The last week of rehearsal for Bat Boy included three days in a row of 10-out-of-12s, meaning a 12-hour work day for actors, musicians and crews with only two hours of downtime fitted in between cueing and run-throughs.

An unexpected break in the schedule was not quite a relief. Tuesday’s rehearsal was canceled when Louis Colaiacovo, the bat boy himself, was downed by a throat infection.

Small wonder. Colaiacovo was one of three actors rehearsing Bat Boy downtown at Studio Arena simultaneous to wrapping up the final performances of Altar Boyz at MusicalFare out in Amherst. Burning out a stretch of the 33 and his vocal chords at the same time was bound to take a toll.

“This was a rather unique opportunity,” is Randy Kramer’s tentative rationale for the labor-intensive circumstances. The opportunity in question is a joint venture between MusicalFare and Studio Arena, with everyone from both houses working hard on this project. It has all been much written about in theater press and much discussed in the theater community since it was announced many months ago.

To bring latecomers up to speed, the division of labor in this project is straightforward. MusicalFare creates the show—hiring the artistic staff, rehearsing the performers, overseeing sets and costumes and lights—then delivers it to Studio Arena to be performed for an audience of MusicalFare subscribers, Studio Arena subscribers and every person with enough money in their hand to buy a ticket.

Bottom line, MusicalFare takes the role of factory and Studio Arena is your local store. It is MusicalFare’s job to make the product good; it is Studio’s to make it sell.

Considering the objective of the project is to attract crowds and build audiences, Bat Boy seems an odd choice since it is, even by Kramer’s own description, “certainly not for everyone.”

He quickly counters himself by saying, “I mean that in a very good way. It is the kind of show that grabs people and surprises them.

“But,” he adds pointedly, “you have to get them to the theater.”

The Bat Boy challenge is not its woolly subject matter. Its source is a believe-it-or-not tabloid article about a feral child raised by bats in a West Virginia cave. Fans of musical theater have demonstrated that they will accept any story—wild, tame, real or fantastical—if handled well.

At essence, Bat Boy can be compared to Oklahoma!, when you look past alleged sentimentality of the older show and the purported edge of the newer. Both are about the sexual awakening of a young woman as she lets imagination and nature take their course. Sure, Bat Boy seems gritty because it deals with blood, death and vampirism. Lest we forget, the story of Oklahoma! relies upon pornography and narcotics. Despite laughs, song and dance, both portray dark suspicions against outsiders resulting in violence.

Kramer asserts, “Bat Boy is a show for a young audience. I think young people will like that this show is rule-breaking. They won’t mind being made to feel emotionally upset a bit. They like the surprise. That is something Bat Boy can give them.

“Bat Boy is very well crafted. The rep this show has about some boy drinking blood makes it sound cheap. It is well written and it is much better material than that. It moves at full speed between high drama and comedy…farce even. It is also a morality tale. There is so much going on in this show.”

This has forced Kramer as a director, and each of the actors, to a certain level of work. Kramer explains, “You really have to be so specific at every single moment of this show. If you are not, the audience will be confused. The script jumps around so much in style. The actor has to be able to make every moment clear as to what each character is thinking and exactly what that character is doing so that the audience can follow it and enjoy it.”

The goal of any production is to create a good show. Bat Boy makes use of a sterling cast of 12 and features some of Buffalo’s foremost stage talents. This is the surety in this theatrical wager. The chancy aspect is how audiences will respond.

MusicalFare has cultivated a staunch, loyal audience. Kramer wants to introduce his devotees to a wider spectrum of musical theater. Despite dedication, they vote with their tickets.

Urinetown, a play about a piss-based economy, and Altar Boyz, a toothless satire of pop Christianity (think Nunsense performed by ’NSync), both drew sellout crowds to that company’s usual stage at Daemen College, despite offbeat subject matters.

Meanwhile, The Last Five Years, about the pleasures and perils of boy-girl love, did not do well at all. Kramer reasonably attributes disparate attendance to the reflective, elegiac nature of the conventional romance and the peppy, upbeat tone to the crazy stuff, urine and sacrilege not withstanding.

Studio Arena, prior to the current administration, was becoming more moribund with each season. Lackluster shows led to a lack of funding and, eventually, the departure of former artistic director Gavin Cameron-Webb. Kathleen Gaffney, now at the helm, has fostered a different mood on the Main Street stage. Individual preferences aside, whichever shows one might favor or might snub, the shows are livelier and more deliberately audience-pleasing.

There is only one potential horror associated with this production of Bat Boy. That would be if no one took notice of the show. The payoff both theaters hope for is better audiences. For Studio this would mean increased numbers, for MusicalFare, broader appreciation—although, at root, the two are connected.

Kramer states that at any time, “There will be some people who will say, ‘You know, I really don’t want to see that.’ But I’d like to believe there are a lot of people who will say, ‘Hey, that’s really different. Even if this one is not my cup of tea, I’ll come back for the next one because they are keeping it interesting.’ That’s what we are hoping.”