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...
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.
Sheik's music gives Bateman a soul. It's the nature of musical theater...Walker emerges as far more tortured than Bale, who becomes a touch more manic...Musicals need more narrative drive than movies, and Walker (with help from Aguirre-Sacasa) supplies it...Es Devlin's set design also provides a marvelous journey...Depending on how you look at 'American Psycho,' it's either horrifying or a hoot...Goold and his book writer sometimes scrape the bottom.
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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