(photo by StageRight Photography)

I caught Cryptid Entertian’s production of “Bat Boy” at the IF Theatre on Feb. 20. Some thoughts.

The years 2000 and 2001 were fascinating ones for stage musicals. Two different versions of a short, jazz-age poem were biggie-sized into star-packed shows. Dancing Nazis proved more succesful than a cat in a hat. Men dropped trou. Folks seemed to have the time of their life with some dancing queens. Disney stetched beyond redos of animated classics. And a show with recorded music of pre-existing songs won the Best Musical Tony.

Sneaking into that world were two musicals that seemed to thumb their noses at all of it. One was “Urinetown,” the blast of a show with a conceit — and a title — that seemed better suited for the fringe world from whence it came. The other was an off-Broadway show rooted in a tabolid newspaper story about a man beast with a hunger for both a civilized life … and blood.

Thanks in part to a cast recording — which augmented the basic instrumentation of the off-Broadway show with additional musicians to positive effect — “Bat Boy” has had a healthy post-New York life. In 2002, it had its first regional theater production at the Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis, and has been steadily produced since. Recently, the Encores series at City Center in New York offered a limited-run of a version featuring song changes and a revised book.

Which brings us to Cryptid Entertain, a recent addition to the Indianapolis theater scene. Dedicated to what it labels “schlock theater” and carrying the tag line “we should be ashamed,” Cryptid effective not only clearly defines its work while also lowering the expectation bar. Any criticisms would seem to evoke a “well, duh” reaction.

An opening night sold-out crowd didn’t seem to mind the hit-and-miss quality of the vocals, the acknowledged awkward scene changes or the music coming from recorded tracks. And since they felt part of the overall esthetic, they didn’t bother me much either. More troubling was some awkward blocking for the IF Theatre which put significant action lower on the stage and difficult to see for much of the audience. As such, the folks in the front row or two get a much different experience than those a few rows back on the risers.

What did make it further back and elevated the show were the strong central performance of Parker Taylor as the titular beast, dynamically balancing the sympathetic and sinister, the strong vocals of Alicia Barnes as Shelly, who smoothly transitions from hostile yokel to love interest, and an on-point Paige Scott, who wisely balanced the grounding and the absurd needed to keep “Bat Boy” from being just a joke parade. And the versatile Dave Pelsue, playing multiple parts, helped raise the roof as the evangelical preacher kicking off the second act.

The show’s strongest songs fed these talents with “A Home for You,” “Show You a Thing or Two,” and “Three Bedroom House” being highlights. (The score is by Laurence O’Keefe, whose later work includes “Legally Blonde” and “Heathers”). For larger group numbers, it helped considerably that choreographer Jordan Lugar Fox wisely understood and created for the limits of the cast.

Side note: Woe to an audience witnessing a show where dance expectations far exceed the abilities of the company.

With a can-do spirit and a we-are-what-we are aesthetic, Cryptid Entertainment is a welcome addition to the Indy theater scene. And I’ll confess, as someone who has been hoping for it for years, that it was me who let out a “whoop” when it was announced that Cryptid is producing “Cry-Baby” later in the year.