‘Bat’ soars in quest to break Paris Theater trend

Early in “Bat Out of Hell — The Musical,” Travis Cloer’s Falco character is cracked in the head during a melee with teenagers. He’s left bleeding from his right eye.

Shortly after, the character shouts, “I’m getting too old for this (expletive)!”

The line is funny in fiction, and also in life, if you know Cloer. He turned 50 this month. The veteran stage performer has seen enough unwelcome results at Paris Theater. He’s doing something about it. So are his castmates.

The eagerly anticipated “Bat” opened Friday night at Paris. This is the loud, rowdy, revival of the rock musical originally created by Jim Steinman, brought to album-rock radio by Meat Loaf in the 1970s.

Both men have since passed, but their collective “Bat Out of Hell” mission has been carried out to the Strip. This show is ready to slug it out, where others have been left bloody and defeated.

Across the cast, the performances in “Bat Out of Hell” are inspired, focused and forceful. The four principal performers — Cloer, Anne Martinez as Sloane, Travis Cormier as Strat, and Alize Cruz as Raven — all shine. Some of the vocal gymnastics leave you shaking your head. The duets between Cloer and Martinez, two of the best Las Vegas has to offer, bring chills.

Cormier, a finalist in the 2016 season of “The Voice” in Canada, effectively evokes Meat Loaf’s vocal heyday. Repeatedly, he shows why producers sky-hooked him from Canada to Las Vegas. Cruz is a Las Vegas local who already has ample stage experience. She’s been cast in “Six” on Norwegian Cruise lines, and several musicals at Tuacahn Center For The Arts in Utah. She is a real find.

Though cleaved from more than 2 1/2 hours to about 80 minutes, show maintains the hard-edged “Bat Out of Hell” story line. The show has been well-received in previous versions in London’s West End, in several international theaters, in New York and also on tour in North America.

But Las Vegas presents a different sort of challenge, as does the Paris Theater. This is where Cloer’s wonderful “Jersey Boys,” drew its last breath six years ago. The “Marilyn” musical, also loaded with talent, was chased out after 23 performances. The list is numbing, dating to 1999’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” through”We Will Rock You,” “Circus 1903,” “Inferno,” and “I Love the 90s,” all of which struggled to consistently sell at Paris. Aside form “Marilyn” and “‘90s,” these were well-managed shows ready for prime time, yet unable to take hold.

How to counter this trend? Co-producer Michael Cohl says he plans to enlist a shaman to chase away the theater’s evil spirits. Really. A shamanic ceremony is being planned for the stage, with the cast present. That, and maybe an inventive social-media campaign showing these terrific performances, might do the trick. Live-stream the shaman while we’re at it.

As conceived by Steinman, the story is set in post-apocalyptic Manhattan. Amid this jagged, smoking destruction, we follow the travails of Strat and Raven, tied up in a Romeo-and-Juliet fashioned romance. Strat is the leader of the Lost, a community of roughnecks seeking to retake civilization. Members of the Lost don’t age past 18, giving the show a Peter Pan-styled arc (the character Tink, short for Tinkerbell, should make clear this link).

Raven is the daughter of Falco and Sloan. The married couple is no longer in love with each other, frequently fighting, but they love Raven. They are thrown when she falls for the nefarious Strat. He is the type of brazen teen who will just sneak in to the young woman’s bedroom and make off with her diary.

In the source plot, Falco is the mayor of this city, called Obsidian, though we haven’t caught that reference in this production (this might be one of the plot points cut for the Vegas show).

Falco might be a seasoned adult, but he has some rebel in him, ready to pistol-whip Strat, Tink or any of the Lost boys. Sloan is a young parent and has a wild side, too, at one point donning a lampshade and calling out, “I’m a lamp! Turn me on!”

The ensuing saga shows the Lost community and Raven’s parents attempting to pull the youngsters apart. This is a heavily scripted show, even with the cuts in dialogue. It can be difficult to follow the fast-paced references. The staging is usual, with Falco and Sloan’s tower home and Raven’s bedroom shown on house right, with a hand-held camera operator filming scenes playing live on the theater’s LED screen and also projecting on the tower’s surface. It’s a neat trick, provided your eye knows where to move.

Naturally, there are plenty of musical highlights. “Paradise By the Dashboard Light” is wild, with Martinez and Cloer swapping lines and one of them (Cloer) stripping to pink underwear. Meat Loaf devotees will love the full-scale revivals of “All Revved Up with No Place to Go/”Wasted Youth,” Bat Out of Hell,” “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That).” Two previously unreleased songs, “What Part of My Body Hurts the Most” and “Not Allowed to Love,” are also wedged into the Vegas production.

Near the end of the show (and spoiler alert here), Cormier’s Strat pleads with Raven, who will inevitably age as he is stuck on 18. He cries out! “Raven, I want to spend my life with you, and it doesn’t matter how old you are! You’ll always be 18 to me!” But Raven deals the reality: “OK, but what happens when I am … 38?” The crowd laughs. “Or 48, or 49?”

Well, she and her friends can look to Falco. He’s lived a little life, in this theater and elsewhere. Follow the example set by him, and also Sloane. Bring the rock, and give the Paris Theater a real shot at success. This is all the “Bat” cast can ask.

Cool Hang Alert

Live music rules the roost at Rhythm & Riffs at Mandalay Bay. Swipe Right is Monday, Roxy Gunn is Tuesday and Original Chaos on Wednesday. All of these acts fire up the place, and no cover. Show times are 10 p.m.-2 a.m.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.