Bat Out of Hell: The Musical (promoted as Jim Steinman's Bat Out of Hell: The Musical) is a rock musical with music, lyrics and book by Jim Steinman, partly based on the Bat Out of Hell album by Meat Loaf. Steinman wrote all of the songs, most of which are on the Bat Out of Hell trilogy of albums (Bat Out of Hell, Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose). The musical is a loose retelling of Peter Pan, set in post-apocalyptic Manhattan (now named 'Obsidian'), and follows Strat, the forever young leader of 'The Lost' who has fallen in love with Raven, daughter of Falco, the tyrannical ruler of Obsidian. Steinman has said in interviews that a version of the Peter Pan story inspired some of the songs on the 1977 album Bat Out of Hell, and that is the connection between this musical and the 1977 album. Before the album Bat Out of Hell was released, Steinman worked on a musical of that storyline that was then called "Neverland".
The musical premiered at the Manchester Opera House in Manchester, England, on February 17, 2017, and ran there until April 29, 2017. The production was directed by Jay Scheib and choreographed by Emma Portner. It was produced by David Sonenberg, Michael Cohl, Randy Lennox and Tony Smith. The show originally starred Andrew Polec as Strat and Christina Bennington as Raven, with Rob Fowler as Falco and Sharon Sexton as Sloane.
The show opened at the London Coliseum on June 5, 2017, and ran there until August 22, 2017, before moving to Toronto, from October 14, to January 7, 2018. The musical returned to London and to the Dominion Theatre on April 2, 2018. An original cast recording album was released by BOOH Label on October 20, 2017. In 2023 the show was taken on an international tour (UK, Ireland, Germany and Australia) returning to the Peacock Theatre in London in 2023. In 2025 the show returned for a UK tour, returning to the Peacock Theatre in May/June, before going on to other UK cities.
Background In 1968, while at Amherst College, Jim Steinman wrote a newspaper article about the contemporary issues of the time, then decided to turn that into a rock musical called The Dream Engine, working with fellow student Barry Keating, who became the show's director. The Dream Engine starred Steinman as Baal, the charismatic 19-year-old leader of a tribe of semi-feral youths in California, and showed Baal's interactions with tribe members and recruits (inductions involving pain rituals) and various adult authority figures (the chief of police, a draft board representative, a psychiatrist, and killer nuns). Staging was very much influenced by Bertolt Brecht and The Living Theatre. It also contained the song "Who Needs The Young" and the "Hot Summer Nights" speech, which are in Bat Out Of Hell: The Musical.
Rights to The Dream Engine were bought by Joseph Papp of the New York Shakespeare Festival in April 1969, and upon his graduation that summer, Steinman was recruited to refine his work for larger productions, but these productions never took shape. By 1973, Papp moved Steinman from The Dream Engine and put him to work on the rock musical More Than You Deserve, where Steinman met the actor and singer Meat Loaf.
In August 1974, Steinman wrote to Papp to say he had rewritten much of The Dream Engine and it was now a musical called Neverland. Steinman was unable to secure the rights from the J. M. Barrie estate to put on the musical as it was.
Throughout 1975, Meat Loaf, Steinman, Ellen Foley, and others worked on the National Lampoon Road Show, substituting for John Belushi and Gilda Radner who had left to work on Saturday Night Live. During this time, Steinman wrote most of the songs for the album Bat Out of Hell and began to rehearse and record them with Meat Loaf and Foley.
In early 1977, Steinman went to Washington, D.C. to work on a workshop production of Neverland, which had many of the core elements of The Dream Engine, but was now a futuristic sci-fi interpretation of Peter Pan. Foley starred as Wendy. In September 1977, the Bat Out of Hell album was released.
In the late 1990s, Neverland was rewritten into a film script called Bat Out of Hell 2100, including earlier songs by Steinman such as "Who Needs The Young", "All Revved Up With No Place To Go", and the song "Bat Out Of Hell", "It's All Coming Back to Me Now", "Objects In The Rear View Mirror", and "I'd Do Anything For Love". It draws more from the Peter Pan story, with characters including Peter, Wendy, Police Chief Captain Hook, Doctor Darling, and Mother Superior.
In 2008, Bat Out Of Hell: The Musical was announced. In 2015 a developmental lab for the show took place in New York, and in late 2016 a cast was assembled for the first public production, in the U.K, which premiered in Manchester UK in February 2017.
Plot Act One In the dystopian city of Obsidian, Strat recalls his first encounter with rock and roll ("Love and Death and an American Guitar (Strat's Soliloquy)") before his DNA froze, causing him to remain eighteen forever. (In later UK productions, this scene is performed by Raven.)
Strat is the leader of a group of teens who are all frozen in eternal youth - Tink, Zahara, Jagwire, Ledoux, and Valkyrie, among others - and who call themselves 'the Lost'. Strat and the Lost march in the square outside Falco Towers, home of the city's tyrannical leader of the same name, which leads to a scuffle ("All Revved Up with No Place to Go" / "Wasted Youth"). Falco's teenage daughter Raven, who has been forbidden from leaving Falco Towers, sneaks into the fray and is drawn to Strat's discarded shirt. Picking it up, her eyes meet Strat's, but she is immediately rushed back inside by her mother Sloane. Falco himself joins the fight, injuring Strat's best friend Tink; he suffers a facial injury when Ledoux breaks a bottle over his head, but manages to drive the Lost away.
At Falco Towers, Falco dismisses a resentful Raven and shares his latest political plans with Sloane: he intends to propose a housing project which will revive Obsidian, but destroy the disused tunnels and subways where masses of unhoused people live, including the Lost. They lament their long-gone youth and dismiss the Lost as unimportant ("Who Needs the Young?"). Meanwhile, Raven and Strat have a brief encounter; as she dons his shirt, he briefly climbs into her room and steals a magazine with her picture on the cover. He startles her, but he ducks out as her mother enters. When Raven inquires about the origins of the Lost, Sloane explains that during a period of chemical warfare 25 years prior, the teenagers were stuck in an earthquake and exposed to a poison that froze their aging. She then gives Raven an early 18th birthday present - Falco's old biker jacket - and encourages her to be free and fall in love.
The following day, 'The Lost' are gathered in their hideaway, 'the Deep End,' located in a disused subway near the 81st Street–Museum of Natural History station. Tink crashes his bicycle, then challenges Jagwire, to a fight, but is stopped by Strat, who tends Tink's wounds and tussles with him. Tink and Zahara both flirt with Strat and attempt to kiss him; he gently rebuffs Tink and asks Zahara, 'On a hot summer night, would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses?', unsettling her. As Strat ignores Zahara's departing advice to forget about Raven, the Lost briefly discuss kidnapping her for ransom and encourage Strat to pursue her romantically ("Out of the Frying Pan And Into the Fire"). Meanwhile, outside of Falco Towers, Jagwire attempts to reestablish a prior romantic relationship with Zahara, but she cannot get over her first love and gently rejects him ("Two Out of Three Ain't Bad").
At Falco Towers, Falco and Sloane throw a party for Raven to celebrate her eighteenth birthday, much to her chagrin. Raven asks again for the freedom to explore the subways and meet the Lost, which Falco bluntly and firmly refuses. Sloane attempts to brighten the atmosphere, but is quickly pulled into a reverie of her youthful trysts with Falco, causing Raven to flee in frustration and disgust ("Paradise by the Dashboard Light"). Zahara appears in Raven's bedroom, dressed a nurse, and administers 'dream suppressant' medication to her; Falco and Sloane enter as well, to apologize and put her to bed. Strat sneaks in through the window, startling a sleeping Raven; he asks her the same question he posed to Zahara, but she is too distracted to notice it. After Raven stops a disappointed Strat from leaving, they have a heart-to-heart talk and Strat invites her to go out with him for one night ("Making Love Out of Nothing at All"). Just as they are about to give in to their desires, a frantic Zahara interrupts to warn them that Falco is coming and has already invaded the Deep End. Strat and Raven escape through her bedroom window.
Strat and Raven rendezvous with Jagwire, who is quickly apprehended by Falco's militia. On Strat's motorbike, Raven has second thoughts about going with him ("Bat Out of Hell"). Halfway through the ride, Raven's fear of her father's retribution prompts her to jump off the bike and run away. After a moment of devastated reflection, Strat remounts his motorbike and zooms ahead at full speed off the Atlantic Ocean cliffs, when he 'misses' a sudden curve. His motorbike shatters and crushes him, seemingly killing him.
Act Two At the start of Act Two, Falco has invaded the Deep End, captured several members of the Lost, and confined them in the prison basement of Falco Towers. As Falco gleefully tortures Jagwire, Zahara appears in her nurse outfit, holding Strat's bloodied shirt. She grimly informs Falco, Sloane, Raven, and the Lost that Strat has died; Raven breaks down and is taken away by Zahara and Sloane, leaving Falco and his militia to torture the Lost ("In the Land of the Pig, the Butcher Is King"). Raven mourns Strat's death ("Heaven Can Wait"). Below, the Lost express their shock, prompting Jagwire, Blake and Ledoux to share their pasts ("Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are"). Fed up with Falco's tyrannical behavior, Sloane sneaks into the basement and frees the Lost.
(In the 2021-2022 and 2025 UK Tours, "In The Land of the Pig..." is cut. Instead, Raven accuses Falco of murdering Strat and flees; Falco is deliberately vague with Sloane when she asks him whether he was truly responsible. "Heaven Can Wait" is then sung by Raven. "Objects..." is then sung in the Deep End between Jagwire, Valkyrie, and Ledoux.)
After drawing a pint of blood from Raven, Zahara revives her and convinces her to leave together; a hitherto unseen Tink emerges from hiding and destroys Raven's belongings. Zahara takes Raven to a safe area where she and Tink have been secretly looking after Strat, who has miraculously survived. She transfuses Raven's blood into Strat, enabling him to become mobile again, and he stumbles down from the rocks reciting poetry ("Teenager In Love"). Raven is shocked and overjoyed to see Strat and attempts to thank Tink for saving him, but he rebuffs her. Zahara leaves with a reluctant Tink in tow, while Strat and Raven have a heartfelt reunion ("For Crying Out Loud").
The next day, Zahara returns to Falco Towers for Raven's belongings; she is confronted by Falco, who demands that she reveal Raven's location. She denies knowing where Raven is, but Falco reveals that he knows that she is actually one of the Lost. Sloane's attempts to defend Zahara provoke a confrontation in which Falco shoves and almost strikes Sloane, but Zahara fires two warning shots with her gun; Sloane declares that she is ending their marriage, and she leaves with Zahara.