Deven May has flown in from New York for the British premiere of Bat Boy The Musical, the show he has made his own.

He originated the title role in Los Angeles and New York and won the 1997 Los Angeles Ovation Award for Best Lead Actor in a Musical and the 2001 Theater World Award for Best New York Debut.

Now he returns to the Bat Boy roost to make his British debut in Leeds in a West Yorkshire Playhouse production that opens on Monday.

"Since the show closed in New York in 2001, Michael Alden Productions have been trying to get it into London's West End for two and a half years, and now here it is in Leeds, which should give us a better gauge of whether it could transfer to the West End," says Deven.

Bat Boy The Musical was inspired by the US Weekly World News story of the reported capture of a live bat-child, an article that prompted authors Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming to unite with composer and lyricist Laurence O'Keefe to pen the show.

It tells the story of a half boy/half bat discovered in the caves of West Virginia.

Captured, caged, mockingly branded Bat Boy, and under threat of execution by the vet Dr Parker, he finds an ally in the veterinarian's wife, Meredith Parker. Re-christened Edgar, he blossoms under Meredith's tutelage and becomes the paragon of a modern gentleman - courteous, educated, sensitive and irresistible to the opposite sex, in particular, Meredith's daughter, Shelley. However, trouble is brewing.

The musical began life at the Actors Gang, Hollywood star Tim Robbins's 45-seat theatre in Los Angeles, where Farley and Flemming worked. Deven May came on board through a friend.

"Derek Lasalla was choreographing the LA production, and at the time I was doing graphic work, something I did on the computer to supplement my acting income. I was making the graphic for his new production, and I was over at his place when he said 'You should take a look at this new musical Bat Boy', and I said 'What's that about? Baseball?'. Begrudgingly I read it but then I found myself going 'Wow'," Deven recalls.

"It struck a chord because he is not your average guy. I grew up my entire life having to battle with obesity, as has my whole family, and I felt I was never going to be accepted."

The rest is Bat Boy history.

Bat Boy The Musical, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, June 21 to July 17. Box office: 0113 213 7700.

Updated: 15:34 Thursday, June 17, 2004