Benjamin Walker, who played the title role of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, is reportedly going to get bloody, again, when he steps into his new role in the American Pyscho Broadway musical adaptation of the novel and feature film.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, producers said Thursday that the show based on the Bret Easton Ellis novel will find a home in a to-be-determined Shubert theater this winter, with previews starting Feb. 19. Benjamin Walker will play the title role of Patrick Bateman. As Classicalite readers and indi-film lovers probably recall, Christian Bale played the title role in the feature film in 2000, which soared him to "A-List" status.
Walker is no stranger to Broadway. His stage credits include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof opposite Scarlett Johansson and the aforementioned Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. Walker also played another famous president, in the utterly under-achieving 2012 feature film--Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Coincidentally, his weapon of choice to dispatch vampires in that movie was an axe much like the one his role as Patrick Bateman wields in American Pyscho.
The book for the stage version was written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. Duncan Sheik, yes that Duncan Sheik, penned music and lyrics for more than a dozen original songs. Classicalite fans surely remember Duncan Sheik's 1996 hit, "Barely Breathing," but he is also the songwriter for the Tony Award-winning musical, Spring Awakening. Sheik turned to Kickstarter to raise funds for the show.
The premise, for the uninitiated, centers on a yuppie serial killer who is obsessed with high-end clothes and beauty products even as he slashes, murders and executes his way through Manhattan.
According to Playbill, producers are targeting a mid-February 2016 Broadway arrival, with an opening around mid-March just in time for newly released shows to catch the radar of the Tony Nominating Committee. The stage musical adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel was previously announced to premiere Off-Broadway in early 2015 at Second Stage Theatre, but the production was scrapped after producers opted to bring the musical directly to Broadway.
If the musical is anything like the Ellis' novel or the Christian Bale flick, Classicalite readers would do well to catch this show before tickets are sold out! For now, watch the wonderful terror that Christian Bale supplied viewers in the 2000 film.
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