It’s quite ironic that while the Spider-Man Broadway show stumbles from disaster to disaster, Batman Live seems to have been developed without a hitch, touring arenas across the world doing much the same sort if thing (but without the songs, thank God). It’s also rather ironic that, several months after scoffing at the very concept if this show, I found myself sitting in Nottingham Arena watching the damn thing. But never let it be said that I’m close-minded, and so while I approached this with a degree of cynicism, I was prepared to be proven wrong.

And to a certain extent, I was. This theatrical extravaganza is not at all terrible. In fact, it’s a pretty entertaining, if ultimately empty two hours of cutting-edge technology and good, old-fashioned circus performance.

Taking place on a stage that juts out into the centre of the arena, with a huge video screen at the back providing sets, animation and linking footage, the story pretty much tries to cram as much Batman mythology as it can into the show. Opening with the death of Bruce Wayne’s parents, it then jumps ahead to a world where Batman already exists, and young Dick Grayson is about to see his parents killed – though not before they’ve performed extensive trapeze stunts. Convinced by Commissioner Gordon to take the boy in, Bruce Wayne is soon called away to tackle Catwoman, while young Dick sneaks out to track down his parents’ killer, only to come face-to-face with the Joker. Before long, Wayne has revealed who he really is, Grayson is on the road to becoming Robin and the Joker has taken over Arkham Asylum, which houses Scarecrow, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Two-Face, The Riddler, Catwoman, The Penguin and assorted other lunatics.

This could be a cluttered mess, but if taken as a series of set pieces with a loosely connecting story, it works quite well. I do think that, if I were a Batman-obsessed child (as a large part of the audience seemed to be), I’d probably be frustrated that Batman takes so long to make his first appearance – it’s about thirty minutes in – and then is rarely seen in the first half. The circus stuff is impressive enough, but no one here has actually paid to attend a circus, after all. Of course, the teased hints have the effect of building expectations – every time a bat signal or symbol appeared, a kid at the back excitedly cried out “it’s Batman!”, and our hero’s entrance is suitably dramatic. Unfortunately, his first battle with Catwoman is quite lacklustre, seemingly more about spectacular wire-work that seemed less impressive that it might have, simply because it gave the impression that Batman could fly.

In fact, the fight scenes are the weakest part of the show – of course, you don’t expect realistic punch-ups, but the slow, telegraphed and clearly none-connecting punches could’ve been handled more effectively – perhaps the show needed some professional wrestlers to show how the make fake fighting look good. On the plus side, the scenes inside Arkham Asylum are impressively creepy, the slick Batmobile drew gasps of excitement from the crowd and the story builds nicely to a satisfying finale.

Although Batman's costume is clearly inspired by the current cinematic versions, the show as a whole is more a mix of the Sixties TV show (without the camp) and the comic books, creating a less dark, more family-friendly event. The Joker was greeted with boos when he appeared, while the debut of Robin drew bigger cheers than even Batman – possibly because, in many ways, this is his story. On the whole, the costumes are spot on - the one exception being Catwoman, who looked more like a 1940s motorcyclist than a seductive super villain – and I certainly can’t fault the look of the show. It’s unquestionably a technical marvel, and the mix of drama, action, acrobatics, magic tricks and dance manages to work better than you would expect.

To produce a show that would appeal to every generation of Batman fans was a difficult task, but I have to say that on the whole, Batman Live does it well. Certainly, the audience I saw it with were hugely enthusiastic, and clearly had a great time. So I’m happy to eat my words and say that if this show turns up in your locality, it’s well worth making the effort to see it.

DAVID FLINT