REVIEW: Bat Out Of Hell – The Musical at Sunderland Empire

Bat Out Of Hell – The Musical

Sunderland Empire

Until Saturday 23 August 2025

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The jukebox musical, featuring the hits made famous by Meatloaf, lands in our region this week. The Sunderland Empire audience can enjoy the hits like Dead Ringer For Love once again, performed by a talented cast, backed by a band that are in full view on the stage.

Carly Burns

This is an interesting musical and one I felt I needed to see again after seeing it at the opening of the Stockton Globe back in 2021. Whilst the links with Meatloaf are obvious, it is his collaborator Jim Steinman who wrote the book, the music and the lyrics putting the show in a fairly unique position. Often jukebox musicals are written by a third party who was not involved in creating he music in the first place - not the case here. Fans of his music will recognise that the tone of those classic albums has been carried over to the story here. Sticking the band on stage also reinforces that the show is, as much about the music, as it is the story happening in the foreground.

Georgia Bradshaw as Zahara & Ryan Carter as Jagwire

As for the story, we have a group of people called "The Lost", including a free spirit called "Tink", who never grow old, and they are persecuted by a bad guy. If we change the group to the lost boys and the spirit to Tinkerbell then we have Peter Pen. Apparently, in interviews, Steinman stated that Peter Pan had influenced elements of the original Bat Out of Hell album back in 1977, and when he started working on this project it had the title "Nevermind". This is, however, not a pantomime and none of the cast fly around.

Katie Tonkinson as Raven & Glenn Adamson as Strat

The stage is split into 3 performance areas with the band at the back. Most of the stage represents the dystopian Manhattan including a disused subway tunnel called The Deep End. Here you find the rebel group called The Lost under their leader Strat (Glenn Adamson). On a raised area to the right is a bedroom in Falco Towers. Here the bad guy Falco (Rob Fowler) plots away, accompanied by his wife Sloane (Sharon Sexton) - who illudes to a more rebellious past and sympathises with the Lost - and his daughter Raven (Katie Tonkinson) who wants to join Strat and the gang.

Rob Fowler as Falco & Sharon Sexton as Sloane

Thus you have an Shakespearean set up of 2 groups and a daughter who wants to get romantically involved with the other group against the wishes of her domineering father. The plot is fairly predictable as it follows the often used tropes until its predictable conclusion. But that's not the point, or why anyone buys a ticket, as the Meatloaf hits appear in regular interviews after short blasts of exposition. As my companion pointed out, Falco is something of a one dimensional baddie who not so much undergoes a redemption arc at the end - he hits a redemption wall. But in terms of story - the Falco character serves a purpose in giving the Lost something to push against and an excuse to sing the hits.

LtoR Luke Street, Carly Burns, Ryan Carter & Glenn Adamson

What is interesting, though, is how some of the action is presented to the audience. In an era when many people watch theatre at cinema or on streaming services, you can get used to seeing more than one angle on the action. When one watches a broadcast it is possible for a camera to focus in on the action, like someone drawing on their arm, and to highlight a plot point. This multi-angle view is not usually possible when you're always sat in seat E26. In this production they employ a videographer (Tom Samuels) who tends to use interesting angles and these are then projected on big screens at the back. This is mainly in the Falco Towers scenes and helps everyone to see what's happening on the side of the stage.

The downside is that, under director Jay Scheib, there are occasions when the cameraman blocks the audience's view of the action or that the cast are performing with the backs to the audience - thus forcing you to look at the screens in order to follow the plot. At the Sunderland Empire - this kind of worked better than what I experienced in Stockton (where I was sat closer to the front and found my head having to move left and right, like in a tennis match, as it oscillated between action and screen).

Another directing decision is to give the main cast members handheld microphones (as you'll see in the photos). This changes both the way that they deliver the songs but also in the way that they talk to each other. For example when Falco and Raven are in full father/daughter argument it can come across like a confrontation in the middle of a WWE wrestling match as they pose with the mics for emphasis.

Sharon Sexton as Sloane & Rob Fowler as Falco

Sharon Sexton as Sloane & Rob Fowler as Falco

But, as I say, this musical is much more about the music than the story. There was always a big theatrical element to Meatloaf's performances and so it is less of a shock to see that translated in this musical. 

As far as the singing goes, the central four main characters get their chance to shine. Glenn Adamson and Katie Tonkinson do really well with their songs as, rather than trying to copy Meatloaf, they own the song and sing it their way - which in my opinion is the best way to handle covers. Tonkinson is superb in her delivery of Heaven Can Wait at the start of act two. She shows it is possible to be powerful in delivery whilst showing the fragility of her character's mindset. 

Glenn Adamson covers the Meatloaf material with ease and hits the shows highpoint with I'll Do Anything For Love, But I Won't Do That. However, just like in Stockton, my enjoyment of his performance was marred by drunk audience members thinking this was a point to sing along. Such selfish behaviour can spoil a show as people pay good money to hear professionals sing. They don't want to hear a poor drunk "karaoke" rendition by someone who cannot reach the note (or indeed hold any note). I could go on about people drinking throughout the performance passing comment loudly about everything, but I won't. (Just thought - that last sentence could be a title of a Meatloaf song!)

Rob Fowler as Falco

The originators of the roles of Falco and Sloane, Rob Fowler and Sharon Sexton, get their teeth in to the classic duet Paradise By The Dashboard Light. This was always a popular request in the bar I worked at in the early 90s and it is easy to see why as it explores the exploratory phases of youth in love. Fowler and Sexton, complete with visuals from our videographer, use a car prop to bring the song to life in an authentic way.

The band get their chance to shine on the closing number of act one. The iconic Bat Out Of Hell was a layered and multi-tracked opera of grandiose proportions and this suits the large band, under musical director Grant Walsh. I did feel that the set and lighting could have done more to highlight the guitar work of Ben Fletcher and Mark Cox through this particular number. After all, we got to see plenty of the keyboard players in action.

Meatloaf was very popular in the UK. In interviews, he mentioned that he felt that we (the Brits and Europeans) got what he was trying to achieve more than in his home country. This show, therefore, has a market as it matches the grandeur and pomposity of the popular source material. This show was never going to be a shrinking violet.

Katie Tonkinson as Raven

Some songs land well into the plot (You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth, Rock And Roll Dreams Come True, All Revved Up And No Place To Go and It's All Coming Back To Me Now) whilst others, in my opinion, are just played because they were hits (Objects In The Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are). 

the North East's own Carly Burns (Valkyrie) with Harley Davidson's
from Ultimate Moto and Harley Owners Group Geordie Chapter
Photo: Sunderland Empire

The action is non-stop. The ensemble, including local actor Carly Burns who appears as Valkyrie, sing and dance the way through the action with real energy and vigour. The fact that you have 2 large video screens, a band which is split in to two and 2 further performances areas means that something is always happening somewhere wherever you look. I will steal a comment made by another reviewer at the interval "it is ADHD fuel" - a point my companion agreed with. A relentless juggernaut of entertainment that delivers in a pleasing fashion.

...and yes, just like Wicked, I did enjoy it much more second time around.

Review: Stephen Oliver 

Photos: Chris Davis

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Tickets:

Bat Out of Hell - The Musical is rocking the Sunderland Empire’s stage from Monday 18 – Saturday 23 August 2025. Tickets are available from ATG tickets: https://tinyurl.com/BatInSUnderland *

*A transaction fee applies to online bookings.