Written by Arya Ponto
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
batmanlive
Fear that the upcoming Batman Live stage tour will mirror the disastrous Spider-man: Flip Off the Dark Broadway show was addressed today when the assembly unveiled the cast and costume in an exceedingly media launch in London. At the very least, they're already doing 3 things right: the script is written by a comic book book writer, it's no newly created-up villain, and Bono is nowhere close to this thing.
Yes, as the producers keep stressing, this can 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 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 probably higher for this production to target stunts and awes instead of songs, and to draw as much distinction as attainable from one in every of the most important trainwrecks in Broadway history.
In the video below, watch as Joker introduces the other villains, before having his monologue interrupted by you-grasp-who.
The actor will a reasonably 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, abundant worse have come and gone.
The media launch conjointly showed the concept designs for what the world will appear as if, together with this beautiful badass miniature Gotham City. Other sets embrace Arkham Asylum (naturally), Penguin's Iceberg Lounge, Wayne Manor, the Batcave, and the massive Prime 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 style of the Batmobile, concocted by Formula One designer Gordon Murray.
All this, for less than one/3 of Flip Off the Dark's budget.
The hardest factor to stomach, and is possible to be the first gripe folks can fixate on, is the planning of Batman and Robin's costumes, which are too close to Joel Schumacher for comfort. Don't let it shadow the full production, though, as a result of A) They don't have nipples, and B) No one has yet to pull off a satisfactory and convincing live-action Batman costume, anyway. Even in Batman Begins, it was additional like Fat and Cannot Breathe Leather Man Begins, which 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 strive to piggyback off of the Christopher Nolan movies, but it looks like they're going for a a lot of colourful, comic book look. Some Batman fans will insist that Batman will solely be portrayed in a dark and edgy urban crime context, which is posing 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 really centers on Dick Grayson's journey into turning into Robin. Sadly, for no matter reason, they had to make him an older teen a la Batman Forever, rather than a ten-year-old kid.
The focus on Robin makes sense knowing the writer, Allan Heinberg. Heinberg has had success as a TV writer on shows like Sex & the City, The OC and Grey's Anatomy, but is healthier known to comic fans as a author on Wonder Woman and, additional importantly, because 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 all the opposite villains will be iconic and set in place, however have the audience align with Dick, who sees these individuals because the mythic figures they're and needs to enter that world.
The show premieres July nineteen in Manchester.
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