The Man Of Steel had a musical, with the sixties Broadway show It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman! Spider-Man treaded the boards just long enough for a dozen performers to break their spines and Bono to realise this might have been a mistake. Those are big, colourful characters, so it makes sense. Surely it wouldn't work for all superheroes? Have you ever seen Phantom Of The Opera? There's plenty of room for angst and melodrama in musical theatre! So making a Batman musical seems like a no-brainer. And yet there's been no official production, with fans of that persuasion having to make down with the unofficial Holy Musical B@man!, which you can watch on YouTube. Whilst the group behind it had to censor the copyrighted name in the title, they delve into the Dark Knight's classic stories and cast of characters wilfully in the musical itself. Including Mr Freeze as one of the lead performers, singing the ensemble piece Rogues We Are (and its reprise) along with Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Penguin, Riddler, and Catwoman.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
