Dark Musical ‘American Psycho’ Feels The Knife

The life of the Broadway musical “American Psycho” has been cut short, a victim of vicious box office numbers.

Producers of the adaptation of the novel by Bret Easton Ellis said Thursday the show will close June 5 after 81 performances. The musical struggled with attracting ticket sales and got only two technical Tony nominations.

Photo: Jeremy Daniel/Jeffrey Richards Associates via AP
Benjamin Walker, center, and the cast of “American Psycho,” opening at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in New York.

It centers on an investment banker obsessed with high-end clothes and beauty products who slashes his way through yuppie 1989 Manhattan. The musical stars Benjamin Walker and was one of the darkest offerings in years.

Writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, songwriter Duncan Sheik and director Rupert Goold imagined graphic sex acts, torturing, axe-wielding, orgies and bones cracking.

It never made more than $600,000 a week, with a potential haul of $1 million.