AMERICAN PSYCHO Is A Masterpiece

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 12:59am

To be honest, I didn't have much of a desire to see this show. I adore the book and the film is one of my all-time favorites and I didn't think it made sense to musicalize it. I just couldn't imagine it working or being necessary to tell this story, but man was I wrong. It maybe took me 2-3 minutes to be fully engrossed in this show and to be completely immersed in the world created on the stage. The white set used as a blank canvas for the projections which transported us into every scene in Patrick's head was genius. It was the best use of projections ever and sets a new bar for any show using them after this.


Even if I try really hard, I can't think of anything I would change in this show. Not one thing. I think it's perfect and and is the most remarkable thing I can remember seeing in a very long time. I sat in the mezz tonight and want to go back next week and sit as close as I possibly can, so that I can be "in" this world. It was bloody and true to the story and didn't hold back like I had expected it to and along with Walker's PERFECT portrayal of Patrick, this is the show I will remember the 2015-2016 season for.  

[haterobics]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 1:01am

Sweet. I am a huge BEE fan, and this is my next Broadway show, for sure. Unless I win Broadway's version of Powerball someday before then...

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 1:04am

I was thinking about this though - If you know the story, especially the ending, you're going to have a completely different experience watching this. I actually think people should watch the movie before seeing this show. 

[Alessio2]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 8:51am

Agreed! Just saw it a couple of nights ago and was pretty blown away and I was very skeptical going in. The only thing I thought was bizarre was that Tom Cruise scene. That seriously needs to go!

[Drewski Vanderbilt]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 9:10am

Couldn't say it more perfectly, I loved everything about this show, I can't believe I actually saw this show because it almost felt like a dream.

[Drewski Vanderbilt]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 9:10am

Couldn't say it more perfectly, I loved everything about this show, I can't believe I actually saw this show because it almost felt like a dream.

[JM226]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 9:20am

as a huge AMERICAN PSYCHO fan, this show was some of the worst garbage i have ever seen. i was sorely disappointed and did not feel they were able to match the appropriate tone of both the film and book on stage. a majorly wasted opportunity that could have been successful with a more adept creative team.  pass! 

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 9:23am

I wholeheartedly agree with everything wrote. The show is mind blowing. 

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 9:31am

I left the show with my head spinning, not quite sure what the hell I had just seen, but I've been able to sit with it and the London album for a few weeks and I loved it so much. 

[nolanativeny]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 9:50am

I can't stop thinking about it. I love love love it and think it's one of the best, most exciting and interesting musicals I have ever seen. Plus Bret Easton Ellis (novel author) approves of it, which I don't think he liked the movie. 

 

The overtly tongue-in-cheek tone somewhat irked me the first time, as I don't really get that sense from the novel (novel seems more deadpan satirical). But I think it definitely works for the show. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 9:54am

I think the show is a mix of what's great in the novel plus what's great in the film. It would be amazing if Tony voters recognized this as the actual best new musical of the season. It won't happen, but it should.

[haterobics]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 10:33am

JM226 said: "did not feel they were able to match the appropriate tone of both the film and book on stage. "

Aren't those two different things, though?

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 11:12am

I've already spoken of my admiration for this musical in the preview thread, but basically feel - especially now with a week to sit on it, that this is the type of musical, like CABARET that some see its brilliance in its initial production, and some discover it years later. 

I for one am thrilled I got to see and appreciate it now.  Divisive as it may be now, this will go down in Broadway history as a legendary production.

I actually went back this week and watched the film of AMERICAN PSYCHO and was, after the musical, rather disappointed in in.  I had forgotten how episodic and disjointed it is, and frankly, Christian Bale's performance under Mary Harron's stylized direction seems now almost like a parody of serial killer scary rather than being in any way truly unnerving. And the film has virtually no violence.  Those complaining that the musical isn't graphic enough, I think are forgetting how little blood you actually see in the movie.

What AMERICAN PSYCHO has done on stage - especially in it's debated second act - is that it has given the character of Patrick Bateman an emotional arc and it has turned the story into a cautionary morality tale.  That is a departure from the novel - but a classic theatrical element that, in my opinion, actually gives the story legs other than simply being a stylized satire with no there-there, which is how I viewed the film after watching it again.

Updated On: 4/20/16 at 11:12 AM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 11:20am

I don't see it as being turned into a morality tale. Can you expand on why you think that?

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 11:25am

Really great to hear. We have tickets for Monday night-- 2nd row seats since someone on the other thread mentioned getting sweet views of boys under-regions from there. (Hey, if we can't be pervy at a show like AMERICAN PSYCHO, where can we be then?)

No, seriously, we're totally going 'cause Jordan says it's a true masterpiece.

Updated On: 4/20/16 at 11:25 AM

[ggersten]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 11:35am

Do any of you think this means Hamilton has some competition for Best Musical?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 11:38am

LOL. No. Jesus Christ could write a musical and it still wouldn't beat HAMILTON this year. 

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 11:50am

Jordan -- regarding my statement about it being a morality tale, I think it is partly just a natural extension of the story being told as a first person narrative for a live, present audience that gives it that quality.

But to elaborate -- though its up for interpretation, I believe the murders are all complete fantasies in Patrick's head. They are his sole mental escape from the trap of the world he lives in.  But in the end, when the fantasies are dismissed, Bateman is left with no choice but to acquiesce to the prison of that mundane world.

The lyrics to "This is Not an Exit" overtly state:

Even if this story
Is overwrought and gory
It’s not a fable, it’s not an allegory
No cautionary tale, no momento mori

But of course, like everything else Patrick says, this is a complete contradiction.  The piece is an allegory, because, even though it is presented under the rouse of it being a satire of 1980s indulgence, the piece is actually still commenting on the pampered lifestyle of the average Broadway theatergoer / New Yorker, who  has spent 145 dollars for their ticket and 50 bucks for overpriced drinks at intermission and needs to rush home quickly after the show to get up at 5AM to go work out with their personal trainer the next morning.

In other words, the musical brilliantly works as a morality tale because we believe we watch it as pure entertainment, not realizing that underneath its excessive symbolism, its actually (like the original production of CABARET) holding a mirror up, and commenting on all of us watching it.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 11:56am

Ah, I see what you mean now. And put that way, to a point, I do agree with you. And your mirroring it to CABARET is very interesting. And while it would be very easy to just write that statement off since CABARET is considered a classic and a masterpiece on its own, if one takes a minute to actually think about it, the similarities do hold up.

 

That's a really interesting thought...

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 12:03pm

When I compare the piece to CABARET, I guess I should also say, I am drawing specific similarities to 'this production' of AP and the original Hal Prince staging of CABARET in 1966, which was by all accounts highly abstract, unusual and divisive for audiences at that time.  I think many who saw the show in 1966 would be shocked to see how beloved (and mainstream) the show has become.  It was ahead of its time and I think AMERICAN PSYCHO is as well.

Updated On: 4/20/16 at 12:03 PM

[MartyO49]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 12:59pm

Saw it last night and enjoyed it but was surprised how small Alice Ripley's part was..Does anyone know if material had been cut?  Benjamin Walker was brilliant

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 1:03pm

Alice Ripley's part has been discussed pretty much ad naseum on these boards already. But no, apparently her role is no larger or smaller than it was in London, and presumably she signed on for the adventure regardless.

[Cupid Boy2]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 1:09pm

I know no one in this particular thread is really scrutinizing her choice to become involved in the show like in some of the other threads, but I found this tweet of hers to be a humorous response to whatever flack she must be getting for it.

https://twitter.com/RIPLEYTHEBAND/status/721862581460340737

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 10:27pm

Love that tweet. And maybe she sees what I see in the show and just needed to be part of it. 

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/20/16 at 11:03pm

Glad it seems to be getting people's attention in the states. It's s truly unique exciting piece of theatre, I pray the critics like it, it deserves to run.