen Sondheim’s musicals. Many heard “Uptown, Downtown” for the first time and preferred it to “The Story of Lucy and Jessie.”
Six years later, when FOLLIES received its London premiere, it was “Lucy and Jessie” that was dropped. No, “Uptown, Downtown” wasn’t restored; a third song, “Ah, but Underneath,” was added (which you can hear on the cast album of PUTTING IT TOGETHER). Some think this is the best of the three songs. (Your choice.)
So, there in City Center’s lobby, many who’d performed BAT BOY were recalling previous numbers that they’d sung on stage that were no longer in the show (but still can be heard on the original off-Broadway cast album).
“Ugly Boy” had Shelley, the Parkers’ daughter, originally opining that “Guess we can’t just turn him loose. I’m afraid he’ll reproduce.” Her insensitivity is soon matched by her equally inconsiderate boyfriend Rick Taylor. In “Whatcha Wanna Do?”, both make suggestions on how to make Edgar’s life more miserable than it already is.
During intermission, two twenty-somethings at the concessions counter – who’d respectively portrayed Shelley and Rick in high school – were nostalgically telling a friend about the lost songs. He made a point of revealing the character’s callousness: “First we’re gonna buy you lots o’ fancy clothes and make you clip your toes and watch you walk around in makeup and pantyhose.”
In a line at the women’s restroom, a young woman who’d played Rick’s mother in an upstate New York production was relating to her companion that she missed “her” song: “Mrs. Taylor’s Lullaby.” Despite the title, it includes phrases that can’t be found in any other cradlesong: “Little freak,” “hunt him down” and “skin him.”
Meanwhile, two men in their mid-thirties wished they could have once again heard “Another Dead Cow,” which they had sung in their high school production. One started singing his favorite lyric: “Got another dead cow, and I’m tellin’ you now.” That was enough for his companion to show that he, too, remembered it well: “I am makin’ a vow by the sweat of my brow, gonna figger out what and how and why!” Then each laughed and forcefully nodded in a way to congratulate the other’s fine memory.
Apparently, BAT BOY’s collaborators in the ensuing 24 years decided that having the murder of one cow rather than the original 22 was quite enough. So, City Center’s production brought on a single stuffed animal that looked like Milky White on a particularly bad day.
I’ll admit that I didn’t hear anyone mourn the loss of “Dance with Me, Darling.” It had Dr. Parker hope that before the night is through, he’ll become what Mama Morton in CHICAGO calls “a mattress dancer.” If so, it’ll be the first time in a long time.
(There’s good reason why the Parkers have stopped having intercourse – and it’s not just because marital familiarity often breeds lack of sexual enthusiasm.)
Sure, other people in the lobby, both old and new to the show, were saying what “a hoot” it was. Yes… and no, for the musical has much more on its mind. BAT BOY has a potent nurture vs. nature theme, and, more importantly, it takes to task those who deem someone guilty before he has the chance to prove himself innocent. By centering on intolerance, it shows that thinking the worst of someone may well become a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Religion is both criticized and honored. First, in “Christian Charity,” the best the Sheriff can do is opine “We could always shoot him, but that don’t seem right to me.” However, much later, when Edgar goes to church and asks the townspeople to shake his hand, the only one to volunteer is the preacher.
It’s a heartwarming moment, but, in the great musical comedy tradition, supreme happiness is followed by devastating news. No, BAT BOY doesn’t end as happily as ANNIE or even as cautiously optimistic as FOLLIES. Nevertheless, it’s a fine and accomplished musical with or without some of its original songs.
Peter Filichia can be heard most weeks of the year on www.broadwayradio.com. His new day-by-day wall calendar – A SHOW TUNE FOR TODAY – 366 Songs to Brighten Your Year – is now available on Amazon and The Drama Book Shop.
