Stage Review: Batman Live (2012) feels half-measured and unsure of its intentions, cries out for musical numbers.

Batman Live is constantly unsure of what it wants to be, which renders the entertaining and ambitious production somewhat underwhelming in nearly every area.  It is not quite a stage play based on the Batman mythos, although it contains dramatic moments and a token amount of 'acting'.  It isn't quite a stunt show or action spectacular, as the stunts are few and the fight choreography is merely competent.  With its plot centering around Dick Grayson's tragic transformation into Robin: The Boy Wonder, it sometimes feels like the show wants to be Batman: The Circus, but even there it is felled by half-hearted acrobatics and a lack of high-flying adventure.  And it certainly does not want to be a musical, even as you spend much of the show expecting the characters to break out into song during any number of moments.  We constantly get the set-up for a bit of song and dance, and narrative certainly can handle a bit of emotionally-charged musical theater in that Andrew Lloyd Webber vein, but the songs never come.  The show feels like the end-results of someone merely saying "Let's do a stage show for kids involving Batman!" and neglecting to figure out what kind of show they wanted to do.  It offers a token amount of everything (except songs, natch) without excelling in any particular area.