26-year-old Patrick Bateman is sophisticated, rich and devastatingly handsome. He's got a sculpted body, a model-gorgeous girlfriend, a to-die-for apartment, and a Wall Street job in 1980s New York City. In short, his life's killer. There's just one snag in this dark vision of the American Dream... Patrick can't get the blood out of his $5000 suits.
Based on the best-selling novel by Bret Easton Ellis, and set in the epicenter of excess: 1980s Manhattan, this hit musical tells the story of Patrick Bateman, a young and handsome Wall Street banker with impeccable taste and unquenchable desires. Patrick and his elite group of friends spend their days in chic restaurants, exclusive clubs and designer labels. But at night, Patrick takes part in a darker indulgence, and his mask of sanity is starting to slip...
'American Psycho' is slick, sleek and empty, a one-joke show that drowns its message, such as it is, in red sauce and fake emotion...The book sticks fairly faithfully to Mr. Ellis's original ground plan. Es Devlin's projection-intensive minimalist sets are 100% white, silver and gray, and Duncan Sheik, lately of 'Spring Awakening,' has written a score consisting almost exclusively of faux-'80s techno-pop songs with parodistic lyrics...Mr. Walker, who was memorably charismatic in 'Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,' plays Bateman as a ripped hipster with a plummy radio-announcer voice, which is just right. Ms. Damiano is good, too-you'll actually feel for her character's plight, unlikely as it may sound-and everybody else in the cast does just what they're supposed to do, which usually means being as irritating as possible. Some of Mr. Sheik's songs are quite harmonically fresh...
It's consistently satirical, insistently techno (video projections illustrate the world of protagonist Patrick Bateman) and hyper-raunchy...Alas, there's no drawing blood from a stone. The weak link is Duncan Sheik's inaccessible score, which doesn't come near the level of 'Spring Awakening,' or his underrated 'Whisper House'...we witness a hodgepodge of prosaic production numbers, with surprisingly little gore...Walker's nailed the requisite mix of narcissism, rage and soullessness, even if his Bateman seems a more tender fella than that icicle Christian Bale, from the film...Alice Ripley...deserves better than what she gets here, a one-dimensional part as Patrick's mother...mass killings are routinely reported on our 65-inch flat-screens. This may be why 'American Psycho' failed to stir me: The notion that evil lurks where we may not expect to find it isn't shocking anymore.
2016 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Benjamin Walker |
2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Choreography | Lynne Page |
2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Costume Design for a Musical | Katrina Lindsay |
2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Director of a Musical | Rupert Goold |
2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design for a Musical | Justin Townsend |
2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Projection Design | Finn Ross |
2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Set Design for a Musical | Es Devlin |
2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical | Dan Moses Schreier |
2016 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Benjamin Walker |
2016 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical | American Psycho |
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Benjamin Walker |
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Costume Design (Play or Musical) | Katrina Lindsay |
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Musical | Rupert Goold |
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Helene Yorke |
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design (Play or Musical) | Justin Townsend |
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Musical | American Psycho |
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Score (Broadway or off-Broadway) | Duncan Sheik |
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Projection Design (Play or Musical) | Finn Ross |
2016 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Musical | Justin Townsend |
2016 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Musical | Es Devlin |
2016 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Musical | Finn Ross |
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