MEN arena, Manchester
As the trend for comic-book adaptations tightens its grip with Batman Live, we are reminded that these are tricky times for superheroes. Broadway's recent adaptation of Spider-Man was beset by technical problems, cast injuries and was largely panned. Of course, traditional theatres are a logistical nightmare for superheroes on wires ? there's no room ? which is presumably why Batman's creators chose Manchester's massive MEN arena for the world premiere of Batman Live.
The show cost around �7.5m to put on and has been two and a half years in the making. After its six-day run in Manchester it will tour worldwide. Safe to say there's a lot riding on it. Yet the fanfare has been surprisingly minimal. Some of Corrie's cast were on the red carpet, but the posters suck and there were even some spare seats. On opening night.
Still, the crowd is game for a show. Children drink pop through bat masks. Fathers are laden with merch. A high squeal resonates throughout the show. And why not? Everyone likes Batman. He's pained but motivated, a modern stoic. He can't really fly so the wires make sense. That Batman Live is not a musical also helps. I dare say some comic books lend themselves well to music, but not one featuring men in moulded rubber.
To all intents, Batman Live is a "show" in the old-fashioned sense, featuring more than 40 acrobats, goodies and baddies. Of course the real stars are the staging (lavish), the costumes (wonderfully rococo) and acrobats, as numerous as ants in a bin. It's Cirque du Soleil with irony. But tucked in between the hammy sparring are kung fu and tae kwon do ? long and laboriously choreographed ? aerial contortion and many, many evil clowns performing iaido.
Set in Gotham City, as envisioned by Lady Gaga's prop designer, the well-trodden plot begins with the death of Bruce Wayne's parents. Bruce-the-child exits and re-emerges Bruce-the-billionaire and benefactor of a circus which is run by a trapeze family, the Graysons. Two further homicides leave the Graysons' son, Dick, orphaned and living at Wayne Mansions. Meanwhile the baddies of Gotham City, led by the Joker, decide to team up against Batman and Dick who subsequently becomes Robin.
The Joker owns the show. Benefiting from the witty prose of writer Allan Heinberg (Sex and the City), he describes Batman as a "pointy, po-faced do-gooder." Catwoman, equally snide, does wonderful things on wires despite being cocooned in rubber, while Two-Face has an amusing t�te-�-t�te between t�tes. Personal favourite was the Penguin, a grotesque Hugh Hefner-type indistinguishable from Danny DeVito in Batman Returns. Then there's the very posh Batmobile designed by F1's Gordon Murray. It drives itself and induces QVC-style oohs from the crowd at its every entrance.
Most enthralling though are s cenes from the 100ft LED screen behind the stage which flits between scenes of Gotham and extra narrative from the graphic novels, before linking up with the staging in a clever, Escher sort of way. They might need to rethink the terrifying Scarecrow on stilts and the asylum, strewn with chained corpses. Both stay in the mind's eye. But otherwise it's wholesome, family Batman, more Adam West camp than Christian Bale existentialist.
The show comes between next summer's The Dark Knight Rises and 2008's The Dark Knight. Of course the films and the production can't be compared: Batman Live is for children, The Dark Knight isn't, though Batman Live is Broadway slick. And unlike Spider-Man, there are no concussions.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/jul/24/batman-live-manchester-review
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