American Psycho: The Musical

EDIT: This was my first draft at it. I can't quite bring myself to delete it, but I did enjoy doing a more focused piece for PopWrapped, a website I write for.
You can find it HERE

Or you can read the rest of this (again)






No, seriously.

After a great deal of strife, I managed to wangle tickets for American Psycho: The Musical. Naturally, I was almost solely into it because Matt Smith was playing the lead, but after tickets went on sale, I decided I needed to be fully educated on the story. So I read the book, and whilst Matt Smith was still a key factor, the book was wonderfully well written and, though horrifying and repulsive for pages on end, I truly enjoyed it. The film was less of a success with me, but I still enjoyed it in parts.

So to start, as both a fan of the book and a fan of the wonderful Matt Smith, I knew the Almeida Theatre's production of American Psycho: The Musical was going to tick boxes; what I wasn't quite prepared for was how many boxes it was about to tick.

The Almeida Theatre, nestled on Almeida Street, Islington, is a wonderful modern theatre for 350 people. Normally, I would be the type to moan about a modern theatre - I'm more of one for grand old architecture -  but the Almeida really was the perfect place for the production. The size of the theatre kept the show intimate and meant that the audience was fully immersed in the performance, even getting involved at times when the wonderfully smarmy Paul Owen (Ben Aldridge) decided to shake hands with many giggling spectators, and even when Patrick Bateman himself (Matt Smith) decided to hop into a spare seat on the front row.

The staging itself was sleek and simple, the stage never too crowded by props, never detracting from the small but perfectly picked cast. 

But, down to the nitty gritty - the show itself. I'd read reviews saying that the show did not, as many shows do, shy away from the film - instead, it embraced it. I found that the show embraced the ridiculous (and therefore humorous) parts of the film (and I guess the book - "Do you like Huey Lewis and the News?") and made them funnier. But it also captured the haunting emptiness and lack of morality from the book that at times I felt like the movie just forgot. It's a book, a film, a show, about a psychopath in a society where he can only define himself, and indeed anyone, by material goods. A man who can only find satisfaction in acts of sheer depravity. I think the following quote (don't worry - I highlighted the bits I think are most important) really highlights what Patrick Bateman is:

“…there is an idea of a Patrick Bateman, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there. It is hard for me to make sense on any given level. Myself is fabricated, an aberration. I am a noncontingent human being. My personality is sketchy and unformed, my heartlessness goes deep and is persistent. My conscience, my pity, my hopes disappeared a long time ago (probably at Harvard) if they ever did exist. There are no more barriers to cross. All I have in common with the uncontrollable and the insane, the vicious and the evil, all the mayhem I have caused and my utter indifference toward it, I have now surpassed. I still, though, hold on to one single bleak truth: no one is safe, nothing is redeemed. Yet I am blameless. Each model of human behavior must be assumed to have some validity. Is evil something you are? Or is it something you do? My pain is constant and sharp and I do not hope for a better world for anyone. In fact, I want my pain to be inflicted on others. I want no one to escape. But even after admitting this—and I have countless times, in just about every act I’ve committed—and coming face-to-face with these truths, there is no catharsis. I gain no deeper knowledge about myself, no new understanding can be extracted from my telling. There has been no reason for me to tell you any of this. This confession has meant nothing….”

I feel that this was captured truly masterfully by Matt Smith. Perfected no doubt during his days of playing the Doctor, the perfect dichotomy of both warrior and saviour, of hope and hopelessness, Smith is capable of a wholly empty look in his eyes that seems to scream of a struggle, an aching emptiness, within. Whilst Bateman's battle may not be quite the same as the Doctor's inner struggles, Smith seems to have perfected playing the struggling and torn leading man. Like Christian Bale, he captures the psychotic nature of Bateman skillfully, yet there is a genius element of sadness, of hopelessness, that takes Smith's portrayal just one step further.

That's probably enough fan-girling for now... 

Musically, the show was wonderful, and has left me desperately begging for a soundtrack to be released. It features some of the artists and songs the book mentions, playing songs such as Hip To Be Square and Everybody Wants To Rule The World. The cast also sing In The Air Tonight - giving it a far more haunted tone than I imagine Phil Collins ever really expected. The songs written for the show capture the show's mix of humour and haunting; with songs like You Are What You Wear (Let's be clear/There's nothing ironic/About our love of/Manolo Blahnik) (I will not touch a drop of red wine/Don't wanna ruin the Calvin Klein) still making me laugh six days on, whilst songs like I'm Not A Common Man bring us back down to Bateman's world. There is even a touching song for Jean, Bateman's receptionist, who, as Bateman never lets us forget in the book, is in love with him, bringing an element of emotion to a story so otherwise void of it.

I have seen some rather negative reviews complaining of the lack of real on-stage gore and violence, with only one real scene of a murder happening on stage (the murder of the homeless guy early on). Personally, for a stage show, I found the production's representation of the murders far more effective. Particularly memorable is the fate of Veronica, who, upon telling Bateman that his David Onica painting is upside down, is subsequently crucified with a nail gun. The event is narrated by an onstage Bateman, whilst Veronica, played by Lucie Jones, goes from laughing to a freeze frame with her arm out as if crucified, a single nail through her palm. I found this kind of representation far more impressive, and due to the speed with which it went from her laughter to her silent freeze, far more haunting than an embarrassing episode involving a messy amount of fake blood which certain reviewers apparently craved. 

The show is sold out for the rest of its run, and with good reason in my opinion. If I was in control, I'd probably take the microphone out that Bateman is given for a couple of moments - I imagine it's supposed to be incredibly cool and symbolic but I just found it a bit awkward and unnecessary. However, I'm just being very, very picky. I've since downloaded the interactive programme from the theatre in order to listen to You Are What You Wear and Mistletoe Alert, and I can't stop listening to them. 

The show is a massive success for the Almeida, and surely a West End transfer is calling for one of the most unlikely musicals ever. 

Here's hoping anyway.... I'd kill to see it again (Bad American Psycho puns are always appreciated).