Written by Arya Ponto
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
batmanlive
Fear that the upcoming Batman Live stage tour can mirror the disastrous Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark Broadway show was addressed nowadays when the production unveiled the cast and costume in a very media launch in London. At the terribly least, they are already doing three things right: the script is written by a comic book author, it's no newly made-up villain, and Bono is nowhere near this thing.
Yes, as the producers keep stressing, this will not be a musical like Turn 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 have anything against a Batman musical (Hey, The Brave and therefore the Bold did it brilliantly), however it's most likely better for this production to focus on stunts and awes rather than songs, and to draw as a lot of distinction as possible from one in all the biggest trainwrecks in Broadway history.
In the video below, watch as Joker introduces the opposite villains, before having his monologue interrupted by you-recognize-who.
The actor will a fairly smart Joker. The body language of Cesar Romero combined with the deep, lip-smacking voice of Heath Ledger? As far 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 appear as if, including this pretty badass miniature Gotham City. Alternative sets embody Arkham Asylum (naturally), Penguin's Iceberg Lounge, Wayne Manor, the Batcave, and the massive 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 conjointly options a brand new design of the Batmobile, concocted by Formula One designer Gordon Murray.
All this, for but 1/three of Turn Off the Dark's budget.
The hardest issue to stomach, and is probably to be the first gripe individuals will fixate on, is the look of Batman and Robin's costumes, that are too shut to Joel Schumacher for comfort. Don't let it shadow the entire production, though, because A) They do not have nipples, and B) No one has nonetheless to pull 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 amongst my initial worries when this was announced was that they might try to piggyback off of the Christopher Nolan movies, but it appearance like they're going for a more colourful, comic book look. Some Batman fans can insist that Batman can only be portrayed in an exceedingly dark and edgy urban crime context, which is requesting a betrayal of the character's made history.
It's a smart factor that, despite Nolan's insistence on Batman being a lone vigilante, the show isn't sidelining Robin's existence. Far from it: the story truly centers on Dick Grayson's journey into turning into Robin. Sadly, for whatever reason, they'd to make him an older teen a la Batman Forever, rather than a 10-year-old kid.
The target Robin makes sense knowing the author, Allan Heinberg. Heinberg has had success as a TV author on shows like Sex & the City, The OC and Grey's Anatomy, however is better known to comic fans as a author on Wonder Woman and, additional 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, extremely. Batman, Joker, and every one the other villains can be iconic and set in place, but have the audience align with Dick, who sees these people because the mythic figures they are and has got to enter that world.
The show premieres July nineteen in Manchester.
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