Duncan Sheik & Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa Set to Pen 'American Psycho' Musical

By: Feb. 02, 2010
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According to Variety, Duncan Sheik and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa are set to write a musical adaptation of 'American Psycho' based on the 1991 Bret Easton Ellis novel. Sheik is set to write the music and lyrics and Aguirre-Sacasa will pen the book.

Variety reports that "producers have said they expect the original score to share [an] '80s flavor" as the novel is set in that decade and makes several references to '80s popular music. The book and 2000 movie of the same title starring Christian Bale center on a "Wall Street banker who's also a serial killer."

Variety states that specific production timelines have not yet been set.

Duncan Sheik initially found success as a singer, most notably for his 1996 debut single, "Barely Breathing," which spent 55 weeks on Billboard's Hot 100. He has since expanded his work to include compositions for motion pictures and the Broadway stage. Sheik won two Tony Awards, as composer and arranger, for the Broadway production of Spring Awakening. Written with lyricist Steven Sater, Spring Awakening also received the Tony Award for Best Musical. Sheik is currently developing two new musical theater projects. Nero (Another Golden Rome) had a workshop production this summer at Vassar College, featuring Wicked star Idina Menzel and Spring Awakening ingénue Lea Michelle. The Nightingale is slated for a 2010 opening at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater. His latest, Whisper House, written with Kyle Jarrow, is currently playing at The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. His albums include "Duncan Sheik" (1996), "Humming" (1998), "Phantom Moon" (2001), "Daylight" (2002), "White Limousine" (2006), "Brighter/Later: A Duncan Sheik Anthology" (2006) and "Greatest Hits: A Duncan Sheik Collection" (2007).

Robert Aguirre-Sacasa is the author of the new radio play DOCTOR CERBERUS. Aguirre-Sacasa has, until recently, been an author for Marvel Comics. A graduate of Yale, he has seen his plays premiered at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington D.C., the Manhattan Theatre Club, and Steppenwolf in Chicago. DOCTOR CERBERUS will premiere with an L.A. Theatre Works taping and broadcast.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / Retna Ltd.


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