Theme Of Batbuy The Musical

BatBoy the Musical by Keythe Farley and Brian Fleming was very strange. I can't decide if I liked it's storyline. It was about a boy who is half human, half bat, which had been chronicled in Weekly World News and had been discovered in the West Virginia Hills. He had been brought to the town of Hope Falls, which brought fear and intrigue to the folks of the town. The Sheriff thought that it was only Dr. Parker who would know what to do with him, so he brought him to the Parker Family. The Parkers accepted him as a member of their family and taught to him act like a human. Later on, when he finally learned how to act like a normal boy, he tried to fit in with the town people, but they blame him for everything that’s happening in their town,
like the unexplained death of cows and the sudden death of one girl. All of which is plotted by Dr. Parker who is trying to discredit Edgar, the Bat boy. In the end, the family who adopted him wasn’t really the people he thought they were.

The theme revolves around different aspects such as hypocrisy, acceptance, forgiveness, racism and revenge, which we encounter in our daily lives.
Hypocrisy for Doctor Parker, who turned from being accepting towards Edgar to plotting many things to make the town people to despise him. Acceptance from the Parker Family and the racism of town people to Edgar. The love gone wrong that happens between Shelly and Edgar. The relationship between Shelly and Edgar wasn't out of place, I feel like it was the cause and effect of a lot of things that happened in the play. For example, even if Edgar had been showered with love and helped by the Parker Family, they made him feel like what they were doing was charity. Shelly was made to think that it was alright to fall in love with Edgar, since he was already accepted into the family, no matter what or who he was. Their relationship was also one of the reasons why Meredith had to reveal the secret. Their relationship was just right to be in the play, so as to serve as a conflict. Ashamed of the revelation of Dr. Parker’s betrayal and Meredith’s deceit, Edgar pledges to kill the pair of them and embrace his inner
beast.

Skylar Keck’s height played a very big part in his role as Batboy, I've never seen a man that small that could act as big as he does.
I wonder what the audition process was like and how he got that role. He was the perfect fit and did justice to the character of Batboy. There was one scene that grabbed my attention, touched my heart and almost made me cry. It was Act 1 Scene 3, when Meredith sang "A Home For You". From that moment, I had a feeling that she had some special connection with Batboy. The reason I got caught up with this scene was because Aubrie Alexander did a really great job of showing motherly love. She was the perfect image of a woman from a town too. She looked
classic.

As for the DICTION, I never had a hard time understanding the language because it’s the modern English, not like the old English that Shakespeare uses in his play. I loved how all the actors and actresses worked hard on their West Virginian accent, especially Sarah Kline, who played Lorraine, a rancher’s wife and townsman and Rachael Johnson, who played Maggie, a senior Town Council Representative, both of their dictions stand out.

CSUN did a great job with the stage presentation. It was so simple, yet gives you the ambience of a cave, a house, a church, a slaughter house, and the woods. The light and costumes add to the idea of where the scene is happening. Unlike other musical productions, which are highly budgeted, this production did a great job playing around with what they can afford. I also loved their teamwork, especially being the stage actors and stage set up persons at the same time. For a musical production, they had very nice and clear music. Even though, it would have been much nicer if they found a way to hide those microphones.