Bat Boy, We Hardly Knew Ye

Back in the early '90s, America was rocked to its collective core by the discovery of Bat Boy, a half-human/half-bat hybrid found in a West Virginia cave. "Who was he?" "Who were his parents?" "Can we blame this on Adam West?," and other philosophical questions were posed by a puzzled nation. Answers came fast and furious in the form of dispatches from the Weekly World News, the only tabloid dogged enough to keep after the truth even as local authorities dismissed the tale as balderdash. And then Bill Clinton was revealed to be having an affair with space aliens, and Bat Boy was effectively shoved back in his cave. Ain't that always the way? America will build you up into a sensation and then tear you down when the next new thing comes along. Keythe Farley, Brian Flemming and Laurence O'Keefe kept the dream alive, however, recording the story of Bat Boy and his journey from bumpkin to media sophisticate and back again in the form of a musical. Bat Boy: The Musical relates the hero's journey of the plucky Bat Boy, who didn't let a little thing like being completely fictitious preclude him from catching a ride on the comet's tail and trying to find his place in the world. No, not the cave -- someplace where he could be accepted for who he was, creepy ears, goggle-eyes and all. The Lindenwood University Theatre Department presents Bat Boy: The Musical at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday (October 27 through 29) and again at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday (November 2 through 4) at Lindenwood University's Scheidegger Center for the Arts (2300 West Clay Street; 636-949-4433 or www.lindenwood.edu/center). Tickets are $15.
Oct. 27-29, 7:30 p.m.; Nov. 2-4, 7:30 p.m., 2011