AMERICAN PSYCHO Previews- Page 7

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 3/27/16 at 10:57am

I've just listened to the London cast album. The women seem to translate better to musical theater language than the men. Their songs are the ones that stood out to me. 

I haven't read the book and couldn't get through the movie. What I've gleaned from the score is that Patrick Bateman is a static character. He's the same blank/psycho in the opening number as the closing. The score indicates no build to an Epiphany. No gradual descent into madness. The corporate rivals are set up in act one as How to Succeed/Gentleman's Guide style antagonists but by Act Two:

 

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He seems to be killing off the nameless women's chorus while the principal cast sings ballads about how much they love or worry about him.

Benjamin Walker may prove a more dynamic performer than Matt Smith but does the material give him anything to work with?

Updated On: 3/27/16 at 10:57 AM

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 3/27/16 at 10:58am

Techno? I'm pretty sure it ain't that. 

[UrNotAMachine]

Posted: 3/27/16 at 11:13am

I haven't read the book and couldn't get through the movie. What I've gleaned from the score is that Patrick Bateman is a static character.

 

He's not a static character, though. His arc is a complicated one but I assume that most of his metamorphosis in the show is done in the scenes without music and not really through the songs. There are glimmers of his arc throughout the soundtrack and the Finale "This is Not an Exit" is the endpoint of his arc. I think most of the change in Patrick is done through dialogue.. 

SPOILERS:

One of the main points of the story is that there isn't any real catharsis for Patrick, though. He doesn't break free of anything, there is no exit.

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 3/27/16 at 11:53am

His arc is a decent into madness and violence (either real or imagined) in the face of a growing disgust for the world and people around him.  But like all Brett Easton Ellis characters he is trapped in that world of shallow excess and emotional disconnection.  No characters in his novels have happy endings. 

[AndersonTours]

Posted: 3/27/16 at 12:10pm

songanddanceman2 said: "Techno? I'm pretty sure it ain't that. 

 

"

It's that incessant electric drum machine. 80's music. Forgive my ignorance if that's not techno.

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 3/27/16 at 12:14pm

In the 80s we called that 'synth-pop'

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/27/16 at 12:27pm

And it's perfectly appropriate for this material.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 3/27/16 at 2:17pm

It's not just appropriate it's the only way this musical could be done, it's a great score.

[pupscotch]

Posted: 3/27/16 at 3:25pm

Has anyone rushed this show yet? What is the rush like?

[scripps]

Posted: 3/27/16 at 3:53pm

I rushed yesterday morning. I arrived a bit later than expected at 10 AM, and I'd say there were about 30 people ahead of me. Luckily enough, I was able to get a $37 partial view seat in the front orchestra for the matinee.

I can only echo what the majority on this thread are saying in that I loved what I saw. It needs tightening and I found myself relating what was on stage vs. the movie vs. the book at times, but I cannot wait to see this again after it's frozen. Ben Walker, who I was incredulous of when cast, completely won me over several minutes into the show. Do we know if this will be receiving an original Broadway cast recording? 

[jkstheatrescene]

Posted: 3/28/16 at 8:31am

I keep hearing about the startling beginning of the show... What happens?  I want to be prepared... heat condition here. 

 

I realize I'm asking for a spoiler here, so if someone would PM me, I'd appreciate it!

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 3/28/16 at 9:31am

Can someone post the understudy list? Thanks.

[FelineOfAveB2]

Posted: 3/28/16 at 9:38am

Hi! Went Saturday night and I, too, reiterate the positive sentiment of AP. If you haven't seen it yet, don't go by the press clips. It is much better in context in the production. I can see where things need to be tightened, but this seems like it will do very well once it is frozen.

One thing that I hope they clean up (and this may be just me) is this looooooong, drawn-out conversation between Patrick and Jean in Act two. Up until that point, the show runs at a great pace and then as if screeches to a much slower pace. Thankfully it picks up again after that, but that's is one thing that stuck out to me.

I truly TRULY hope they get a lot of love once the Tony's start because they deserve it. It will VERY interesting to see how they work the leading man category with so many deserving a nod this season.

Anywhoo, that's my recap... go see it!

Updated On: 3/28/16 at 09:38 AM

[phan24]

Posted: 3/28/16 at 9:44am

jkstheatrescene said: "I keep hearing about the startling beginning of the show... What happens?  I want to be prepared... heat condition here. 

 

I realize I'm asking for a spoiler here, so if someone would PM me, I'd appreciate it!

 

"

 

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The opening scene shows Patrick Bateman's sleek apartment behind a full proscenium plastic see-through scrim shielding the audience from the fog that fills up the whole stage. Then you see a hand reach out into the scrim and all you see is the hand and arm, when suddenly a very very loud thunder sound is heard and everything goes dark (very effective).

Then you see Patrick Bateman appear in tighty whities as he performs the opening number, which is also cause for a heatstroke IMO :P

The show is worth it for the opening number, the rest needs some tightening.

 

Updated On: 3/28/16 at 09:44 AM

[jkstheatrescene]

Posted: 3/28/16 at 12:08pm

Thank you!  Now that I know, it won't startle me too badly.

 

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Mmm... and BW in tighty whities? Extra meds before the show are in order!  

 

[DB13]

Posted: 3/28/16 at 3:15pm

Like many of the others on this thread, I'd like to reiterate the positive sentiment going around about PSYCHO. The best way I can describe why it works is by linking to this Everyday Broadway article, which I think explains it well: http://www.everydaybroadway.com/american-psycho-works-musical/. (Side note: this is a pretty new site, but they have some great blog-style pieces. Totally visit and subscribe.) 

Gosh, the thing I appreciate the most is that they just pick a direction for the show and STICK TO IT. It does such a good job of juxtaposing Patrick's madness with the excess of the 80's and it is just done in such a stylish way. Besides Hamilton, this is probably the show to see if you want a unique theatrical experience on Broadway this year. 

[A Canadian in NYC]

Posted: 3/28/16 at 3:28pm

DB13 said: "Like many of the others on this thread, I'd like to reiterate the positive sentiment going around about PSYCHO. The best way I can describe why it works is by linking to this Everyday Broadway article, which I think explains it well: http://www.everydaybroadway.com/american-psycho-works-musical/. (Side note: this is a pretty new site, but they have some great blog-style pieces. Totally visit and subscribe.) 

Gosh, the thing I appreciate the most is that they just pick a direction for the show and STICK TO IT. It does such a good job of juxtaposing Patrick's madness with the excess of the 80's and it is just done in such a stylish way. Besides Hamilton, this is probably the show to see if you want a unique theatrical experience on Broadway this year. 

 

I am so happy and relieved to be reading the positive reviews... I've got a ticket for June.  I was super excited when I heard it was coming to Broadway and announced the cast, but then when they released those videos I started to get worried...

Now I'm back looking forward to it - love LOVE a unique theatrical experience :)

 

[LightsOut90]

Posted: 3/28/16 at 3:37pm

was advised by someone connected with the show to wait til after opening to see it as they are doing massive amounts of work to it during previews.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 3/28/16 at 4:09pm

LightsOut90 said: "was advised by someone connected with the show to wait til after opening to see it as they are doing massive amounts of work to it during previews."

 

I've heard they want to try and cut about 25 minutes from the show. The running time seems to be the biggest complaint.

[ChiTheaterFan]

Posted: 3/28/16 at 5:12pm

Picked up tickets to this as my Sunday night show at the end of April. Right after it opens. Looking forward to it. 

 

For those who are interested this discount code has some pretty good orchestra availability. I didn't check the cheaper seats but I got a rear center orchestra seat for I think $79 or something. Thought that was pretty good for the location. A better seat than I often get through TKTS. http://www.theatermania.com/broadway/discount-tickets/american-psycho_311491/

Posted: 3/28/16 at 6:47pm

 

American Psycho the musical is a fascinating show...I'm just not sure it's a very good one. And although I applaud producers trying to find edgy, adult, subject matter for the Broadway Musical  stage where dancing animals and pastiche seem to be the new normal, one has to wonder why they chose Bret Easton Ellis' cult classic book; more importantly did they ask themselves the question...DOES THIS IDEA SING? After seeing a preview performance of the the show last night my answer is no, I don't think they did. And unfortunately for the cast and creatives, this is the problem that plagues some actual good art that is happening on the Schoenfeld stage and may make American Psycho the flop of the season.

 

Duncan Sheik's music is cool. He finds a way to give a nod to the synth music of the 1980s while also creating something modern that I'm not sure Broadway has ever seen at the same time. His lyrics wittingly represent the yuppie New Yorkers of the era with a lot of humor. The joke ends quickly, however and the lists of fashion icons, trendy night clubs, and fancy restaurants only reach the surface of these characters that prevents us from feeling invested in them. The tricky thing to remember here is that this is by design...these characters are far too narcissistic to actually reveal their real inner emotions. But isn't that what a good musical does; reveal the true emotions of people? Brilliant or bad idea? Hard to say. Fortunately, the few times we get truly inside a characters head it is from the lead characters Patrick Bateman's. Plus Sheik's melodies have such a yearning quality that even though the characters aren't saying how they feel you feel it through the sound.

 

Fans of Bateman will be very pleased with Benjamin Walker talking the torch from Christian Bale. He understands the surface unemotional, unmoved attitude of the character very well and scores many laughs with his bougie accent. For this character to be believable he needs to have great sex appeal and walker is dripping with it from his great physique to his masculine rangy baritone. He's giving a real performance here letting Patrick's rage and vulnerability come out in small spurts. He is perfectly cast. The other major standout is Helene Yorke as Patrick's spoiled, gratingly vain girlfriend. She finds the humor in this woman's behavior and squeezes every laugh she can find out if it. The chorus feels young and inexperienced. The bits they plan don't work well and their dancing feels silly and a bit amateur (the choreography isn't helping). Jennifer Damiano (looking gorgeous btw) is lifeless as Patrick's Secretary Jean. She has the shows most beautiful song and seems to struggle for the high noties  or whatever vocal style the song requires. But the biggest disappointment is seeing Tony Award Winner Alice Ripley in a small thankless role of Bateman's mother and others. It's an insult to her talent for sure. One wonders why she took the role. Are there just not roles for older women being written?

 

Roberto Aguirre Sacasa (a very good playwright btw) has written a book that finds the right mood to this dark fantasy, but structurally doesn't tell a great story. A day later I'm still not sure what we re supposed to walk away with at the end of the show. He doesn't answer the why for the Audience and so we flounder through most of it trying to figure out Patrick's motives. Plus the decision to make 90% of Bateman's murders happen in one big production number becomes more camp than horror.  There is one truly horrific scene at The end of act one in which Bateman kills his frenemy Paul Owen with an ax. A modern designed plexiglass scrim is lowered to the foot of the stage that shields the audience from the soon to be splatters of blood as Bateman hacks Owen to bits ...great suspense: unfortunately there is almost no suspense in this story afterwards, but it's desperately needed. Another reason why a musical doesn't seem to be the perfect fit...a film can create that with camera alone. Plus Duncan's music doesn't create suspense the way the great Sondheim does in Sweeney Todd.

 

Then of course the ending negates everything we've just been through which is harder to make work in the theater, a far too visceral medium to say at the end, "this actually didn't happen, gottcha!" And the way he does it is far too drawn out (the creative team knows this and will fix it) and doesn't leave it up to the audience to decide if he actually committed the murders like the film does so brilliantly with the notebook of Patrick's violent sketches keeping it very ambiguous.  Don't get me wrong, it's not a terrible book for this kind of tough material. His use of the word faggot will turn people off even tbough it's era and character appropriate. 

 

The direction works better in Goold's production. He skirts the line of camp though in many of the scenes but is bright enough to know how when and where to Maintain it. There is lots of fun to be had here, from a tanning bed popping out of the floor to an Areal shot of yuppies hanging out on beach chairs in the hamptons. But act 2 goes a bit too far by having Bateman strip down to his underwear at the brink of madness as he keeps getting more and more spattered with his victims blood. They keep him in this state way too long, almost to the end of the show. I'm  guessing this is to show how far off the deep end he's gotten, but it ruins some otherwise serious moments because all you are doing is staring at his blood covered body and hoping he doesn't get it on other characters who he is touching and kissing even (not since Carrie anyone?) he also uses the supporting cast as a Greek chorus  far too much and far too carelessly which again teeters on camp.

 

The design is mostly a stand out. With a see through plexiglass scrim letting you peer into Bateman's stark white modern minimal apartment with sleek black leather chairs and two shelves up to the ceiling on the right and left walls lined with video cassettes all labeled with an ocd perfectness in black marker. A skylight straight out of architectural digest caps the apartment. The now dated horizontal strip blinds cover the upstage wall of his apartment opening and closing and even switching sides to let in light and give us peekaboo looks at what's behind them. Two circular conveyer belts one stage right and one stage left bring on set pieces entering the downstage right and left doors and exiting the upstage right and left doors. The effect changes the scene to Patrick's office, to friends apartments, to the hamptons in seconds it even brings on people and carries them off.

 

The lighting and projections help greatly taking inspiration from the neon light scapes of James Turrell and the sexually explicit but humorous art work of Bruce Numan (both 1980's contemporary art darlings). There are color and videos surprises around every corner.

 

The costumes are handsome and elegant, a hard thing to pull off considering almost every notable designer calls the 1980's the worst era for fashion in the twentieth century.  The cast looks expensively dressed and surprisingly not costumed which is a good thing.  The club scenes have the chorus looking a bit too camp though.

 

Unfortunately, the choreography and musical staging is just so trite and over the top parody of 1980s everyday and club life that it ruins almost every number. An orgy is treated like it was staged for a drag bar, a killing spree like this is a zombie apocalypse musical. This is really a problem for the show...like spring awakening it needs a type of movement that is a unique language for these characters and this world. The taste level goes to an all time low here.   

 

The horror/suspense genre is a tough one to make work in any medium, but ESPECIALLY the theater. Unless you translate camera techniques for the stage it's hard to set a pace that actually scares or surprises people. Film directors go  through dozens of different edits to get the timing and mood right. Goold has not done that here. Honestly, this show might benefit from even MORE camp humor, make it a send up of the material as opposed to an earnest attempt, that could work. But as is, American Pscho the musical just doesnt work and that's because like Rocky from last season, it doesn't sing. It has no chance of gaining a commercial following....it's controversial without being poignant. It will polarize instead of excite audiences. The night I went the audience was hooting and hollering in the middle of numbers.  You have to remember that this book film is considered a cult classic and has an underground following and that is where I think it will stay....a show for small companies to do around Halloween.

 

Updated On: 3/28/16 at 06:47 PM

[ArtMan]

Posted: 3/28/16 at 7:52pm

ChiTheaterFan, thank you for posting that.  Because of you I was able to get that discount and found my Waitress code.  However i did discover there was a Color Purple code after I purchased my tickets.  The price was the same, but i would have been three rows closer.  Originally, I was going to rush these shows and now i have purchased 5 of 6 shows.  Again, thank you.

[Drewski Vanderbilt]

Posted: 3/28/16 at 11:40pm

Just saw the preview tonight! It was spectacular!! I loved every minute! The beginning is pretty spectacular and it rose way above my expectations! I can't wait to see this again! This could possibly get a couple of tony noms for artistic direction and music, the music on the recording doesn't live up to what this show offers and I think more people need to see this show, BUT WARNING! LOTS OF SWEARING LOUD NOISES AND FLASHING STROBE LIGHTS!

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 12:31am

I saw it tonight and wished all the delight I felt at the dark humor in act 1 could've happened again in act 2. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. The cast is fantastic, the set is amazing, the score is so 80s in the best way! (I've never seen the movie nor read the book, so I hope that didn't hinder my experience -- but I also don't feel like an adaptation needs to have been researched by the consumer.)

As someone who was alive and coherent through all of the 80s, the feel of the era was very authentic and well-represented. But I'm still thinking about the show because honestly I'm not entirely sure what to make of it (pretty unusual for me).

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 12:31am

How is the front row for this show? Is the stage high?