Following the opening of “American Psycho” on April 21, Patrick Bateman, the homicidal anti-hero of the new Duncan Sheik musical, may want to take a cleaver to some of the New York critics — namely Ben Brantley of the New York Times and Jesse Green of New York Magazine. But he would be dripping only with charm if he were to meet Elisabeth Vincentelli of the New York Post or Elysa Gardner of USA Today.In a four-star review, Gardner wrote: “Patrick — a young investment banker who moonlights as a serial killer — popped up on a London stage a few years ago, in a musical that actually proved more entertaining and poignant in its source. That show has now brought Patrick and his story home, and they’re scarier and more thrilling than ever.”The source that Gardner refers to is Brett Easton Ellis’s controversial 1991 novel, which was roundly excoriated and condemned for its depiction of violence toward women, especially by prominent feminists such as Gloria Steinem. When it came to the movie version, the producers put a woman at the helm, Mary Harron, who tapped Christian Bale as the sleek, label-conscious protagonist who epitomized the anomie and moral vacuity of the Reagan Era.When the Broadway version was announced, there was a lot of head scratching as to how anyone could translate the soulless gore at the story’s center into a musical idiom. Of course, there were precedents for shows about killers, courtesy of Stephen Sondheim, whose “Sweeney Todd” and “Assassins” successfully communicated the pathology driving their eponymous characters into murderous rage. What was key to those shows was the tone. And that was what troubled the critics who had reservations about “American Psycho.” Brantley wrote, “Though it often looks as carefully and cosmetically arranged as a window at Barney’s, Patrick’s favorite store … ‘American Pyscho’ is a mess. That’s not because of all that sloppy, sloshy blood, but because of its terminally undecided tone.” Melissa Rose Bernardo of Entertainment Weekly absolved that flaw in her review. “If you can resign yourself to the story’s innate ambiguity, you’re in for a perversely enjoyable experience.” Comparing it to the London production, she added that the show “… has gotten a lot bloodier. It’s also gotten a lot slicker, sharper, faster, and funnier.”Given the blowback from women’s groups to the novel, it’s somewhat ironic that the female critics have better received the Broadway musical than their male counterparts. A critical consensus, however, developed around Benjamin Walker’s performance. He has the chops, so to speak, to add nuance and complexity to the adaptation fashioned by writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and director Rupert Goold. Assuming the part played in London by Matt Smith (“Doctor Who”), the 33-year-old Walker makes good on the promise he has shown since his brilliantly deft Broadway turn in the 2010 production of “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.”Sheik’s pastiche score also came in for a number of plaudits, the satiric and urbane tone 180-degrees from his Tony-winning “Spring Awakening,” which expressed 19th-Century Teutonic teenage angst. Indeed, Sheik had the confidence to include iconic pop anthems from the time period, which feature prominently in the novel and film adaptation, such as “Hip to Be Square,” “In the Air Tonight,” and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.”The show had been doing relatively solid business in previews and it should cop a number of Tony nominations, including for Walker, Sheik, and Es Devlin’s highly praised sleek designs. Whether or not it can catch on with a wider audience depends to some extent on whether it can sell itself as “a date night show,” despite its decidedly unromantic nature. (Jennifer Damiano, as Bateman’s secretary who sees the good in the boy, has a couple of affecting numbers.) The New York Times’s Style section recently had a front-page story on the return of the ‘80s. Perhaps “American Psycho” can ride that wave. After all, one of the biggest laughs comes when Bateman expresses unqualified admiration for one of his bibles, written by one of his heroes: “The Art of the Deal” by Donald Trump.
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