Batman: The Musical

[pirate boy]

Greetings,
My name is Chris Heady. I am in the midst of producing and pulling off a serious rendition of a Batman musical.

Yes I am aware that a musical is being developed (it's also been delayed for nearly a decade and from the looks of things was going to be crappy and campy)
No Batman wouldn't be singing, but Bruce Wayne would. (Batman singing??? that's just silly.)
No Robin.

Serious musicals have been done in the past. Jekyll and Hyde, Sweeney Todd, The Phantom of The Opera, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. We hope to use these as inspiration along with pulling from the original Danny Elfman score/ the animated series.

Yes we would have a budget. The Directors would not put out anything less than perfection. Our Batsuit is going to be hand sewn by a professional seamstress.

No we haven't sought rights from DC yet, we do not have a script yet that they can look at. We do however have an outline and will be using that. We would be pulling scenarios straight from the comic books.

We are proceeding ahead cautiously. We realize that this is a beloved franchise and every decision we make will be with a lot of love and care. I think that Batman is great material for the stage and will flourish if DC lets us proceed any further.

I don’t want to give out too much but basically here’s what’s been decided on.

It’s going to take place in Gotham City during the 1930s (so the depression).
The outline is finished and here are the main story archs

Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle
The Joker and the Mayor
Harvey Dent and Grace Dent

The storyline will basically deal with a downfall of power and Bruce having a moment of being able to leave Batman behind.

We hope to have a release for the spring of next year.

An insider at DC said that when finished we shouldn’t have any problem getting it passed by DC because we are non profit.

Harley Quinn is a main part of the downfall of Gotham

Joker will be based off of the original inspiration… the film The Man Who Laughs

For those of you who have Facebook I encourage you to join the official group.

I want your thoughts and ideas. I want your concerns. I want your hate mail.

It will all go towards a great cause.

Cheers

 

[cujo66]

Man, I'm struggling with if I could watch a Batman musical, if I was going to see one that would be the one, as long as it's got good tunes. What am I saying, It's a musical.

Anyway best of luck on this, see you opening night, maybe.

 

[Joker]

a superstitious cowardly lot! they plan and they plot but they always get caught!

 

[ashtonu]

Actually, the canceled Batman musical would have been very serious, Chris... Just go to the link in my signature. It was to be a serious, operatic piece composed by Jim Steinman, based on Tim Burton's films, and Burton was even involved at one point, supposedly. (By the way, guys, there's some new additons to the site.) Batman actually DID sing in the show, and it worked well... On the website is the demo for the opening number, "Angels Arise"/"Graveyard Shift" (the latter is sung by Batman.)

I was very skeptical of the idea of a Batman musical, although I myself am heavily involved in writing/composing for the theater... Until I heard the demos for Jim Steinman's canceled show.

Ever since then, I have been a heavy supporter of merging Batman with musical theater. Batman is SUCH a dark, gothic, figure, and his story is actually extremely operatic.

My advice would be, while developing the project, not to try to stay *too* close to the comics... remember to often invent all new plot twists and ideas that will acknowledge the theatrical setting, perhaps somewhat echoing great gothic musicals like "Jekyll & Hyde," "Sweeney Todd" and also Jim Steinman's "Tanz der Vampire."

For example, the climatic sequence in Jim's canceled show, in which Catwoman is mortally wounded by the Joker, after fighting him in an attempt to save Batman... Batman cradles her in his arms as they both sing the tragic "We're Still the Children We Once Were." The song is available on the website in my sig.

I'm very excited that Harley Quinn will be in your show... I think you've chosen exactly the right characters for this project; I applaud you, and I truly hope everything works out; I can't wait. Also, I just joined your group on Facebooks.

 

[Goldenkiwi2095]

If Batman the musical had gotten onto broadway and the west end I would've loved to have seen this get on stage but even though I like the songs Jim Steinman did it's a pity that this musical never got produced though I agree with the idea of inventing all-new plot twists I would definitely expect the show to be operatic to bring a dark gothic figure and his story to musical theatre because I feel that this project should happen for the right reason and I hope that it will incorporate the materials from the late Jim Steinman and his ideal songs from the canceled show itself