Jon Snow is dead. It’s confirmed.
It has been a week since the worst season finale in The Walking Dead’s history.
The moment the lights went down, the audience whooped like it was the Super Bowl. I began to wonder, was I in the wrong theatre? Alas, no. An explosion of smoke erupted onstage with an ear-splitting bang. This was American Psycho, a testament to modern Broadway. Or rather, what old people would have you think modern Broadway has become: loud, with flashing lights and techno music, and lacking what we long for in our musicals: a soul.
Maybe that’s on Bateman.
Bret Easton Ellis’s tale of Patrick Bateman’s psychosis is one familiar to those who have seen the movie version, but even a newbie could quickly catch on. This musical did not deal in subtleties, preferring explosive dance sequences and strobe lights to nuanced performance.
Was it a three-hour long Lady Gaga music video? Perhaps, but three songs were pop and not one of them hers. Lorde’s “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” came in for exactly one lyric of the song, sung by Bateman’s secretary, Jean. Which lyric was this? The title.
An oddly poignant moment came when the prostitute Christine sang “In the Air Tonight” (another pop song) in the taxi, immediately preceding a scene straight out of a horror porno. God forbid we become emotionally invested. Crude drawings of crass acts adorned the walls as the entire ensemble cast introduced a rape victim’s worst nightmare. I briefly had to avert my eyes.
“I am not here; I am not there. I am nobody, I am nowhere” sang Bateman in “Common Man”, and I wondered at whether this musical was taking itself seriously at all. One song mocked theatregoers as obsessed with appearances, which as I’d observed earlier in the audience, does not hold true for a 2016 audience (a girl next to me ate Pringles noisily, cackled like a hyena, and then left her garbage as though Broadway theaters are the new ghetto). A throwaway reference to Donald Trump may have been timely for the setting, but was an instant guffaw moment for those around me. Every time it seemed as though darkness would seep in, a blood splatter would swing us right away from any semblance of true meaning.
I have never been to a more convoluted fashion show. The comedy wasn’t dark in this musical, more a light grey peppered with very strange dancing. It played like an advertisement for blood.
The saving grace was Jennifer Damiano. Known for her Tony nominated turn in Next to Normal and already a veteran of another failed musical, Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark, she pierced the absolute carnage with a lovely voice and sincerity lost to the rest of the characters. Through her character Jean, we saw some humanity in Bateman- after all, for all his insanity, he is human. That’s one of the best parts of the story, seeing the chinks in his armor that reveal not only an animal, but a tortured one at that.
When the end came, I was wickedly happy. He didn’t deserve Jean. That musical did not deserve Jean.
I left enamored with the furniture on set, already forgetting the songs.
Fans of Waiting for Godot will find themselves flocking to this rather fatalist French film about a man searching for revenue after losing his job.
Who knew a documentary about Turkish copy culture could be so fresh and unique?
A love story between sisters, the moderator said upon introducing Into the Forest, and indeed it was. Beyond that, it is a beautiful, feminine tale of change, as we watch the girls adapting to grief and isolation.
Paul McCartney is a Beatle.
Batman vs. Superman is one of the worst reviewed movies in DC Comics’ history.
Yeezy’s done it. He won’t leave Taylor alone. It seems that there are more universal constants than the sun and moon- no matter what happens, Kanye will squeeze himself into Taylor Swift’s fun girl-i-verse and annoy her. He’s 12 years older than her. Why is he singing about how he “might’ve had sex” with her on his new album? He goes on to inform us that he made her famous, calling her a familiar gendered slur. However, in this particular case, Kanye claims that Taylor Swift agreed to these lyrics. Is it some sort of “forgive and forget” method Swift is applying to the situation at hand? Or is Kanye just lying? Taylor Swift won’t come out and give him or the song the time of day, busy enough with her career and personal life. It’s just strange at this point. Rappers need rivals, but reducing her to a potential sex partner and attributing her self-made success to yourself, Kanye? But then again, is he really better than that?
The updated album of “Life of Pablo” is now available on streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify. Listen for yourself to this weird, one-sided rivalry between a thirty eight year-old man and a woman in her twenties who has been castigated her fair share about her relationships with men before, and certainly doesn’t need more speculation.
There’s bureaucracy in everything. It’s a whole load of red tape to get anything done in this world.
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