We weren’t kidding a few months ago when word of a Batman musical started spreading around. The Caped Crusader just got his own stage show set to tour the U.K. starting in July. After that, the show will have a 5 year tour around the world. With the imminent arrival of the Arkham City video game and not only news of the next Christopher Nolan Batman movie but a relaunch of the entire movie franchise afterward, sites are already buzzing with news about the musical too.

 

Oddly enough, given Nolan’s misgivings about the movie franchise having a Robin and Schumacher’s hilariously bad interpretation of the dynamic duo, the plot of the musical begins with Robin’s background story. Dick Grayson, currently wearing the Batman mantle in comic continuity and bearer of the title of the first Robin, lost his parents in a murder similar to Batman’s own tragedy at age 10. This is presumably where the story begins, though the Robin featured in the stage show looks much older.

 

The show features most of Batman’s most popular villains to boot. The Joker, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, The Penguin, The Riddler, and Catwoman are all present and accounted for with flashy new costumes.  There are plenty of Youtube promo videos floating around that display some fantastic stage work and comic book panel intro. Gotham City is straight out of the animated series most of us will remember from the 90s and the circus stage area is a feast for the eyes.

 

This show could be so many kinds of good and so many kinds of bad. It seems to be trying to combine the appeal of both the campy Batman and grim and dark Batman people love into one stage show. It could be a phenomenal success…or it could be the next Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.

 

Check out some of the preview videos below to see more or visit the show's official site: