I had been pre-warned before going into this show – mostly by people who hadn’t seen this musical, but had either seen the movie or read the book, or both. American Psycho, they said, is gory. It is nasty. It is brutal. It’s about this guy, Patrick Bateman, who basically goes around killing people, with a knife, rather than a gun, the latter being the stereotypically American weapon of choice. Bret Easton Ellis’ 1991 novel, I was reliably informed, also references Donald Trump multiple times, so I went in knowing that any references to him in a 2026 musical production were likely to be nods to the source material rather than a contrived attempt at making a fictional story set in the Wall Street boom of 1989 relevant and contemporary to a 2026 audience.
I suspect much, if not all, of the audience on the night I attended had also been briefed, one way or another – there were no walkouts as far as I could discern. Yes, there were copious amounts of on-stage blood, but ultimately no more than one might see at a production of Macbeth or an episode of BBC Television’s Casualty. I had expected to see a massacre, and when it finally happened, it came in the form of a song and dance. Indeed, why not? It’s a musical, after all, with twenty-two songs listed in the show’s programme.
Here’s the thing, though: whilst the songs were commensurate with the era, they didn’t add much to the narrative, even if audience members old enough to remember the likes of ‘Everybody Wants To Rule the World’ and ‘In The Air Tonight’ were able to enjoy the nostalgic feel of such tunes. Remarks about how a show would be so much better if all the songs were taken out is usually the preserve of those who dislike musicals as a genre in the first place. But when there are lyrics such as, “Thank god, New York City / That Long Island is pretty sh*tty”, it’s hard not to wonder if this two-act musical ought to be a one-act play. It didn’t quite get to the point where one of the key lines in the show, “Abandon hope all ye who enter here”, became a metaphor for the production – and to be fair, the two-hour fifty-minute running time (there is an interval) went by fairly speedily, even if the gentleman sat next to me kept glancing at his watch in the second half of the second half. In the end, though, the story only advances in spoken word, with the musical numbers, at best, reinforcing the spoken dialogue. At worst, some songs serve no narrative purpose whatsoever.
The problem with going to a show expecting ‘blood’, ‘gore’ and ‘Donald Trump’ is that this production ends up being rather tame in comparison to expectations. The costumes, and there were plenty of them, were in line with descriptions and depictions of high-net-worth New York professionals wearing designer labels – Patrick Bateman (Arty Froushan) even tells the audience the brand name of his underwear. The show goes some way to portray materialistic lifestyles, but it is not entirely about the money: who can secure tables at short notice at posh restaurants fully booked months in advance, for instance, is down to who knows whom.
It was easy enough to laugh or even sneer at how the other half (or perhaps the other one per cent) live. An entire musical number, appropriately called ‘Cards’, is devoted to vain businessmen comparing the look and feel of one another’s business cards. And yet, it is Bateman himself who sours his own birthday party by turning a group conversation towards a discourse on social injustice and global inequalities. The other moment of supposed humanity in Bateman comes after inviting his unassuming secretary, Jean (Anastasia Martin), to his apartment. Another night, another woman, another killing – except it doesn’t quite turn out like that…
The cast work hard, and the balance between the music and the cast’s vocals is perfectly fine. It’s also not a show that’s ear-splittingly loud. The central character, who veers between ‘mergers and acquisitions’ and ‘murders and executions’, comes across as much of a victim of circumstances as those who find themselves with his trusty knife thrust into them. All things considered, this horror story wasn’t horrifying enough to be wowed by.
Review by Chris Omaweng
There is an idea of a Patrick Bateman, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory.
Patrick Bateman has it all – looks, money, style and status. Engaged to the beautiful Evelyn Williams, he is about to win the prestigious Fischer account for his investment bank and celebrate by dining at Dorsia. But there’s another side to his life that Patrick keeps secret. And people – including those closest to him – keep disappearing…
Evelyn Williams – Emily Barber
Paul Owen – Daniel Bravo
Craig McDermott – Jack Butterworth
Christine/Ensemble – Hannah Yun Chamberlain
Patrick Bateman – Arty Froushan
Timothy Price – Oli Higginson
Mrs Bateman – Kim Ismay
Sean Bateman – Alex James-Hatton
Jean – Anastasia Martin
Sabrina/Ensemble – Millie Mayhew
David Van Patten – Posi Morakinyo
Detective Kimball – Joseph Mydell
Victoria/Ensemble – Asha Parker-Wallace
Courtney Lawrence – Tanisha Spring
Luis Carruthers – Zheng Xi Yong
Ensemble – Liz Kamille
Onstage Swing – Samuel J Weir
Offstage Swing – Kirsty Ingram
Book – Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Music and Lyrics – Duncan Sheik
Original Novel – Bret Easton Ellis
Director – Rupert Goold
Choreographer – Lynne Page
Set Designer – Es Devlin
Costume Designer – Katrina Lindsay
Lighting Designer – Jon Clark
Sound Designer – Dan Moses Schreier
Video Designer – Finn Ross
Music Supervisor and Vocal Arrangements – David Shrubsole
Musical Director – Ellen Campbell
Casting Director – Natalie Gallacher CDG and Pippa Ailion for Natalie Gallacher Casting
Fight Director – Sam Lyon-Behan
Magic Consultant – John Bulleid
Vocal Arrangements (In The Air Tonight) – Jason Hart
AMERICAN PSYCHO
Almeida Theatre
23 January to 14 March 2026
