Bat Child Found in Cave was the jaw-dropping headline on June 22, 1992, in the gaudy "Weekly World News" tabloid, where fiction disguised as fact becomes eerily stranger than truth. But let us give thanks to that trashy rag for inspiring Keythe Farley, Brian Flemming, and Laurence O'Keefe to transform the Bat Boy concoction into a marvelously entertaining and touching musical. Although the original cast CD has long been a guilty pleasure, the Actors' Guild of Lexington production of Bat Boy: The Musical has turned me into a complete Batophile, as the eponymous hero's fans are called. Ryan Case's extraordinary performance as Bat Boy makes the creature so believable that the silly and scary happenings he encounters have you rooting for his deliverance. Case is a phenomenon with his bat-like acrobatics, mood changes, expressive eyes, and verbal dexterity. It's hilarious to learn that he acquired his impeccable British accent from listening to BBC tapes. O'Keefe's catchy score is chock-full of highlights: "Show You a Thing or Two," sung with ensemble backing by Meredith Parker (Missy Johnston) and her daughter Shelley (Michelle Marie Czepyha) with Edgar, the name they bestow on Bat Boy after they've taken him into their home; "Three Bedroom House," Meredith and Shelley's poignant wish for a life with Edgar away from Dr. Thomas Parker (Tom Hayward), their veterinarian husband and father who is not fond of Edgar; the rousing gospel number, "A Joyful Noise," with Justin Norris sporting James Brown hair and singing up a storm as the Reverend Hightower; "Dance With Me, Darling," an engaging duet for Dr. Parker and Meredith, and Bat Boy's soulful "Let Me Walk Among You" and (with Shelley) "I Am Not a Boy." Hayward, Johnston, and Czepyha are terrific as the dysfunctional Parker family. And the ensemble rotating as citizens of the aptly named Hope Falls, West Virginia, supplies lively and efficient support in numerous roles and situations. Director Mike Thomas moves the cast briskly through the many scenes and settings. Bat Boy: The Musical is great fun, and the perfect show to see on Halloween, which I did. But despite its high-camp content, it also has a lot to say in a witty way about relationships, intolerance, sexism, and healing. And that shocker ending is positively and deliciously Elizabethan, wrapping things up neatly and providing the catharsis so devoutly to be wished. Huzzah, Bat Boy!
