Bat Boy Headlines at Hunger Artists

The Hunger Artists Theatre Company is staging Bat Boy: The Musical! This off-the-wall musical is as strange as it is entertaining, deriving from a 1992 tabloid story from the infamous Weekly World News describing a half boy, half bat creature found in a cave. While the show contains elements of a typical musical, its bizarre subject matter and grotesque themes speak to an entirely different type of audience.

Glendele Way-Agle lends her directing talents to create a wacky, funny, nightmarish vision of a young man’s struggles to fit into a West Virginia community that shuns him. Her staging is inventive in the small space crowded by an excessive amount of ensemble, making the best of the height of the black box and creating a functional human-size cage to house the bat boy.

While the cast proved energetic and devoted to the world of the play, their weak vocal talents could not be disguised. As if often the case with amateur musical theatre, talented actors tried their hand at singing, while talented singers tried their hand at acting – which in this production did not always prove as successful trade.

This does not by any means diminish the great accomplishment by cast and crew to bring this unique musical to the stage, which is well worth the price of admission. Steven Alcantar gives a tremendous performance as Bat Boy. He embodies the pale and awkward teenager/bat, creating a journey from farel animal to a sensitive student of society.

A full package of humor, music, dance and blood – Bat Boy: The Musical is currently playing through August 15th.

Bat Boy: The Musical, Hunger Artists, 699-A S. State College Blvd., Fullerton, (714) 680-6803. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m. Thru Aug. 15. $18-$20. www.hungerartists.com.