AMERICAN PSYCHO Previews- Page 17

[Kad]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 8:52am

I saw this last night with ColorTheHours048 and agree that this is an entertaining mess. The production is slick and consistently surprising, full of interesting and weird visuals. I was glad to hear that there were a great deal of lyrical changes from what was on the London cast album- but the lyrics are still not great, nor is the score, and regardless of the decision to blast "Selling Out" as the audience exits, most people will end up only walk out whistling "Don't You Want Me" or "Everybody Wants to Rule the World."

The production skews toward camp, with its highly stylized scenes and production numbers of mass carnage, with really only few moments of genuine tension. The book often falls back on cheap 80s jokes or campy irony, and genuinely doesn't really hold up in the second half, where it has many weak adaptational choices (having Bateman leave his confessional message to the detective is strange). 

Walker, fortunately, has a superhuman ability to carry a show. He's sexy, charismatic, and exudes such star quality-  were it not for him and the slick production, this thing wouldn't be able to keep the plates all spinning. 

Helene York wrings every laugh she can out of Evelyn, mostly through off-kilter line readings (her pronunciation of "Patrick" alone gets laughs), and Jennifer Damiano impresses in a bland, mousey role. The male ensemble is stunningly gorgeous and get to show it off- a lot. It's a production with remarkably gay sensibility, really. 

I'm glad I saw it and I had a good time. I can't say it's a good musical. 

[sundaymourning6am]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 9:24am

This is not like Passing Strange in any way.

I saw it last night and I loved it. My non-theatre going boyfriend loved it as well - especially the score - because he loves EDM. We watched the movie a few weeks back and I'm about 30 pages from being done with the book. They definitely switched around the sequence of things but it works.

The lighting and projects are fantastic. The score is AWESOME and so much fun. The cast is amazing. They're all caricatures of actually people because they're super wealthy and shallow and basically hollow shells of people. I think it feels like that on purpose.

I thought the opening sequence was cool but it could've been more frightening.

The choreography and everything about the mass murder spree in Act 2 was executed perfectly. Alice Ripley really didn't have a whole lot to do but I can tell you that if you were being paid $3k/week (probably), you wouldn't care either. She knew what she signed on to. Maybe she just needed a job and needed to give her voice a rest. I really loved Drew Moerlein too as Paul Owen. 

I was sitting in the rear orchestra on the side and the view was great. I'd love to go back and sit in the front.

[florida theatre kid]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 9:57am

I'm seeing American Psycho mid-May and haven't looked this forward to a show in a while. Not only because I've enjoyed the press performance clips I've seen, but because every opinion on the show seems to be different! 

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 10:26am

I'm seeing this on Thursday and also can't wait. I think it's interesting because we debate so much on this board about "good" verses "enjoyable".  I would frankly take the later than something that's good on all levels but that doesn't make me sit up in my seat with excitement. 

[theatregeek6]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 3:10pm

I ALSO saw this last night (we should have had a meet and greet) and enjoyed it - oddly.  Agree with everyone that Act 1 is the stronger act by far.  I actually loved Skeik's songs and the classics and how they intertwined quite well.  It is truly dark comedy - but I found myself laughing way more than I thought I would.

Walker is excellent as Patrick, and even is nuanced when over-the-top.  Kudos also to Yorke and Weed, who were fabulous.  Damiano was fine in the role, but there were times...I don't know. Her voice is gorgeous.   I'll also go with Alice Ripley being miscast - she just isn't that good in the role and quite frankly her vocals are jarring against the rest of the cast.

Visually the show is stunning.  It does seem they cut some time - we were out well before 11.  I do wich Act 2 had just a little more of the energy of the first act

 

All in all, I had a good time, and will be back to see it again.

Updated On: 4/6/16 at 03:10 PM

[Debbie77]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 4:57pm

Agree with the missed opportunity for a meet and greet, as I was there too!

Pretty much agree with most, that show was really good (although my 23 year-old daughter was kind of meh).  I loved a lot of the ancient pop-culture references, she not so much.  Enjoyed the music, but can't say I was humming any song in particular afterwords.  Racy in parts, and not for the kiddies.  

I found the Mezz was super warm ( like someone mentioned last week).  Heat would've bothered me a lot more, if I hadn't been so into the show.   

 

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 11:05pm

Just back from seeing this tonight, and I thought it was absolutely thrilling.

I have no idea of this would work at all with a different director at the helm, but Rupert Goold's vision here is just extraordinary. The staging is genius, and the production elements are all truly stunning, and the cast is uniformly terrific,  with of course a special shout out to Ben Walker who is fabulous.

I would say the second act could still perhaps use a little trimming as it winds to a close  (and I would suggest the second Patrick and Jean scene after her visit to his apartment) but I was happily willing to buy all the rest.

 

What a fabulous season this has been. And I think it is so exciting that a musical as risky as this can find a place on Broadway. The show was almost sold out tonight, and while I'm sure will remain divisive, it's absolutely one of my highlights of the year. 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/7/16 at 3:50am

Question about the sexual imagery/projections that some have commented on...is it throughout the show or concentrated into a shorter section.  I have a group going and have one or two that might need a little warning.  TIA.

ALICE, quite the rave, you've made me even more excited for the show!

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 4/7/16 at 5:33am

Dramamama-  the entire show is heavily eroticized with several simulated sex sequences. It's all completely stylized, and non realistic and and there is no nudity in the production. But there are certainly a lot of (gorgeous) half naked bodies and "suggestions" of threesomes, gay sex, fetish sex, etc.  The projections are highly stylized as well. 

The show is basically one big sensory overload orgasm. But abstract, over the top, and completely theatrical. I I loved it.

 

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/7/16 at 10:07pm

Great photos of the show.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo-Flash-There-Will-Be-Blood-First-Look-at-AMERICAN-PSYCHO-on-Broadway-20160407

[RW3]

Posted: 4/7/16 at 10:42pm

Can Benjamin Walker get any hotter?

[oncemorewithfeeling2]

Posted: 4/7/16 at 10:45pm

I'm not sure. But he totally should just consider never wearing clothes on stage again so the hypothesis could be tested. For, you know, science and...stuff. Escalations about whether his costume should be smaller and what not.

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 4/8/16 at 12:26am

Just out of curiosity, has Benjamin Walker been signing any Playbills at the stage door?

I once met him at his ''Find the Funny'' comedy show at the Public, and he was quite friendly.

 

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/8/16 at 12:37am

songanddanceman2 said: "Great photos of the show.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo-Flash-There-Will-Be-Blood-First-Look-at-AMERICAN-PSYCHO-on-Broadway-20160407

But no blood in the pics. This is the problem I have with this show.  They are touting blood but you really only get tbe blood in one sceme amd then bloody clothing.

"

 

[haterobics]

Posted: 4/8/16 at 12:45am

uncageg said: "But no blood in the pics. This is the problem I have with this show.  They are touting blood but you really only get tbe blood in one sceme amd then bloody clothing."

 

Yeah, they really need to synchronize the actual show with BWW headlines more...

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 4/8/16 at 5:13am

I personally felt the violence in the show was the appropriate amount for a musical.  Could they potentially increase the actual amount of liquid blood in the moments where they use it? Sure, why not, but there is also the semantics of practicality since it also has to be cleared quickly.

As far as the pictures go, if they showed the bloody moments, they would also be giving away some of the more striking staging and visual moments of the performance. The press pictures for a show should tease, but not reveal everything in my view. These pics are evocative but they only hint at what you see in performance.

[sundaymourning6am]

Posted: 4/8/16 at 10:31am

Why did the show hire someone with the photography skills of a high school student to take the photos? Goddamn. Those photos are AWFUL. They do not accurately represent the show at all. Where's Joan Marcus when you need her?

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 4/8/16 at 10:31am

I actually love the production photos. They're much better than most show's production photos... Are you Joan Marcus?

[sundaymourning6am]

Posted: 4/8/16 at 10:35am

Nope! I wish. Man, that'd be cool.

I'm glad you like them because I think they make the show look very small and they're kind of grainy and awful quality. They would not have encouraged me to see the show. 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/8/16 at 10:37am

Maybe they took the pictures with a camera from the 80s. 

[RW3]

Posted: 4/8/16 at 7:50pm

Oops.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Broadways-AMERICAN-PSYCHO-Needs-a-Blood-Splash-Zone-20160408

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 4/8/16 at 7:55pm

^ Yikes! That's going to be one costly cleaning bill, but probably worth it for the PR of that article. Guess that's one way to respond to people who don't think they are throwing enough blood around the stage.

[BOM]

Posted: 4/8/16 at 7:57pm

I mean Andrew Rannels spit on me in hedwig and you didn't see me crying about it. 

[hedwigbway]

Posted: 4/8/16 at 8:02pm

I was in the front row last night. The blood got pretty close to those right in the center but I don't think it hit anyone. The people sitting in the dead center of the front row got a warning by the usher that there MIGHT be some blood splattered. So I guess they've fixed that issue, but are taking precaution so as to not pay any more cleaning bills!

Also, it's not the production thats touting blood. That would be social media.

[Kad]

Posted: 4/8/16 at 8:45pm

Granted, I saw this from the mezz, but... I am rather confused as to how blood could have possibly gotten on anyone in the audience. From "Killing Spree"?