American Psycho

                I believe Samuel Johnson was the one who said “when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life”. It might have become somewhat of a cliché by now but there are places I’ve been to in London that definitely made me think I’m not in Kansas anymore and there’s always plenty of them left to see.

            Last week I went to see American Psycho, the musical, with my friends. So I thought what would be better that this post in anticipation of Valentine’s Day? When I heard there was a musical made after American Psycho I cringed much like I did when I saw Russell Crowe in Les Miserables. I feel that there’s some movies that just can’t be turned into musicals and actors that should not be made to sing (Russell Crowe *wink wink*). But, carpe diem (or its much more popular counterpart -YOLO) I said and went off to see it after hearing really good reviews. And I truly enjoyed it. Rupert Gold managed to make Psycho’s scary character shine through without making it cheesy all while the music spilled some irony at exactly the right moment. There have been comments on Matt Smith’s performance either that he couldn’t transmit the same intensity as Christian Bale or that his voice wasn’t up to par. But, as someone who was watching the performance for the first time, without knowing what to expect and without reading any kind of reviews beforehand I can only say that I was impressed. However, just as a disclaimer, my feelings might have been altered by the first 30 seconds of the play. Those of you who have already seen it should know what I mean and those of you who don’t all I’ve got to say is...Matt Smith and a six-pack (his own if you’re confused).

            What I probably find the most difficult in art is placing irony at the right place. If you don’t do irony right it’s just like having to explain a joke – pointless. Surprisingly, most of the moments I remember from the performance are musical ones. It might be the 80s which, to be honest, can make anyone get up and dance or at least tap their foot to the rhythm or just the huge projection screens.

But, what is most important is that besides being an entertaining production, American Psycho delivers powerful universal truths. It is a known fact that there are very few things in the fashion world that come before Manolo Blahnik. Or else put, “there’s nothing ironic in our love of Manolo Blahnik”. If anything should be sacred in the fashion world, it should be Manolo Blahnik, me thinks. Reality dawned on us during that faithful episode of Sex and the City where Carrie’s Manolos were stolen from Kyra’s party and women finally realized how important their Right to Shoes should be. Far from ironic, Manolos are definitely iconic, which shows us just how important a single letter can be. So for anyone remotely interested in fashion, even if you don’t like Psycho (but to be honest, who doesn’t?), go and see the musical, there’s life lessons to be gained. Life lessons such as ‘won’t touch a drop of red wine / Don’t want to ruin the Calvin Klein’. So go prepared to take notes, girls!