There was a time in the late 1970s when singer Meat Loaf was everywhere — from Broadway to the big screen in movies like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and later at the top of the charts with one of the decade’s best-selling albums, Bat Out of Hell. Songwriter Jim Steinman provided hit songs such as Paradise by the Dashboard Light and Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad. Critics at the time found him refreshing or over the top. “Everything about his music, his songs with Jim Steinman, the drama, the lyrics, the character, the real-life Meat Loaf — everything screams drama,” explains Montreal cultural scene writer Richard Burnett. Three decades later, Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell album was turned into a musical that was staged in the UK in 2016. It was later produced in Las Vegas and taken on tour in 2023. Now, the production is going back on the road across Canada, this time with French-Canadian singer and actor Travis Cormier starring in the lead role of Strat, a gang leader in a futuristic dystopia. “Strat is the character that I’m very, very passionate about,” Cormier tells CTV News during a rehearsal break in New York City. “It’s based off Peter Pan, and it’s a rebel kid, leader of a gang. He’s frozen at 18 forever. And he’s a very interesting guy. He’s intense. He’s rock and roll.” Cormier was born in Moncton, New Brunswick. He was a finalist in the 2016 Canadian edition of The Voice, where he seduced the jury with his rocking performances, and has since become a regular in various stage productions in Las Vegas, where he now lives full time. He discovered his future role as a teen. “I remember my parents had the (Meat Loaf) vinyl and I remember sitting on the floor in my basement and listening from beginning to end. And I remember the emotion that I felt listening to those songs.” Meat Loaf born Marvin Lee Aday died in January 2022. It’s a unique blend of rock and opera that Cormier feels he can handle. “I mean, Meat Loaf’s voice is just incredible, and not just the technique — you really feel every emotion of everything he sings. So obviously the bar is so high, I wondered, can I do this type of thing?” he says. Rock and musical fans are likely to appreciate the blend in this stage production, Burnett says. “I always thought Meat Loaf screams opera. And I kind of feel that his music lends itself beautifully to musicals and to the art form that is opera.” The show will be presented in Toronto at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre, at Montreal’s Place des Arts on April 5, and in London, Ontario, on April 7 at Centennial Hall.
