Tag Archives: Bat Boy the Musical

Oct 13

Ups and Downs: “Bat Boy: The Musical”

Posted on by

Photo of cast by Jim Sabitus.

Presented by the Umbrella Stage Company 
Story and Book by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming 
Music and Lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe
Directed by Jeremy Johnson
Music directed by Jeff Kimball
Choreography by Sara Andreas

September 25 – November 8, 2026
Umbrella Arts
40 Stow St.
Concord, MA 01742

Online playbill

Approximate run-time: 1h 55m, 15m intermission

Critique by Diana Lu

CONCORD, Mass. — Bat Boy: the Musical has the dubious yet rarefied honor of being the worst show I’ve ever seen. This is not altogether bad publicity: it’s managed to stay rent-free in my brain all week. I fully expect to think about this show at least once a month for the rest of my life. Perhaps not my Roman Empire, but certainly my Portuguese, or Dutch East Indies Empire.

Inspired by an infamous 1992 tabloid, this 1997 off-Broadway musical tells the story of a half-human, half-bat child found in a cave. The bat boy (Johnny Shea) is taken in by a village veterinarian’s kindly wife (Amy Barker), who teaches him manners, BBC English, and how to give and receive love. The fanatically religious townsfolk alternately revile and accept the Bat Boy, whose primary conflict is wrestling with his deadly vampiric nature. Mayhem and hilarity ensue. Continue reading →

Nov 18

The Strange Sensation You Feel is Part of the Process: BAT BOY

Posted on by

bat boyPresented by The Office for the Arts at Harvard
Book by Kythe Farley & Brian Flemming
Music & Lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe
Directed by Ally Kiley
Music directed by Cynthia Meng

Nov. 14-22, 2014
The Farkatorium
10 Holyoke St
Cambridge, MA
Bat Boy on Facebook
Harvard Office for the Arts on Facebook

Review by Kitty Drexel

Trigger warning: sexy animal orgy, partial male nudity, incest

(Cambridge, MA) The Office for the Arts at Harvard has had the rare privilege to host the creators of Bat Boy for a workshop on their monster musical. They have made some significant edits: shortening the run time from 3 hours to 2, cutting of songs, cutting of incidental plot lines and some script editing. The current production presented in the Farkatorium Center for the Arts is still the same Pygmalion meets Edward Scissorhands meets Christ child storyline as the original except a lot simpler. The edits have smoothed over the wrinkles of the original show and kept the endearingly off-putting essence of the off-Broadway science fiction jewel. Continue reading →