What’s black and white and has red splatters all over him? Patrick Bateman.
When you walk in to the theater Schoenfeld Theatre to see American Psycho, you instantly feel like you stepped in to a horror movie, with the creepy music playing in the background. The lights are dimmed but the stage is lit up in all white.
This musical thriller, set during the 1980’s era of Wall Street is directed by Rupert Goold (Macbeth, King Lear, Enron). American Psycho has music and lyrics by Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening) and a book by Aguirre-Sacasa.
It’s a singing, dancing, strangling, bloody musical adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s toxic best-seller American Psycho, a story about a malignant narcissist, with a rigorously depressing regimen– and he’s is a serial killer. This hilarious, disturbingly brilliant show features Benjamin Walker’s as Patrick Bateman. Walker is brilliant as he descends deeper into the madness of his deteriorating psyche. The cast, set, and scenery is thoroughly captivating. Get ready for a bloody disaster!
The show begins with Patrick Bateman showing off all his latest expensive gadgets (a Sony Walkman) and clothes. “My suit today is an ’80s drape from Alan Flusser,” he brags. “My tie is by Valentino Couture; my shoes are by A. Testoni. Underwear by Ralph Lauren.” He’s a big shot Wall Street mergers and acquisitions banker with an obsession for bloody horror movies. For the majority of the show he is in tighty whities, I was totally crushing on Patrick Bateman (Benjamin Walker).
When Patrick gets dressed and heads off to work, you see two fast-moving revolving floors. The Wall Street ensemble march robotically and the staging is consistently stylish. There are great performances by Helene Yorke, Morgan Weed, Krystina Alabado and Jennifer Damiano. The toe-tapping, chest-stabbing songs “Selling Out”, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” and “You Are What You Wear” are chilling and catchy, with great choreography. The costumes and the robotic dancing are extremely clever. All the music in the show is heart stopping.
American Psycho is bloody brilliant, go see it!