When you’ve written one of the top selling albums in history, people give you a lot of leeway. How else do you explain the fact Jim Steinman handed over the book for this rock musical to its producers and wasn’t laughed out of the room? Loosely based on Peter Pan, the storyline (and that’s a generous term) has been germinating since 1968, picking up a lot of dust along the way.

But while the narrative fails to deliver its third of the musical theatre holy trinity (story, songs, performance), the other two punch high. Drawn largely from the two Bat albums created by Steinman and Meat Loaf, the track listing is monumental: ‘You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth’, ‘Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad’, ‘Dead Ringer For Love’, ‘I’d Do Anything For Love’, ‘It’s All Coming Back To Me Now’, and of course ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ itself all light up the theatre. Even lesser-known album tracks have an impact in the hands of this talented cast. Which is no mean feat given the thinly drawn characters they’ve been asked to play.

Set in a post-apocalyptic landscape ruled by ridiculous despot Falco, the action centres around ‘The Lost’, a street gang who hang out in tunnels beneath the city. When bad boy leader Strat falls for Falco’s daughter Raven, things take a turn for the violent. Meanwhile, Falco’s marriage is on the skids as Raven’s mum tires of her husband’s increasingly nasty ways. If only the cast could literally take the words right out of their mouths, this show would soar. As it is, we have to wait for each song number to come along and rescue it, which mercifully doesn’t take long.

Glenn Adamson as Strat and Katie Tonkinson as Raven bring powerhouse vocals and passion to their roles, giving us something vaguely real to believe in. But it’s Rob Fowler as Falco and Sharon Sexton as his long-suffering wife Sloane who steal the show. Their spoken dialogue may be lacking in finesse but when they start singing, prepare to reach for the tissues as they deliver a masterclass in rock balladry especially with new song ‘What Part Of My Body Hurts The Most?’ All of which is backed by a superb eight-piece band, visible on stage throughout and well worth watching when you tire of the choreography.

In some ways it’s a travesty that five-star music and singing have been wrapped up in a three-star show. Steinman’s songs and the singers recruited to sing them deserve better than the dialogue he wrote for them. By the end, however, we’re so drenched in anthemic rock ’n’ roll, any dust left on this fiftysomething-year-old tale has been washed away.

Bat Out Of Hell: The Musical is on tour until Saturday 20 September; reviewed at Edinburgh Playhouse; main picture: Chris Davis.