Bat Boy at New York City Center: The Musical NYC Didn't Know It Needed
I saw someone on TikTok recently argue that a 10/10 musical is the best thing you'll ever see, and a 9/10 musical is the worst. After seeing Bat Boy at New York City Center, I understand what they meant.
A 9/10 musical plays it safe. It's well-made and professionally executed, probably has a beautiful set and a soaring ballad that hits all the right notes. It checks every box. And somehow, that's exactly the problem. It's so concerned with being good that it forgets to be great. It second-guesses itself. It pulls its punches. You leave the theater thinking "that was nice" and promptly forget about it by morning.
A 10/10 musical doesn't give a damn about playing it safe.
Bat Boy is about a half-human, half-bat creature discovered in a cave in West Virginia who gets taken in by the town veterinarian and his family. The vet's wife tries to civilize him. The teenage daughter falls for him. The townspeople want him dead. There's religious allegory, there's a revival meeting, there's forbidden love, there's murder, and—I'm not kidding (spoiler alert)—accidental incest. It's based on a Weekly World News tabloid story. The whole thing is completely, utterly insane.
And the cast played it so earnestly.
But here's the thing: it was also so funny. This wasn't just earnest—it was joyful, campy, and ridiculously entertaining. The show knew exactly when to lean into the absurdity and when to pull back and let the emotion hit. It threaded that needle perfectly. There are big, glorious musical theater numbers with full dance lines that would make any Broadway show jealous. The ensemble work was fantastic—tight choreography, huge voices, and the kind of energy that makes you sit up in your seat. And then, just when you're having the most fun, the show gets even weirder. It didn’t matter that the show wasn’t flawless. Things were messy, but it worked.
Taylor Trensch as Bat Boy at New York City Center (Joan Marcus)
Taylor Trensch was the perfect Bat Boy. He made you believe in Bat Boy's journey from wild creature to someone desperate to be seen as human. Trensch has always been a talented performer, but this role let him showcase a range I hadn't seen from him before. The physicality alone was remarkable, but it was the way he balanced comedy, tragedy, and earnestness that really sold it. Edgar, you will always be famous.
That's the power of total commitment—and hitting every single note exactly right.
This is what New York theater is missing right now. We're oversaturated with shows that are terrified of being uncool. Everything is ironic or self-aware or deconstructed or meta. Jukebox musicals that shrug at their own existence. Revivals that apologize for the original material. New works so desperate to be taken seriously that they strangle all the joy out of themselves. Everyone's playing defense, afraid to look stupid, afraid to swing big and miss.
Bat Boy swung for the fences. It knew exactly how ridiculous it was, and it didn't care. It was earnest when it needed to be, hilarious when it wanted to be, and spectacular when it had the chance. It had the audacity to be a full-throttle musical theater experience about a story that had absolutely no right to work.
The show only ran for two weeks, and if you were lucky enough to catch it, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you missed it, I'm genuinely sorry. Let's all collectively manifest a Broadway transfer (Ragtime-style), because New York desperately needs this energy. We need more shows willing to be this weird, this silly, this fun, this big-hearted, and this completely unafraid.
Bat Boy was a 10/10.
