Bat Out Of Hell At Sheffield Lyceum Review

Reviewed by Jenny Bray

If you love songs by Meat Loaf or love energetic rock style musicals, or better still love both, then this musical is definitely for you.

Why will ‘The Lost’ never grow up? Why does Falco seem to have his own police force? I must admit that I had more questions than answers during the first 10 minutes or so of this musical.

I have to confess (as is evident from my questions above!) that I’d not looked in to the storyline prior to attending. I just knew that it was a musical based largely around Meat Loaf’s songs. It is a true musical and I was surprised that nearly the entire show is sung with very little spoken word, meaning it felt a little more like a concert with a plot than a musical. It took me a little while to work out the plot and whether ‘The Lost’ were vampires though?!

I hadn’t realised that Jim Steinman wrote the music and lyrics, originally for a musical but then becoming Meat Loafs best selling album material, selling over 100 million copies worldwide between his 3 albums!! It’s all been collaborated for this musical by David Sonenberg, Michael Cohl and Tony Smith.

The plot line actually loosely follows both a Peter Pan story and a take on Romeo and Juliet. Strat (Glenn Adamson) is leader of ‘The Lost’ and falls in love with Raven (Martha Kirby) who is living a very traditional and restricted life with strict parents until she meets Strat. Her parent’s even have a maid who assists with drugging her every night with both drugs to sleep and drugs to stop her dreaming, so they know she’ll stay safely in her bed all night and away from ‘The Lost’.

Raven’s parents are Falco (Rob Fowler) and Sloane (Sharon Sexton) and are less than happy with Raven wanting to hang out with ‘The Lost’, particularly her Dad, Falco. They had great chemistry on stage and it was only after reading the details afterwards that I saw that they had both worked the roles previously and are actually a real life couple who duet together too.

Glenn Adamson was a great Strat. I loved the facial expressions he made, which matched his messy hair and general demeanour which would be equally fitting as a lead singer in a rock band. He really worked the role and looked like he really enjoyed it too. The chemistry between him and Martha, who plays Raven, was also evident when doing their duets and dance routines.

The most outstanding emotional vocal performance for me was sung by Joelle Moses as Zahara, notably her range when singing with James Chisholm as Jagwire when singing ‘Two out of three ain’t bad’.

The stage setting looked quite basic at the start, with a plain black backdrop and a motorbike on the stage. However, it then transforms to having a raised room, which is Raven’s bedroom and also having The Lost’s hangout in the sewers and then swapping between that and Raven’s house. A motorbike is incorporated in several of the scenes, suggesting reference to Meat Loaf’s iconic album cover. Use of dramatic lighting, flames and confetti cannons really enhance the scenes, thanks to Jay Scheib (director) and Jon Bausor (set and costume designer).

As an interesting touch, there’s a large screen in the background of the set and a person goes round filming most of the show with it appearing live on the screen. Most close ups are when Raven is in her bedroom, the raised room. I was surprised how well this worked and really integrated some of the scenes.

The costumes are rock inspired with black and red and leather and sparkly corsets and hot pants a plenty alongside tight trousers with lots of make up for everyone. Rob Fowler as Falco had the most interesting costume at the end of Raven’s 18th birthday party, which he rocked!

The ensemble is larger than many and I was surprised at how energetic they were around the stage when they had limited space at times. The choreography of the dancing worked really well and really complemented the songs.

This show was on at the Lyceum in Sheffield, which is well signposted around the city centre with plenty of parking nearby. Masks are still to be worn when inside, other than when eating or drinking. You are able to pre-order drinks from the bar for the interval and the bars and ice cream stands are back open as normal.

The first tour of this show was in 2017. This UK tour started in September 2021 and is running until the start of November but is only in Sheffield until Saturday.

I really enjoyed it. Because I knew most of the songs it was easy to get immersed in remembering the lyrics and catchiness of the track and therefore really easy to switch off to the outside world and just enjoy the show, which enhanced the experience. I’d definitely recommend going to see it.

Rating: I rate it a 5/5

Tickets cost from £15 to £60

Bat Out of Hell is on at the Sheffield Lyceum between 3rd and 7th May 2022.

For more information or to book tickets visit www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk or call the Box Office on 0114 249 6000

Sheffield Theatres, 55 Norfolk Street, Sheffield, S1 1DA