When I was told that I was going to see a musical (one of my true life pastimes, truth be told), but with the rock ballads by Meatloaf – you could say I was rather intrigued: would it be like We Will Rock You, or perhaps Rent? The answer is, it was neither. It has the very hetero-normative storyline that we’d seen in decades past, with two lovers Strat and Raven and the most surreal storyline set in a dystopian world. The premise was loosely based around a group of ‘The Lost’, who are living in tunnels in an underworld, where they fall in love. Along the way, or rather conveniently, to the songs of Meatloaf. It was a little confusing what was happening at time, but judos to the cast (Glenn Adamson and Martha Kirby) who were believable in their acting and had chops when it came to the songs and musical inspiration.
Where this lacked, was the script and it fell in tatters – due to the nature of the overlapping confusion which the big and exciting sets were unable to bring some some pleasure to the audience, and I found myself at times unable to appreciate the talent on stage.
It probably isn’t something I’d rush to see again, but to hear the music of Meatloaf was rather special in this and I’d encourage anyone who has loved ones who are fans, to give this a try. Otherwise, I’d really like to see some changes and this to be brought to another level, and one which doesn’t rely too heavily on technology on the set-front and to showcase the brilliance on stage.
Runs between Tue 18 Jan – Sat 29 Jan 2022 at New Wimbledon Theatre.
Remaining tour venues can be found here: https://www.batoutofhellmusical.com/uk-tour/
Rating: ⭐⭐