Bat Boy Off Broadway   

Tickets to the musical at the Off-Broadway Union Square Theater in New York come with a bonus: a free copy of the Weekly World News.

That's the supermarket tabloid that in the past has trumpeted the news that "Elvis is Alive" and covered the discovery of the half-boy, half-bat creature known only as Bat Boy.

It's fitting, then, that theatergoers get a copy of the tabloid, because the play now showing is "Bat Boy: The Musical."

Bat Boy, who last made news in the News by backing Al Gore's run for president, was discovered living in a West Virginia cave in 1992. Anyway, that's the story as told by the tabloid. Bat Boy is bald with giant eyes, a double chin, pointy teeth and ears to rival Mr. Spock's.

"He has a striking look" is how News Managing Editor Leskie Pinson puts it.

That look captivated actor, writer and director Keythe Farley. He shared the news about Bat Boy with Brian Flemming, a director with whom he was working, and the two men began making up stories and songs about Bat Boy.

"When I saw that picture of Bat Boy, I couldn't stop looking at it," Flemming says.

Their initial idea of featuring Bat Boy as a rock star performing a stadium show evolved into a musical in the same offbeat vein as "Little Shop of Horrors." (Critics, the majority of whom like "Bat Boy," are comparing the show to "Little Shop.") Farley and Flemming cowrote the script; Deven May stars as the musically inclined Bat Boy.

"We saw that face. We thought he had to sing," Farley says.

Successful in a small Los Angeles theater in late 1997, "Bat Boy: The Musical" moved to New York in March. Several backers emerged to fund the move, including American Media Operations Inc., parent company of the News.

How Bat Boy feels about his life playing out on stage isn't known. The 499-seat Union Square Theater has a seat reserved each performance for the man of the hour, but so far Bat Boy is a no-show. "We gave him the best seat in the house," Farley says.

Of course, there may be some who doubt the creature exists. Flemming can answer that. "I choose to believe that he does exist. Because nobody's proven that he doesn't."

Dick Kulpa can answer that, too. Now the publisher of the humor magazine Cracked, Kulpa spent 12 years at the News and is credited with discovering Bat Boy. "Bat Boy certainly is real. Santa Claus was real once, wasn't he? How else can I say it?"