Metro

‘American Psycho’ musical in the works

Move over, Sweeney Todd — another singing psycho is nearing his Broadway debut.

The tale of Patrick Bateman — a fictional Wall Street banker obsessed with designer clothes, Phil Collins, rape and murder — is going to drench the Great White Way in blood in “American Psycho: The Musical,” producers of the show told The Post.

“Think about Malcolm McDowell singing songs during ‘A Clockwork Orange.’ He sang ‘Singing in the Rain,’ ” said Duncan Sheik, the new show’s composer, comparing his musical to a brutal attack scene in the 1971 film.

The musical has been in development since 2008, when producers David Johnson, Jesse Singer, Nate Bolotin and Aaron Ray bought the rights to adapt the 1991 Bret Easton Ellis novel, which was made into a 2000 film starring Christian Bale.

Sheik, who won a Grammy and two Tonys for writing the songs in the Broadway hit “Spring Awakening,” and playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa signed on in February and have completed the first act, with a full draft expected by early next year.

“There are murders, and they are on stage in full view of the audience,” Aguirre-Sacasa said. “An ax and a chef’s knife will be used. I think there’s going to be a lot of blood.”

Giving The Post an exclusive peek at the play, Aguirre-Sacasa listed a few scenes from the novel that he hopes to include:

* Bateman lures business associate Paul Owen back to his Manhattan apartment. Bateman puts on a raincoat so his designer suit doesn’t get bloody and hacks up Owen with an ax.

* He bumps into “Tom Cruise” in the elevator of the Upper West Side building where they both live. Bateman refers to Cruise’s film “Cocktail” as “Bartender.” Cruise corrects him and points out that his nose is bleeding.

* Bateman and his yuppie friends compare business cards at a swanky Upper East Side restaurant. Noting his peers’ classier cards, Bateman becomes so jealous he finds it hard to breathe.

When asked who the play might appeal to, Sheik replied, “Obviously, it’s not for the people who want to see ‘Elf.’ “

jamie.schram@nypost.com