Bat Boy: The Musical

Even though I have now seen 63 plays and musicals so far this year, I am actually selective about what I see, and I still have not seen every show I want to see this year. Therefore, due to careful choices, I end up liking most of the shows I see. I frequently leave a show thinking, “that was fun and enjoyable!” Disappointments do happen, but they are thankfully rare. I often simply skip the shows that are likely to be disappointing. Every once in a while, I leave a show thinking, “Wow! That is one of the best shows I’ve seen this year!” When this happens, I have to take a few days to think about it and make sure I’m not experiencing recency bias.

After spending the past several days thinking about Bat Boy: The Musical, directed by Alex Timbers, I do indeed believe this is one of the best shows I have experienced this year. It has it all: good book, fantastic music, incredible costumes and make-up, lighting design that adds to the fun, perfect sound, ridiculous cast, good blocking and choreography, and an amazing creative team. The set is minimal, but it works just fine. I went into this show just expecting a staged concert with a top cast, and instead I got one of the best musicals I have experienced this year, despite limited rehearsal time. I also cannot think of any other show this year where grown men were singing the songs while in the restroom line at intermission.

Lyricist and composer Laurence O’Keefe let us know during a talkback after the show that we were the very first audience to experience the show with the latest revisions, as the creative team is continuing to tweak and improve the show each day. Because of this, there are a few scenes where the actors are still “on book” (scripts in hand), but the quality and experience of this cast means that this does not detract from the performance at all. Conversely, it was quite impressive how the cast is “off book” in the majority of the scenes, given such little rehearsal time. And some of the cast members are currently in other shows; for example, Christopher Sieber is in Death Becomes Her, and Kerry Butler is in Heathers The Musical. Sieber did say he pre-arranged a temporary absence from Death Becomes Her during this short run. This story and book by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming is so fun, and the music and lyrics by O’Keefe are just fantastic. It is a fun original cast recording to listen to over and over, although the new production does seem to now differ a bit from the original cast recording. It may be time for a new cast recording!

It was explained to us during the post-show talkback that Bat Boy was really wanted for an Encores! performance, but New York City Center will only consider shows that have been on Broadway for Encores! performances. Bat Boy has not been on Broadway YET, was the exact statement, and they therefore chose it to be the annual gala performance instead. Last year’s gala performance was Ragtime, and we now know what happened next with that show. Fingers crossed for Bat Boy!

While Bat Boy the character could be a metaphor for anyone who is different and just trying to fit in, it was autism and neurodiversity that was on my mind throughout the show. In the case of an autistic and/or neurodivergent person, the initial tendency can be to try and change the person to be more “normal” and to “fit in.” Eventually, you realize that “normal” people can actually learn from the neurodivergent person, and perhaps it is the neurotypical person who actually needs to change and adapt. Bay Boy: The Musical makes this point. After the talkback, I asked O’Keefe if an autism metaphor was intentional, and he said while it was not intentional, the creative team has definitely noticed this, and he said I was not the first patron to ask about this.

Many patrons never notice the lighting design, but in Bat Boy, there is some very fun use of lighting, especially in Act 1, that gets quite a few laughs (also due to the sound design). The only other time I can recall lighting design getting laughs is when the lighting in Hamilton turns blue when King George III sings that he is so blue. The Bat Boy lighting design by Justin Townsend is a highlight in this production, especially considering the intentionally simple set. The scenic design by David Korins works very well.

If this performance were on Broadway, I would expect to see makeup designer Suki Tsujimoto getting a Tony Award nomination specifically for the Bat Boy character. Jennifer Moeller and Rob Pickens similarly do outstanding work with costume design and hair and wig design, respectively.

In addition to the visually stunning effects, Andrew Resnick (music director), Ben Green and O’Keefe (orchestrations and arrangements), Nevin Steinberg (sound design), and Kimberlee Wertz (music coordinator) make sure our ears are happy. The music and sound are as close to perfect as you can get in this production.

The remainder of this fantastic creative team includes puppet and props design by Ray Wetmore and JR Goodman, production stage manager Cynthia Cahill, and choreography by Connor Gallagher.

I came into this show primarily familiar just with Christopher Sieber, Andrew Durand, and Alex Newell, but I was aware of Taylor Trensch’s work in Floyd Collins, which I sadly missed.

Let’s start with Taylor Trensch, as this is one of the best performances I have experienced this year. We gave Darren Criss a Tony Award for his work as Oliver in Maybe Happy Ending, largely for his physical acting, and I feel like Bat Boy is Oliver on steroids. Oliver and Bat Boy are both characters where we see their behaviors, movements, and communication evolve over the course of the show. Just as Criss did a phenomenal job evolving Oliver over the course of the story, Trensch has done the same here with Bat Boy. One reason I want to see Bat Boy again is just to study Trensch’s performance a bit more. If this show can transfer to Broadway and with Trensch still in the role, he surely will be a top contender for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical.

Next, I really love the performances of Kerry Butler and Gabi Carrubba as mother and daughter. While I sometimes felt like I was watching twins on stage, the casting of these two works so well. They have great chemistry together, they are both fantastic actors and singers, and it was a treat to experience their performances. I am so jealous of the people I have met who saw Butler as Shelley in the original production. At least I can hear her as Shelley in the original cast recording. Count me in as a new big fan of these two.

When I was scheduling Death Becomes Her, I quickly realized from watching clips that I needed to not only prioritize a show with both Jennifer Simard and Megan Hilty, who had a reduced schedule at the time, but I also needed to make sure I picked a show where Christopher Sieber was not on a scheduled absence. For those seeing the show now, while Sieber is out, I have heard his understudy is excellent, but his character is a bit underrated in Death Becomes Her, and Sieber is so good. I hope to be able to see him again when I go back to see Betsy Wolfe in the show. I came into Bat Boy excited to see Sieber again, and he does not disappoint. As he stated during the talkback, he works hard to NOT try to be funny, as he knows that the more serious he is, the more hilarious he is.

I became a fan of Andrew Durand in Shucked, and I even used his song “Somebody Will” as a successful audition song in community theatre. I recently learned Durand will be performing in Little Shop of Horrors, which was a nice surprise given my plans to see it in December. Durand is fantastic in Bat Boy, as expected.

Shucked is also where I discovered Alex Newell, and they seem to have even more command of the stage in Bat Boy. Alex is clearly a fan favorite, and their appearance in Bat Boy feels similar to when Michelle Williams appears in Death Becomes Her. The crowd goes wild, and then we experience the treat of an excellent performance.

I knew I had seen Alan H. Green before, but I couldn’t place him. Now I know! I saw him in the pre-Broadway run of The Griswolds’ Broadway Vacation in 2022 in Seattle, where he was hilarious. Jacob Ming-Trent as Reverend Hightown is also very fun in Bat Boy.

The entire cast is outstanding, and the consistent quality across the board is part of what makes this show so good. The rest of this fantastic cast includes Mary Faber, Evan Harrington, John-Michael Lyles, Tom McGowan, Olivia Puckett, Marissa Rosen, Colin Trudell, Rema Webb, and Marissa Jaret Winokur. Understudies are August Bagg, Will Mann, and Stephanie Reuning-Scherer.

I always advise tourists to prioritize shows with the original cast and/or shows closing soon. Due to this short run and this phenomenal cast, this is obviously a show to prioritize high on the list of must-see shows. But hopefully, there will be chances to see this fun show again and on Broadway.

See more show reviews from 2025.