Raven and Strat have sex on a beach. (Yes, this is somehow in a different scene from “You Took the Words Right out of My Mouth.”) Tink interrupts and tells Strat to send Raven back. They have an argument wherein Strat tells Tink, who, remember, is frozen at an unspecified younger age (“Before all the good shit comes”) to “grow up.” Strat turns back to Raven, clearly putting her above his friend. Tink slinks away to a boulder to sing this song.

“Not Allowed to Love” is one of two songs in this musical I haven’t already written about, but it’s not new for this show. It was written for Batman: The Musical roughly 15 years earlier. It made appearances in some unrecorded Steinman projects as well as the demos for that show that he eventually released. The Dream Engine, a live project that Steinman and Steven Rinkoff put together in 2006 that had the same name as his 1969 musical, performed the song at its handful of performances. I have never heard these performances. Later, a special concert event called Paradise Found: The Lost Songs of Jim Steinman would also see Tyce Green and Karine Hannah perform it. I have heard this one, but I find the recording quality too weak to form much of an opinion.

The origin of “Not Allowed to Love” as a song from Batman: The Musical is rather clear in the lyrics and means that it feels a bit of a stretch here. It’s not complete nonsense by any means, but lines like “I’m not allowed to love/After all these years/I can’t afford to be wrong/I’m not allowed to cry, tremble, whimper, sigh/These signs of weakness are avoided/I must be strong” make far more sense coming from Batman than from Tink, who really isn’t in the position of not being allowed to love, let alone because he’s expected to show strength. He’s just fallen in love with the wrong person.

A bed of synth strings are joined by a piano and then Aran Macrae’s solo vocal. As the song continues, some horns and some what I can only assume are synth flutes (No one is credited with playing an instrument that seems to be right for that sound) join in, then cut back out for an ending that is just the string bed with the piano. It’s a pretty simple arrangement that doesn’t really vary that much from the piano-and-vocal demo arrangements.

Aran Macrae gives a really great lead vocal that frankly helps make up for the lyrics not really fitting Tink’s situtaion. Tink’s pain and suffering ring through in his performance, but so does his youth. I think it’s easy to forget through much of the show that he’s supposed to be noticeably younger than the teenagers who make up the Lost, but his vocal here really underscores it, without doing so by singing poorly at all. He doesn’t get any backing vocals at all and doesn’t get glory notes or big impressive moments, but it’s really a great moment for him.

It’s a short, slight song that’s decent enough but pretty unmemorable. It gives Tink a moment in the spotlight that Aran Macrae at least vocally really plays well, but it’s just not one of the best songs here.