Pretty bloody, good: Almeida’s ‘American Psycho’ review
Almeida Theatre
American Psycho: a unique musical, back from the dead. Full of killer performances, but I couldn’t quite buy it.
Last night marked the highly anticipated 2026 opening night for Almeida Theatre’s revival production of the American Psycho musical, having given its world premier at the venue in 2013 to critical acclaim. In that production, Patrick Bateman was played by BBC darling Matt Smith, with a supporting performance from Jonathan Bailey, and it seems to me that in the time since, the musical has gained somewhat of a cult following. For that reason (and because it’s Almeida), tickets sold quickly. Humoured by the idea of an American Psycho musical, and curious to see how they’d pull it off, I had also hoped for a ticket, unaware that it was not a new adaptation. Naturally, in accordance with Murphy’s Law, I was at work when the tickets were released, and by that evening, they had all sold out. So, I firstly want to deeply thank Almeida for their ‘25s & Under’ scheme, without which I am sure so many huge fans would not have been able to see the show.
The production’s music, composed by Duncan Sheik, often veers into atypical styles, and the most exciting numbers consisted of songs that I would like to dub ‘psychedelic murder EDM’. The standout number, in my opinion, was ‘I Am Back’, which is performed near the start of the second act, and was infused with just the right amount of manic, frenzied energy, which is to say, a lot of it.
As far as musical adaptations go, I thought American Psycho was done fairly well. I’m used to associating these sorts of movie-to-stage musical shows with a new wave of soulless productions on the West End, but I think that this production worked well enough as a standalone show. That being said, I’m not qualified to comment on its efficacy as an adaptation, having read American Psycho a long time ago, and been only made aware of the movie’s key moments through scattered conversations.
You can usually tell when you’re watching a musical adapted from a book, just through its flow, and the scattered lines of dialogue that don’t quite fit in with the others; this production was the same. But I don’t think the show was worsened by its own identity as an adaptation, and both the pace and tone were consistent. Its messaging throughout was quite unsubtle, but I also didn’t feel overwhelmed by it, and considering the complexity of the issues at core of American Psycho, I don’t think it particularly damaged the production either.
Within the span of two well-paced acts, American Psycho shows Patrick Bateman’s downward spiral into uncontrollable depravity and insanity, brought to us by the endlessly energetic performance of Arty Froushan. The opening number, ‘Selling Out’ was the second best: it cut right to the main themes of the show and infused it with a very trippy feel from the get-go, to great effect. That kind of feel is perfect for such a drug-infused, psychological plot.
A sleek and simple set within Almeida’s intimate venue worked well for the show’s high-class, minimalistic, and polished motifs. White and grey portable tables, Bateman’s desk, glossy, black, leather seats were used and reused, entering often from a stage lift in the centre. The costumes were mostly unmemorable, but there’s not much wiggle room in a black-tie-event kind of production like this. They served their purpose!
The main design choice I took issue with was the lighting. More specifically, the LED flooring. It was alright some of the time, mostly sticking to the white-and-grey palette, but it’s constant flashing and pulsing during songs started to do more of a disservice than anything, taking my attention away from the performers. That could have been alright too, except for the fact that the patterns were pretty low-resolution, or whatever the LED-floor equivalent of that is (please excuse my total lack of technical knowledge). Either way, it kind of hurt to look at, and after a few songs, didn’t contribute much to that psychedelic theming, becoming repetitive. It’s a shame it was relied upon so frequently, and that it insisted on drawing so much attention to itself.
Speaking of it being relied upon, it was also used to project/map out blood splatters when Bateman brutally murders Paul Owen (Daniel Bravo) with an axe at the end of act one. The low-res, poorly-timed blood splatters were disappointing, when I had been greatly anticipating some gory practical FX to splatter across the hitherto spotless stage, visualising the stains across Bateman’s perfectly tailored life. A reasonable expectation to have from an American Psycho adaptation. The interval is literally seconds after; why not, Almeida, why not?!
Performances were strong across the board. Froushan himself seemed to improve and improve as the show went on. Perhaps he’s more suited to the character of Patrick Bateman when he’s deep in the thralls of mania, or perhaps more likely: the less focused he was on trying to do the Christian Bale impression, the better his performance became.
Alongside him, however, many actors in minor roles were working overtime to steal the show. (The Les Mis scene was hilarious. IYKYK.) Oli Higginson portrayed a perfectly suave and (wall) street-smart Timothy Price. Asha Parker-Wallace as Bateman’s neighbour had only one line, but absolutely nailed the delivery. Last but not least, Kim Ismay played the most convincing Mrs Bateman I suspect I’ll ever see, and was not let down in the slightest by her incredible vocals in ‘Nice Thought’.
Vocally, I would never expect performances at Almeida to be anything less than incredible, and that’s what I received! Whilst none of the songs were good enough that I’d be looking up the original album later on, I very much enjoyed listening to all the strong harmonies. Interestingly though, according to the people next to me, previous iterations of the American Psycho musical had featured more acapella songs in emotional and abstract moments. I would have liked to hear this. A few shaky entrances aside, the one acappella song in the second act was powerful.
Unfortunately, American Psycho‘s choreography is the reason that I chose to give the show three stars instead of four. There’s a lot of songs in the show, so strong, intentional, visually-interesting choreo is a must, and I didn’t really see it in my viewing. From the start, I could tell that there was an attempt to plot interesting movements— jerky and robotic with interlocking patterns— but they fell flat due to a total lack of synchronisation, carried forward throughout much of the show. I would struggle to accept it to be an intentional choice, and if it is, it didn’t have the intended effect.
The dances that happen in the club setting are neither reminiscent of the late 20th century, nor of, well, club dancing in general. There was some nice movement work when the actors joined together in strange amalgamations of dead bodies throughout the second act, but any long instrumentals were made too long by the uninspiring choreo.
Despite this, the musical was moving in other ways. I enjoyed the ending very much: it didn’t feel rushed, or unfinished (at least any more than it should, of course). Bateman’s final monologue, mostly taken from the book, was poignant and held my full attention. In ‘This Is Not an Exit’, the show claims not to be a cautionary tale, but I think one strong take-away from this version of the story is: Don’t let consumerism fill the gap where your soul is meant to be.
If nothing else, seeing this production definitely has definitely inspired me to watch the 2000 film this weekend. So, I suppose I’d better go rent some video tapes now…
American Psycho plays at Almeida Theatre until 14th March 2026.
Leave a Reply