There are many ways to stage this show. A cast of ten is possible (see the New York credits), as is a cast of one hundred and ten. A spare set is fine, an elaborate set can work, too. Intense blood effects, no blood at all--it’s up to you, your taste, and your budget.

However, there is only one sure way to play this material--truthfully. BAT BOY is not a satire or a parody of musicals, though it presents skewed versions of familiar themes. And while BAT BOY is certainly meant to be enormous fun for the audience, to make that fun happen the artists interpreting the work must approach it with the same dedication and commitment they would apply to any tragedy. We have seen some interpretations of BAT BOY fail utterly because the interpreters chose to have too much of their own fun with it, or took a “metatheatrical” approach--a term we don’t fully understand but apparently means the actors stand outside the material and comment on it--or tried to cram in too many of their own jokes, pratfalls and other silliness.

We’ve learned this the hard way: There is enough within this script and score to keep you busy. Adding too many extra bits or “metatheatrics”--again, we don’t really know what that is, but you shouldn’t do it--will undermine your performance and diminish the audience’s enjoyment of the play.

These characters do not know they're funny. Their needs and desires and fears are a matter of life or death to them. Please, never nudge the audience in the ribs or wink at them; the audience prefers to decide for themselves whether to laugh or cry. If you play these characters sincerely and truthfully and to the hilt, you’ll get the laughs, and you’ll get much more.