In my mind, they all represent different aspects of Long Beach Playhouse’s (LBPH) theatrical production Bat Boy: The Musical .
The back story of the play is that, allegedly discovered in a cave in West Virginia, a boy thought to be half human and half bat was featured as a cover story in a now defunct tabloid magazine in 1992, complete with fabricated photographs. Later proved to be purely fiction, a handful of creative minds decided to turn the absurd story into a stage play in the late 1990s.
LBPH chose the play, complete with catchy songs and musical accompaniment, as its closing production for their Studio Theater season.
Hearing the title Bat Boy: The Musical, I wasn’t sure if I was going to see a play written about Batman as a child, a baseball team’s young aide or a story about a creature morphed from a human and a bat; the latter proved to be true.
From the beginning, while watching the production, the bizarre, eerie, surreal nature of the saga really intrigued me and, in some instances, kept me on the edge of my seat. Helping to create such focus on my part was the young man, Russell Malang, who played the lead as Batboy/Edgar. Russell was born with arms that end above where elbows would be, and his congenital differences from most other people lend beautifully to the believability of his character. In my opinion, his acting talent is that of a truly seasoned performer.
In the production, the formerly cave-dwelling Bat Boy, dubbed Edgar by a veterinarian’s family who acts as foster parents, acclimates to life in the real world.
Besides the tabloid reference above, which I already cleared up, I also mentioned Adam and Eve, Greek mythology and Star Wars. During the play, Edgar and his love interest— the veterinarian’s daughter Shelley Parker (Courtney Duncan)— don fig-leaf costuming and cavort with Pan of Greek mythology. Furthermore, later into the production, the audience learns of a relationship between Shelley and Edgar that resembles that of two characters in Star Wars.
Not wanting to give away any more of the story line or spoil the ending, I will stop here and recommend that you run, not walk, to see Bat Boy: The Musical. You will leave the theatre scratching your head and humming the tune from the song, “Hold Me, Bat Boy.”
Bat Boy: The Musical continues at the Long Beach Playhouse Studio Theatre through Nov. 14. Cost is $24 general admission, $21 for seniors and $14 for students with valid ID. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm. The Long Beach Playhouse is located at 5021 E. Anaheim St. Call (562) 494-1014, option 1, to reach the box office. Tickets are also available online at lbplayhouse.org .
I’ve been keeping my fingers crossed, hoping we weren’t going to have to beseech the weather gods not to rain on our parade. It looks as if my intertwined digits did their jobs because it appears as though Saturday will bring lots of sunshine for those participating in and/or viewing the Long Beach Veterans Day Parade. The event will take place this Saturday, Nov. 7, starting at 10am on Atlantic Avenue between Harding and 56th streets.
This year, the Signal Tribune will once more be part of the patriotic line-up. Steve will be driving, I will be riding shotgun and our three favorite neighbor kids will be sitting in the back seat. This will be the youngsters’ second time riding in the parade with us.
Initially, we asked the boys—Ethan (9), Jae (12) and Jae Sang (10)— to ride with us in the 2014 Long Beach Veterans Day Parade because the adopted brothers had recently celebrated their naturalization as U.S. citizens. This time we are bringing them along just because we enjoy their company.
If you attend the parade, you will see us in the maroon Honda CRV sporting Signal Tribune magnetic signs on the doors. We won’t be hard to miss because we’ll be the folks doing all the yelling and flag-waving. I hope to see you there.
With all that said, I will now do a little boasting. For the third year in a row, the Signal Tribune has produced the Long Beach Veterans Day Parade program. Once again, we took charge of the design and content of the glossy publication. Those of us involved worked very hard to create a keepsake type of booklet that would be informative and thought-provoking. Our goal was to encourage readers to learn more about our military and those who have fought so valiantly for our freedom. I think we surpassed our objective.
Included in the program is a welcome letter from the parade committee, biographies on the grand marshals and honorary grand marshal, a partial list of parade participants, the history of each branch of the military and a touching story about services available for veterans by one of our reporters, Denny Cristales. Also included is my favorite part of the booklet— the centerfold pictorial and story of the beautiful veterans-themed mural located at the southeast corner of Harding Street and Atlantic Avenue.
Created by artist Art Mortimer in 2006, the mural is the last thing those in the parade see before stepping off for their journey down the parade route. I was there the day the mural was officially unveiled, but I didn’t remember learning much about it at the time. Through the years, I had driven by the masterpiece wondering about the images portrayed in the painting. I recognized a few of the people depicted and had been especially taken by the portrait of Aaron Herrington in his Tuskeegee Airman uniform. Dear Aaron is the late husband of Maycie Herrington, a long-time friend and my mother’s former coworker.
Aaron was also the first African-American member of my husband Steve’s Elks Lodge #888. When I first viewed the mural, seeing Aaron’s image brought tears to my eyes. It also made me wish to learn more about this beautiful painting that resides on the side of a wall in north Long Beach. As I learned more, I wanted to make sure our readers were informed about the history of the beautiful mural. Our staff is so happy to bring you the details of this work of art created so beautifully by Art Mortimer. Those tidbits of information can be found in the parade program.
A very special thank-you goes out to those who wrote and copy-edited the stories, took the pictures and designed the ads and layout for the project. Also, none of this would have been possible without all the help from our friend Martha Thuente (and her dear husband Al) of the Long Beach Veterans Day Committee and the support of the sponsors and advertisers.
Be sure to pick up your copy at the parade.
