Photos provided by Pedram Jahanian

Grammy Award-winning songwriter Jim Steinman may be most frequently associated with fellow late legend Meat Loaf, but his numerous credits also include the similarly iconic likes of Celine Dion, Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply and Barry Manilow.

In fact, many of those chart-topping rockers and power ballads are present throughout the musical “Bat Out Of Hell,” which came to The Auditorium for an exclusive one-night stand on an American tour direct from London’s West End.

Of course, the bulk are originally found on Meat Loaf’s blockbuster album trilogy sharing the show’s title, yet in this instance, revolve around a revamped story designed for the stage, plus the previously unreleased Steinman track, “What Part Of My Body Hurts The Most.”

The song and dance spectacular features a full cast, backed by an eight-piece perched above, personifying “The Lost” boys and girls, a group living in the underground tunnels of a post-apocalyptic metropolis after being banished because their DNA is frozen in a perpetually youthful state.

On top of that unusual and barely explained issue, they are hated by an upstairs neighbor, the tyrannical oligarch Falco (Travis Cloer), who’s overprotected teenage daughter, Raven (Carly Burns), catches the eye of their leader, Strat (Travis Cormier), resulting in a love-at-first-sight attraction so forbidden, it could single-handedly destroy their communities.

Meanwhile, there are perpetual clashes between Falco and the forever young, leading to further insults, displacement, and perhaps lethal consequences as each side starts to violently unravel under the weight of misunderstandings and conflict.

As is often the case with these so-called “jukebox musicals,” the story, which is difficult to decipher and further hindered by the lack of programs, usually comes second to the songs, although thankfully, “Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad,” “Paradise By The Dashboard Light,” “Making Love Out Of Nothing At All” and “You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth” still sound larger than life.

Even if no one really knows or remembers the plot portion, when “Bat Out Of Hell” flew into The Auditorium, the concert-like components surely made a stadium-sized impression on at least a couple thousand fanatics, who likely came to hear “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now” or “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)” and found their “Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through.”

For additional information on “Bat Out Of Hell,” visit BatOutOfHellMusical.com.

Upcoming shows at the Auditorium Theatre include RAYE (Apr. 10); Hatsune Miku (Apr. 12-13); Creepy Nuts (Apr. 15); “Stuff You Should Know” (Apr. 17); Doug E. Fresh, MC Lyte, Big Daddy Kane, Treach of Naught By Nature and Black Sheep (Apr. 18); Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (Apr. 24-26); Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman (Apr. 27); The Head And The Heart (May 7); “Chicago: The Musical” (May 5-10); “Rocky” In Concert (May 16); David Sedaris (May 17); Deeply Rooted Dance Theater (May 30); John Cusack and “Grosse Pointe Blank” (Jun. 23); “& Juliet” (Jul. 22-Aug. 2); Tori Amos (Aug. 14) and Mat Kearney (Aug. 15). For additional details, visit AuditoriumTheatre.org.

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