june22.qxp_Jan 2014 Aff 05/06/2022 19:07 Page 49
Winning critical acclaim, being voted for BBC Radio 2s Audience Award for Best Musical and receiving eight nominations in the What’s On Stage Awards, audiences have also been wowed in Canada, Germany and New York. As for the album of the same name, it remains one of the most successful of all time, selling more than 50 million copies worldwide. Furthermore, its sequel (Bat Out of Hell ll: Back into Hell), which included the monster hit I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That), didn’t do too shabbily either. “Great music is timeless and ageless,” agrees Glenn. “Queen, Bon Jovi, Tina Turner - this album is in the same bracket as those by of these classic artists. New audiences are coming to older music all the time. And nobody wrote rock anthems that are essentially musical theatre numbers like Jim. I think this was his finest work and I’m just so glad that he got to make this show before he died.”
“You can hear the theatricality of the songs; you really feel the fact that they were written as musical numbers,” Martha chips in, pointing out that while some younger people discover the music first and then come to the show; others do it the other way around. “We get a lot of younger people coming to the show and discovering Jim’s music for the first time. It’s labelled as being suitable from age thirteen upwards, which I think is about right,” she says, grinning at the memory of her teenage brother experiencing the show for the first time.
“He’s a typical teenage boy and so when he said that he really liked it I knew for certain that it had broad appeal. Everyone falls in love with this show.” As for the tour, the cast will have to think of it as a marathon rather than a sprint. Already booked until the end of October, with new dates still being added, not many people in the UK will lack the opportunity of ‘going to Hell.’
“It is so exciting to see all these places and to visit all these wonderful theatres,” sighs Martha.” As for Milton Keynes, Glenn has a particular reason for being happy that the show is scheduled to stop there. “I’m a local boy there, so all my family will be coming along. It’s going to be so good to be at home and to see everyone”. Bat Out of Hell plays at Milton Keynes Theatre from Tuesday 14 to Saturday 25 June. Tickets are available from www.atgtickets.com/MiltonKeynes
