Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Musical revivals to cherish: RAGTIME triumphantly returns to Broadway and BAT BOY tickles and prods at City Center

• By drediman
• November 5, 2025
• No Comments

This fall, you’re unlikely to find two more satisfying musicals than the revivals of two works from the late 1990s — Lawrence O’Keefe’s cult musical Bat Boy: The Musical at New York City Center and Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s classic Ragtime at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre (both musicals originally premiered within a year of each other). Read on below for my further thoughts on these two finely tuned productions.

BAT BOY
New York City Center
Through November 9

Just in time for Halloween last week was the arrival of New York City Center’s fascinating choice for its annual gala production, a revival of Lawrence O’Keefe’s 1997 musical Bat Boy: The Musical (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). The risk has paid off in spades — City Center’s tickling yet prodding revival of Bat Boy is perhaps the most the most fun I’ve had at a musical in a good long while. Based on a sensationalist 1992 Weekly World News tabloid story about a half-boy, half-bat discovered in a West Virginia cave, the piece is an unabashed love child between The Phantom of the Opera and Little Shop of Horrors, with a touch of Urinetown thrown into the brew. As a subversive cautionary tale that doubles as absurd camp (the hilarious and layered book is by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming), the work takes some wild turns, resulting in a musical that’s consistently surprising, both in its plot and unfolding emotional texture. Indeed, in hindsight, the musicals by O’Keefe — who also penned the score for the inspired stage adaptations of Legally Blonde and Heathers, the latter of which can currently be seen Off-Broadway — are some of the most well-crafted and thematically interesting shows in mainstream musical theater over the past few decades. Like musicals like Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, Bat Boy has evolved over the years, with songs added to and taken away from the show. The current iteration at City Center showcases the musical in the best possible light (e.g., I’m sure punchy and tuneful rock-tinged score has never sounded better, especially under O’Keefe and Ben Green’s souped up orchestrations). Directed with astonishing attention to detail by Alex Timbers, the revival quirkily hums along on an ecstatic high from beginning to end. It also features some stupendous performances, starting with Taylor Trensch in the title role. His physically and emotionally meticulous performance forms the utterly human nexus around which the show’s ridiculousness can take flight. Also sublime are Christopher Sieber (Death Becomes Her) and Kerry Butler (Xanadu), whose vocally and comedically assured performances prove why they are musical comedy treasures. The seemingly ageless Buler, in particular, is giving perhaps one of the most scintillating performances of her long career. In a perfect world, this Bat Boy would have a healthy future life.

RAGTIME
Lincoln Center Theater at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre
Currently through January 4

Then there’s the triumphant return to the Great White Way of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s classic musical Ragtime at the Vivian Beaumont Theater (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). Lincoln Center Theater’s newly urgent production is the beloved musical’s second Broadway revival, following the short-lived Kennedy Center mounting that played the Neil Simon Theatre in 2009. Based on E.L. Doctorow’s 1975 novel of the same name, the musical follows three distinct socio-economic groups — African Americans, Eastern European immigrants, and the upper middle class White community — as they clash together during the turn of the century (alongside some the era’s most notable historical figures). The musical is an epic and ambitious accomplishment, a rich and panoramic musical tapestry of humanity and society that has been not unfairly referred to as America’s version of Les Misérables. Musically, the nearly sung-through score sounds glorious as played by Broadway’s largest orchestra — a luxurious 28 players in total! — and sung by a large company of some of musical theater’s most thrilling singing actors, particularly the trio of Joshua Henry, Brandon Uranowitz, and Cassie Levy (each representing one of the three groups). Henry brings Shakespearean heft and a knock-out baritone to the role of the idealist-turned-terrorist Coalhouse Walker Jr., Uranowitz imbues Tateh with a restlessness and obsessive drive that’s heartrending to watch, while Levy’s quietly exasperated portrayal of Mother grounds the production. Other standouts in the deluxe cast include Shaina Taub as an empathetic Emma Goldberg, Ben Levi Ross as a wrenching Younger Brother, and Nichelle Lewis as an emotionally naked Sarah. Originally presented as a gala presentation by New York City Center (like the aforementioned production of Bat Boy: The Musical), the staging by Lear deBessonet — who was recently appointed Lincoln Center Theater’s new artistic director after serving as the head of the Encores! series at City Center — has been tastefully expanded to take advantage of the uniquely expansiveness Beaumont stage, adding a turntable and additional scenic elements without altering the elegant minimalism of the director’s vision. Ragtime resonates much differently in our current troubled times than it did when it premiered nearly 30 years ago, which is a testament to the generosity and thoughtfulness of Ahrens and Flaherty’s adaptation.