Bat News

Apparently, the worst fears of cultural conservatives in the wake of California’s gay-marriage legalization actually came true years ago. Someone somewhere got up to the devil’s business with a bat. The existence of the resultant offspring, Bat Boy, was first reported in the pages of the late, lamented Weekly World News back in 1992, and he continued to pop up here and there throughout the subsequent run of the paper. In 1997, his story was adapted for an off-Broadway musical, which was quite well-received by audiences and critics alike. This year, the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse is staging Bat Boy: The Musical, an adult-themed tale of abuse, fear, social acceptance and redemption. Pretty heady stuff for a musical born of a fake tabloid news story.
Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Starts: Oct. 10. Continues through Nov. 2, 2008