BATMAN: THE MUSICAL? We here

BATMAN: THE MUSICAL? We here at EdDriscoll.com have long been fans of Batman, and consider him the definitive comic book superhero. So we were naturally taken aback to read that a Broadway version of the legendary Dark Knight is coming to (the real) Gotham City, according to the Internet Movie Database’s Movie & TV News section, which reports:

Tim Burton, who directed the original Batman movie in 1989 and the sequel, Batman Returns, in 1992, has agreed to direct Batman: The Musical! on Broadway, the New York Post reported today (Friday), citing theater sources. Jim Steinman, who composed the music for the show, told the newspaper: “We’re thrilled he’s going to do it. David [Ives, who wrote the libretto] and I floundered around for a year trying to figure out how to musicalize Batman. Then we looked at Tim’s original movie and thought, that’s it.” The Post quoted sources as saying that the music will cost at least $15 million to mount. Plans are to open it out of town in 2004 and on Broadway the following year.”

While my first response was fear and terror in all its rawest forms, I did remember having similar thoughts when Michael Keaton was announced as Batman. After a decade of Batman movies, and two other actors having portrayed the Caped Crusader, Keaton in retrospect stands as the best of the bunch. So hopefully Burton won’t blow it this time around, either.

(But say, if Burton wanted to make a musical, why not do Planet of the Apes?)