Well I’ve been waiting for this day since it was officially announced last year. Seeing all the details these last few months continued to excite me, not to mention the invite I got the European press release when I thought things couldn’t get any better… well today it got better!

I was lucky enough to see the show with my two young children, and to experience Batman Live will stay with me and my boys for the rest of our lives. This production is defiantly money well spent. It’s got everything from onstage theatrics, circus acts, stunts and even a magic show thrown in for good measure.

This is a full two hour experience starting off with the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne to set the scene. The one story element I was happy about was the telling of Dick Grayson’s becuse it just gets on with it. We’re quickly introduced to Haly’s Circus and get our first circus spectacle on stage with acrobats and the flying Grayson’s. Tony Zucco makes a quick appearance and suddenly a wonderful display turns to tragedy as Dick’s parents fall to their death. This first major scene shows the audience the clever use of the 100 ft screen in the background – as the Grayson’s fall to their death in slow motion the screen shows the panic stricken audience.

This sets the tone for the first act of the show as Bruce Wayne takes Dick in as his ward and starts his search for Zucco. We’re given our first glimps of Batman as he magnificently swoops in on Catwoman stealing a diamond from the Gotham Museum. Again a great scene with high wires and Batman and Catwoman fight it out over the rooftops of Gotham.

Next up is the Penguin at the Iceberg Lounge where we’re introduced to all of Batman’s rogues including Two-Face. As they all start plotting against Batman, when the action continues as Batman crashes in to take them all down. Batman eventually catches up with Zucco who ends up dying in arms to reveal an evil grimace on his face putting the Joker behind the plot to take over the circus.

Nearing the end of this first half we’re given a second circus act, this time from the Joker as he captures Robin. The only negative I can highlight from the first act is the lack of Batman, but the story is set quickly and the circus visuals are stunning.

The second act just gets better. We’re given a little magic act, which adds a bit of humor to the show and then Batman comes to the rescue. Seeing the large Joker head coming out from the back of the screen was better than I could have imagined and seeing Batman and Dick fight a massive Joker gang was epic to watch.

Bruce reveals his identity to Dick, and here comes the second disappointment of the show as the story implies Alfred trained Bruce over the years instead of his world journey. There’s a very cheesy Tai-Chi scene with Alfred, Bruce and Dick standing at the end of the stage waving there arms around.

As the story progresses, we see Harley and Catwoman back in Arkham as the Joker comes back turning the story into the Arkham Asylum video game as he takes of the joint!

Back in the Batcave we finally get to see the Batmobile on stage doing what it’s suppose to do and it fits well with the production. The alarm sounds as Commissioner Gordon tells Batman about Jokers break-in. Bruce quickly jumps into the Bamobile and the 100 ft screen show’s a fantastic car scene through the streets of Gotham.

The ending for Batman Live really is epic – as Batman descends into Arkham he’s confronted by one of my favorite scenes of the show as he goes up against Scarecrow, who is nearly 20ft tall towering over Batman as he subjects him to his fear toxin! The whole Arkham Asylum set is amazing with creepy inmates hanging from chains. Batman is overcome by Poison Ivy and the rest of the rogues gallery. Suddenly Robin (now in his new costume) comes to Batman’s rescue as they take down all the villains with the help of Catwoman. The Joker makes his escape in a hot air balloon, but is suddenly taken down by Harley with a bazooka as she realizes he’s leaving her again!

The show ends with Batman and Robin announcing their partnership and race off in the Batmobile. Even the encore at the end was brilliant as all the characters line up and face each section of the audience.

Back to the production, which truly was epic. The stage direction was spot on with no mistakes seen, the sound was amazing with a wonderful powerful score to every scene. The lighting blew my mind, making your eye follow the scene and distracted you from the moving of stage scenes. In fact the lighting involved the audience shining Bat-signals on you and was full of rich co-ordination fitting the scene perfectly.

This truly was one of the best on stage productions I’ve ever seen and I’m not just saying this as Batman fan but as a person who really enjoyed every visual sense the production had to offer.

I can’t recommend this enough to Batman fans and as a father who enjoyed seeing his children enjoy every second.

Score: 5/5