Written by Arya Ponto
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
batmanlive
Fear that the upcoming Batman Live stage tour will mirror the disastrous Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark Broadway show was addressed these days when the assembly unveiled the cast and costume in a media launch in London. At the very least, they are already doing three things right: the script is written by a comic book book author, it has no newly created-up villain, and Bono is nowhere near this thing.
Yes, because the producers keep stressing, this will not be a musical like Flip Off the Dark, despite being directed by Anthony Van Laast, who's famous for choreographing musicals like Mamma Mia!, Sister Act and Joseph and therefore the Technicolor Dreamcoat. Not that I actually have something against a Batman musical (Hey, The Brave and the Bold did it brilliantly), but it's probably better for this production to concentrate on stunts and awes rather than songs, and to draw as a lot of distinction as possible from one in all the largest trainwrecks in Broadway history.
In the video below, watch as Joker introduces the opposite villains, before having his monologue interrupted by you-grasp-who.
The actor will a fairly sensible Joker. The body language of Cesar Romero combined with the deep, lip-smacking voice of Heath Ledger? As so much as Joker actings go, a lot of worse have come back and gone.
The media launch also showed the concept styles for what the world will look like, including this gorgeous badass miniature Gotham City. Different sets embody Arkham Asylum (naturally), Penguin's Iceberg Lounge, Wayne Manor, the Batcave, and the big Top circus scene where Dick Grayson's oldsters tragically die, pushing him to become Batman's sidekick Robin. On prime of the sets, the show also features a complete new design of the Batmobile, concocted by Formula One designer Gordon Murray.
All this, for less than one/3 of Turn Off the Dark's budget.
The hardest thing to stomach, and is likely to be the first gripe people can fixate on, is the planning of Batman and Robin's costumes, which are too shut to Joel Schumacher for comfort. Don't let it shadow the full production, though, as a result of A) They do not have nipples, and B) No one has yet to drag off a satisfactory and convincing live-action Batman costume, anyway. Even in Batman Begins, it had been additional like Fat and Cannot Breathe Leather Man Begins, that they then had to turn into a dirtbike get-up in The Dark Knight.
Speaking of—one in every of my initial worries when this was announced was that they might attempt to piggyback off of the Christopher Nolan movies, however it looks like they are going for a a lot of colourful, comic book look. Some Batman fans will insist that Batman will solely be portrayed during a dark and edgy urban crime context, that is inquiring for a betrayal of the character's wealthy history.
It's a sensible issue that, despite Nolan's insistence on Batman being a lone vigilante, the show is not sidelining Robin's existence. So much from it: the story actually centers on Dick Grayson's journey into turning into Robin. Sadly, for whatever reason, they had to create him an older teen a la Batman Forever, instead of a ten-year-previous kid.
The specialise in Robin is sensible knowing the writer, Allan Heinberg. Heinberg has had success as a TV author on shows like Sex & the City, The OC and Grey's Anatomy, but is best known to comic fans as a writer on Wonder Woman and, a lot of importantly, as the creator of Young Avengers. He's no stranger to the coming-of-age stories of teenage superheroism.
It's a neat idea, really. Batman, Joker, and every one the opposite villains can be iconic and set in place, however have the audience align with Dick, who sees these individuals as the mythic figures they're and must enter that world.
The show premieres July 19 in Manchester.
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