‘American Psycho’ Coming to London in Autumn 2013

A new musical adaptation of “American Pyscho” is set to premiere at the Almeida Theatre in London this fall.

No official dates or casting has yet been announced, but the production will be staged by Rupert Goold, who held a 2011 workshop of the material with Benjamin Walker as the main character Patrick Bateman.

The musical is an adaptation of the 1991 Bret Easton Ellis novel that shows Bateman as a New York investment banker who is a serial killer by night. Tony Award-winner Duncan Sheik wrote the music and lyrics for the musical, and the book is by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.

“It’s one man’s horrific, misguided attempts to connect with the world around him,” Aguirre-Sacasa said of the story. “To make sense of the societal chaos that’s threatening to crush him and his friends. Patrick wants to belong – he wants to feel – he wants what we all want, on some level. But he is – to say the least – a deeply disturbed individual. With the very few things keeping him tethered to the rest of the world we (‘normal people’) live in, as the musical begins, he loses one of those touchstones – his best friend, Tim Price – and things start spiraling out of control for him.”

The writer also touched on how the brutal murders will be handled in the musical, since they are often criticized in the novel and the 2000 film version starring Christian Bale.

“The hope is to theatricalize the violence in such a way that it packs a visceral punch without being completely grindhouse,” he said.

In an interview with Gothamist.com, Sheik said that “the music is all electronic,” and that in additional to the original score, the music also will include cover songs referenced in the book.

“Yeah… 20 to 30 percent of the music will be what I’m referring to as cover songs, which are songs that are either referred to in the book directly, or would have been ubiquitous in that cultural moment,” Sheik said. “You know, Huey Lewis, Phil Collins…”