THE BALLOON MAN

Batman returns in an arena show

 

Water Lane Productions
Arkham Asylum is the setting for a scene from Batman Live: World Arena Tour.
By Mark Lowry
Special to the Star-Telegram
Dec. 06, 2012
Superman and Spider-Man have transcended comics, television and film to add another entertainment format to their ranks: musical theater.
In Superman's case, it was an ill-fated musical, It's a Bird ... It's a Plane ... It's Superman!, by Charles Strouse that was a flop on Broadway in the late '60s and was revised in 2009 at Dallas Theater Center.
For Spidey, it was an expensive Broadway musical, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, with music by U2. It suffered headline-making mishaps in previews, before it officially opened last year.
You can now add Batman to that list, although in this case, it's decidedly not a musical, but rather a theatrical spectacle designed for stadiums with an original score.
"I think what [DC Comics] liked about my pitch was that it wasn't a musical," says Nick Grace, the executive producer of Batman Live: World Arena Tour, which began in the U.K. in 2011 and began touring the U.S. this summer.
It makes a stop in Dallas beginning Thursday, with six performances at American Airlines Center. (A Wednesday performance has been canceled.)
"I couldn't see Batman singing; that didn't even occur to me," he says.
"Also, we didn't want to set it up in one theater. We wanted to put it in a big space and tour it around the world so that Batman would come to your city. They liked that idea."
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