Duncan Sheik To Score American Psycho Musical
By Travis Woods
Adding to the expanding list of oddball stage musical adaptations, Bret Easton Ellis’ highly controversial 1991 novel about yuppie serial murder, dismemberment and Huey Lewis fandom, American Psycho, will soon jump from page to screen to the stage according to Variety.
As if that intriguing intersection of pop culture elements weren’t enough, producers David Johnson, Craig Roessler and Jesse Singer have signed Duncan Sheik, a singer-songwriter best known for the 1996 hit “Barely Breathing” (and Tony Award-winning writer for the musical Spring Awakening), to pen the production’s music and lyrics.
American Psycho is Ellis’ darkly comic character study of a narcissistic Wall Street businessman who may or may not be moonlighting as an axe-wielding, Whitney Houston-loving serial killer. According to the trade, the producers “expect the original score to share that ’80s flavor,” while an enthusiastic Sheik has proclaimed, “what could be more subversive fun than murderous bankers breaking into song?”
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, a writer for HBO’s “Big Love,” will pen the script adaptation of American Psycho, which was memorably brought to the screen in 2000 by director Mary Herron and featured a frenzied performance by Christian Bale.
No word yet on casting, nor has an opening date or venue been announced, but we’ll let you know as soon as the information becomes available.
Who do you think should star as Patrick Bateman in the American Psycho musical? Is a stage adaptation a good idea?
