Recent Reviews, Features and Articles
"Bat Out of Hell" opened in in early 2017 for extended previews in Manchester UK to rave reviews followed by its World Premier at the Coliseum/English National Opera in London's West End. In the fall of 2017 Bat Out of Hell plays Toronto before heading back to London.
"LONDON — When’s the last time it felt as if an entire theater were about to levitate? That experience — electrifying and giddy and guaranteed to tap into every playgoer’s inner rock god — can be had through Aug. 22 at the capacious Coliseum, where the Jim Steinman musical “Bat Out of Hell” is all but blasting an adoring audience out of their seats. Count me among the adorers. — the blissful overdrive of Jay Scheib’s production can affect even a relative outlier. After so sustained an adrenaline rush, it’s not easy returning to what passes these days for life’s calm."
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/28/arts/bat-out-of-hell-wind-willows-yank-london-theater.html?mcubz=1
New York Times
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Performing Arts Facility
At Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where I am a professor for Music and Theater Arts and most recently Director of the Program in Theater Arts. On the heels of establishing an official Bachelor of Science in Theater Major, I have been deeply in collaboration on the development, design, and now opening of MIT's first facility dedicated to at 345 Vassar Street — W97.
"The recently completed MIT theater and performing arts building (W97), which enters into full operation this fall, benefited greatly from a close creative relationship between the architects (designLAB), the MIT Facilities team, and the MIT Theater Arts faculty, notably Norton Award-winning director of design Sara Brown, and Obie-winning director Jay Scheib, a professor of theater known for his genre-defying productions.
A free, vast, and variable space
Scheib adds, “The form of our new building has entirely followed its function.” For example, the team designed the main theater as an unadorned, tech-friendly black box that can accommodate diverse productions and styles of stagecraft, an approach that recalls architect and theatre designer Adolphe Appia’s vision for “a free, vast, and variable space.”
http://news.mit.edu/2017/mit-theater-performing-arts-building-W97-0906
W97 the new home for Theater Arts at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Bat Out of Hell
"Bat might look incongruous in the home of English National Opera, but Jay Scheib’s staging has a Wagnerian bravura — ENO should snap him up the next time it does Lohengrin."
Sunday Times
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/magazine/culture/theatre-review-hir-bat-out-of-hell-rkfkldz85
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"This is a truly staggering piece of musical theatre, which breaks new boundaries in its staging, choreography and concept on an epic scale (...) a veritable feast for the eyes at every twist and turn of what is a dark, daring and provocative work sharply directedby Jay Scheib. (...) This is, quite simply, the best show you’re likely to see in Manchester all year."
"An extraordinary, high-octane, multimedia masterpiece, incredibly staged on a colossal scale, Bat Out of Hell is surely the must-see theatrical event of the year........ Constantly challenging audience expectations and the possibilities of the theatre space, director Jay Scheib and choreographer Emma Portner’s flawless production is a sure-fire masterpiece, and one that has raised the musical theatre bar quite significantly."
http://www.theartsshelf.com/2017/03/15/latest-review-bat-out-of-hell-opera-house-manchester/
"Sometimes when it is difficult for your eyes and ears to believe what you have just witnessed, then putting it into words becomes a whole lot trickier. (...) The one thing that makes this show stand out from all the rest is as I mentioned earlier the staging. This is not your typical musical, just when you think you have seen everything on stage, something else happens right up until the final beat of the show when the bats are finally released from Hell! (...) This show has literally changed the way musicals are staged forever. It is no less than a visual multi-media masterpiece."
Surrogate Cities/Götterdämmerung
"Mit vielfältigen Erfahrungen im Sinne von Heiner Goebbels wurde man aber schon konfrontiert. Es gab jede Menge Bilder, die nachdenklich machen, Assoziationen freisetzen, erfreuen, abstoßen, auf jeden Fall produktiv sind, so dass alle Zuschauer subjektive Bezüge herstellen konnten. Wie der große Beifall zeigte, kam das in Wuppertal gut an."
https://www.deianira.de
"Surrogate Cities / Götterdämmerung ist eine ungewöhnliche Produktion der Oper Wuppertal. Mut und Können beweist Intendant Berthold Schneider, ein solch komplexes, schwer umsetzbares Stück auf den Spielplan seines Hauses zu setzen. Nicht nur IOCO war begeistert über das von Jay Scheibumgesetzte Werk. Auch das Publikum feierte Surrogate Cities / Götterdämmerung, Inszenierung, Ensemble und Orchester ausgiebig und lautstark."
"Und setzt jetzt die Themen für Jay Scheibs hochintelligentes Konglomerat." — "Und am Ende macht Jay Scheib die Mühle wirklich zu. Der letzte Ton der „Götterdammerung“ ist verklungen. Das Publikum will vermutlich klatschen, auf jeden Fall atmen. Da sticht Johannes Pell erneut ins Orchester, die durchaus klassisch geschulte Soul- und Gospelsängerin Elisabeth King erscheint und singt mit großer Projektionskraft die „Horatian Songs“ aus „Surrogate Cities“, erzählt also mit einem Text von Heiner Müller eine Episode aus der antiken Sagenwelt, wo der Held aus fanatischer Vaterlandsliebe zum Mörder wird. Er wird geehrt und dann hingerichtet. Und beides gehört zusammen, zum Menschen und darf nicht verschwiegen werden, singt Elizabeth King. Mit diesem Statement, das uns nachdrücklich darauf aufmerksam macht, dass es neben der überbordenden Experimentierfreude um Haltung gegangen ist an diesem Abend und dass auch wir, gerade in dieser Zeit, wohl auch eine Verantwortung, eine Pflicht zur Haltung haben, schließt Scheib nicht nur den Abend, sondern auch unmittelbar an das Theater und die Ideen von Bertolt Brecht an."
"Siegfried stirbt? Gehen wir mal was trinken..."
Surrogate Cities/Götterdämmerung
