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Ollie SB (2282 KP) rated A Bat out of Hell: The Musical in Dominion Theatre (London, United Kingdom) in Shows

Aug 14, 2020  
A Bat out of Hell: The Musical
A Bat out of Hell: The Musical
2017 | Musical
7
6.5 (2 Ratings)
Show Rating Watch
The Music (1 more)
The Cast
The story is... weird (0 more)
A Story Out of Hell, Music Out of Heaven
I watched this a few years ago at the Dominion Theatre in London, and will hopefully be seeing it again in January (fingers crossed). I am by no means a massive theatre fan, but I was drawn to this show because of my love for Meat Loaf (the artist not the food). My mum got me and my sister hooked on his music from a young age and it was my sister that convinced me to see this show - I'm glad that she did...

Written by Jim Steinman, who also wrote the original album 'Bat Out of Hell' (one of the greatest albums ever btw) this show tells the story of... well it's kinda confusing... basically, two 18 year olds that fall in love, even though the parents forbid it... but the characters are all stuck at age 18 and never age... and it's set in some post-apocalyptic, dystopian future... yeah like I said, confusing. But as I said, I didn't really see this show for the story, it was the music that carried me through this show.

The story is... okay, but the music is brilliant. It offers a slightly different take on classics such as 'Bat Out of Hell', 'Paradise by the Dashboard Lights' and 'Heaven Can Wait' amongst others. The songs really help you to understand the story a bit better, and are performed brilliantly by the cast.

Overall I would say this show is probably perfect for fans of Meat Loaf, but perhaps lacking in story for avid theatre goers. For someone like me who isn't that invested in theatre culture, but appreciates the music, this show was perfect.
  
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Moses Boyd recommended Grounantion by Count Ossie & The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari in Music (curated)

 
Grounantion by Count Ossie & The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari
Grounantion by Count Ossie & The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"That one was quite deep for me because again, growing up in church and being a believer; my family being from the West Indies - my mum’s side from Jamaica, my dad’s side from Dominica - I remember going to church and it was authentic West Indians there in their 40s, 50s that now live in the UK but have kept these traditions, they were singing these songs just without the drums. So when I first heard this, something just went - ‘Hang on?’ I remember being four and hearing this person sing that song but swap Selassie for this or that. It had that same spiritual element I was so used to, just in a very different form. It was like a weird full circle thing for me. It was almost like going back home. These drums are taking me somewhere, but also I'm being carried by these songs I know. It was beautiful to check out more of what Count Ossie was doing and people that were part of his band like Cedric Brooks. He was infusing a lot of the jazz elements that he's hearing from Coltrane or Ornette Coleman. That's deep, you’re deep in the heels of Kingston, aware of Ornette and them man. Like Duke Ellington had to come and visit him, you know, there’s a photo of him and Duke Ellington in the bush. You know he's got something that's important, not only important for culture but it's spiritually important for the Nyabinghi tradition. For me when I heard that record, particularly Grounation, where they’re going through loops for 20 minutes, it’s that thing again with soundsystems where you ‘wheel up a riddim’ or at church when the tune would just keep going. It was something I’d never heard but I also felt like it wasn’t foreign, those experiences are so wicked and that influenced the whole fascination with drum culture and drum languages, spirituality connected to drums, music orientated around the drums. I got into Batá and music for the Orishas and things that are all over the Diaspora in West Africa, the Caribbean, South America. And when you listen to it, the recording’s so rags but it just couldn't work if you put it in Abbey Road. It gave me a bit more confidence when I was doing my record that if I go to someone’s house and I show up with a handheld recorder, as long as it feels right it doesn't matter. Big studio, small studio, my phone as long as it’s got that feeling that I was going for."

Source
  
    The Spectator Magazine

    The Spectator Magazine

    News and Magazines & Newspapers

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    App

    The Spectator’s mission is to entertain, inform, delight and infuriate our readers. From politics...

    Eastern Empires

    Eastern Empires

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    Tabletop Game

    Eastern Empires is a board game for 3 to 9 players and covers the development of ancient...

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Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis in Books

Oct 22, 2017  
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
J.D. Vance | 2016 | Biography
10
8.2 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
An untold story of white working-class poverty in the US
J. D. Vance's homage to his poverty-stricken, working class roots in America is essential reading for those attempting to understand how a person like Trump can end up in power.

Without attributing the 2016 election results to Vance and his family himself, the author paints a picture of a total disconnect between establishments and white working class voters. From education, to opportunities in climbing the social ladder, Vance can be seen as an exception due to the lack of outreach from these institutions.

His story can appear both depressing and uplifting at the same time. From experiencing trauma through a broken home, poverty, and an abusive addict mother, to having supportive grandparents who are able to push him into believing in himself. Vance breaks the mould eventually studying at Yale and becoming a venture capitalist. But his doubts in himself are ever present.

Vance, however, also blames 'hillbilly' culture and it's encouragement of social rot. Likewise, he recounts stories about lack of work ethic, and the notion of blaming others for their own misfortune. It highlights the need for stability in families in order for upward mobility.

It is a raw, emotional portrait of growing up in and eventually out of a poor rural community riddled by drug addiction and volatility.