Set in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic Manhattan, the rebellious Strat—forever eighteen and leader of the subterranean “Lost”—falls in love with Raven, the sheltered daughter of the city’s tyrannical ruler.

Another treasured entry in the “you had better love this one specific record from the 70s/80s so much that you’re willing to put up with a quarter-assed first draft of a book” genre (Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Purple Rain, its forebear MJ). One of my fellow theatergoers was telling me how “it was like a high school play” on the way out—that may be giving it too much credit, because at least schoolkids are earnest and care about the theatrical experience. Look, I love Bat Out of Hell the record; it’s a guilty pleasure that reminds me of my dad and that I used to throw on when I went out driving in the Texas hill country. But this isn’t even fun—cheeseball operatic butt rock doesn’t hit the same when you’re sitting in a mild-mannered theater crowd, and truncating the songs takes half the joy out of them. Meat Loaf, it turns out, was an important part of the meal.