Cover Photo by Lynn Lane, featuring Robert Lenzi as Patrick Bateman in “American Psycho: The Musical.” Houston Broadway Theatre at the Hobby Center.
Entering the lobby of the Hobby Center’s Zilkha Hall, showgoers were met with a bar menu of themed drinks. Afterward, they headed toward their seats, passing a video store facade of VHS tapes and CRT monitors.
A square white bed sat center stage, with its surroundings equally clean and geometric.
Audience members flipped through their GQ-style playbill before Bateman himself opened the show with his killer morning routine set to song.
“American Psycho: The Musical” is an adaptation of the namesake book mixed with some scenes from the movie.
The two-act show starred Robert Lenzi as Patrick Bateman, a New York City native bringing the mayhem of mergers and acquisitions to Houston with effective musical monologues and soliloquies about murders and executions.
The supporting roles of Evelyn Williams and Timothy Price, played by Owen Claire Smith and Tyce Green respectively, excelled in pushing the unexpected dark comedy of the show. Their bits and quips, especially one of Green’s impressions, summoned laughter from the crowd on the floor and in the wings.
The contrast of comedy and killings kept viewers on their toes, not knowing when one side would conquer the other.
Vulgarity was a highlight of the show. Scenes of simulated sex and violence shared the stage with slick suits and copious amounts of cocaine.
The music that scored each slaughter featured heavy synth and disco influences. The track “Killing Spree” near the beginning of Act Two exemplifies this, with a mad dash of killings set to shining disco balls and synchronized dancing.
Each act is distinct in tone. The first serves as a tame introduction. It builds toward Bateman’s first kill and the cult-classic raincoat-axe murder set to Huey Lewis’ “Hip to Be Square.”
Act Two continues the brutality with a brief pause to explore the supporting cast before the star killer breaks down and fades away with a fourth-wall-shattering song projected onto the stage’s many screens.
The set featured two floors with a large white tile venue below and a walkway above.
Props on wheels changed the environments on the ground while actors sang in front of the live band hidden behind the bridge.
Multiple faux TV screens lined both sides of the stage. Additionally, a large collection of screens formed a suspended block that dropped periodically to project a number of things. These included paintings, elevator interiors and Ronald Reagan.
Square light boxes on each corner of the second floor synchronized with the music and projections to change scenes. This amplified every emotional note.
“American Psycho : The Musical” was originally overshadowed by “Hamilton” when it debuted in New York in 2016. Its premiere in Houston, however, makes it clear that this show is hip—and anything but square.
The show runs through Sept. 14 at the Hobby Center. More information about the show is available on the theater’s website.
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