UNITED KINGDOM: Batman and Robin fight it out with The Joker and other super villains at the London launch of Batman Live

Record ID: 593309

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: Batman and Robin fight it out with The Joker and other super villains at the London launch of Batman Live
  • Date: 15th April 2011
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MARQUEE AND POSTERS FOR THE "SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK" BROADWAY MUSICAL
  • Embargoed: 30th April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom, United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA1RSOV0TTWCVREKJDYYNP1LT59
  • Story Text: Fans and reporters were granted a first glimpse of what to expect from the mega budget arena production 'Batman Live' in London on Tuesday (April 12).
    After a sneak peek at some of the set designs, the Batman Live launch was crashed by the Joker and his band of villains including The Riddler, Catwoman and The Penguin.
    Naturally, the Caped Crusader and his side-kick Robin came to the rescue and faced off with their iconic enemies to save the day - before posing for photographers.
    As well as a host of favourite characters from the comic book series, the arena show also promises to show fans the familiar settings of Batman's world, including The Batcave, Arkham Asylum and Gotham City itself.
    Creative Director Anthony Van Laast is an experienced Broadway and West End and cinema choreographer whose film work includes "Mama Mia!" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"
    He said the massive, open arena production is an altogether different beast than either theatre or film.
    "Oh, you can't fake it, believe me you can't fake it. Especially we have fantastic flying effects. Batman will fly a hundred foot, from way up in the air he will fly a hundred foot down over the arena and there's no way you can fake that. And that's one of the great advantages of working in an arena is that you can have these huge effects and they will seem like proper 3D because they come out and they come right you," he told Reuters Television.
    He added:
    "Today we've given the audience a taster of what is to come. We have fantastic things up our sleeves and I'm not going to tell you," he laughed.
    One of those yet to be revealed secrets is a brand new Batmobile, designed by none other than Formula One car designer Professor Gordon Murray.
    As one of the most successful, iconic comic book characters of all time, Batman gave the show's writer, Allan Heinburg, plenty of material to draw on, from more than 70 years worth of comics to two record breaking movie franchises.
    But Heinburg said the sheer size and spectacle of the arena production kept him from running away with the story - which tells the tale of how Robin came to be Batman's partner in crime-fighting.
    "It's epic, it's operatic. So, in a way, the arena setting helped us simplify the story that we were going to tell. If the story is simple enough then you just kind of turn the colours up and the volume up to allow it to fill that space and to really be grand and that's what we're doing with Batman Live," he explained.
    Batman is the latest comic book superhero to be brought live production after Marvel's Spider-Man took to the stage in Broadway with a musical show. "Spider Man: Turn Off the Dark" - which set records for being the most expensive musical in history - is currently being revamped after suffering several highly publicised, disastrous setbacks and a savaging by critics.
    "I was very invested in our creative team seeing Spider-Man (Broadway musical), seeing the choices that they made and I'm a fan of everyone involved in that production so I was really interested and really invested. But I also wanted to learn as much as possible what works when you're telling a live action superhero stage and what doesn't. You know, what are effective choices that seem to draw the audience in and where do you lose an audience and we learned a lot from that experience," Heinburg said.
    "Batman Live" has its world premiere in Manchester in July before embarking on a tour throughout the UK and Europe. The production will then move on to open in North America.
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