This isn’t the kind of news we normally report on AICN, although it certainly has a place in the Annals of Geekdom (huh huh, he said “anal”).
Originally, this bit was to be posted as a throwaway/adjunct to last night’s announcement regarding THE DARK KNIGHT, and Heath Ledger being cast as The Joker. Logistical and technical snafus scuttled the effort, but we thought it might be fun to pass this on all the same.
Hearty Geeks may remember that, a few years ago, plans were afoot to launch Broadway musical based on BATMAN. Tim Burton was attached to helm this project, and composer Jim Steinman was set to whip-up some tunes.
Steinman is a composer whose name you may not have heard, although you almost certainly know his work. He wrote many songs for Meatloaf (including “I Would Do Anything for Love” and “Bat Out of Hell”), “Total Eclipse of the Heart” for Bonnie Tyler, “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” (Celine Dion), and a couple of hard driving pieces for Walter Hill’s STREETS OF FIRE (“Tonight is What It Means To Be Young”).
The production never materialized…which is probably for the best, all things considered…and BATMAN: THE MUSICAL slipped quietly into history.
Sort of.
Some of Steinman’s music for the undertaking was ultimately re-purposed for other projects, but snippets of “the real thing” are now sneaking onto the Net.
To commemorate The Joker’s return to the big screen, here’s a strange glimpse into an alternate BAT reality: an .mp3 CLIP from a Steinman demo track for BATMAN: THE MUSICAL.
We posted this sample because we tend to crash many of the servers to which we link. This being said, the track originated from (and you can hear the entire song at) Jim Steinman’s official website. Specifically, you can find it HERE. The track
"(Vespers)Angels Arise/Graveyard Shift", also available at the site, was written for the BATMAN musical as well (if memory serves).
I’ve been searching…endlessly searching…for the entirety of Steinman’s BATMAN demo, but to no avail. If anyone knows where I can find the whole thing, please
email me!
There’s sooooooooo much that can be said about all of this…but I’ll leave that to the ever-intrepid Talkbackers below.
