Let's back up a little and give some background. American Idiot is a musical based on the Green Day album of the same name, along with a smattering of songs from their consequent album, 21st Century Breakdown. If you've heard the album, then you probably realised that it is not your run-of-the-mill collection of rock songs, these songs tell a story. In short the songs cover the idea of rebellion and compliance, and everything that both of these entail.
So Michael Mayer (award-winning director) and Billie Joe Armstrong (lead singer of Green Day) sat down and wrote a book for a musical based on the album, following three friends down very different, yet somehow similar, paths of life. The show started with performances at Berkeley Rep in California before transferring to Broadway in March 2010.
That's enough for background, now to review the show. First, the tickets. I went with two friends and tried to get some rush lottery tickets. There were 25 tickets available and the lottery was open from 6-6.30 after which the drawing took place. It seems like everyone wanted to see American Idiot that night, as there must have been well over 100 people trying for the lottery. The girl running it said how unusual it was to get such a large group on a Thursday night, but I guess most universities had finished that week and people were treating themselves by a trip to the theatre. Unfortunately, we didn't win the tickets (the lottery is for the front two rows with tickets at $27) but were offered partial view box seats for $37 and we decided to go for them.
The seats weren't bad, but were definitely not the best view in the theatre! I was in the left box and struggled to see anything of Will's story, a shame, but I feel his story was probably the weakest of the three (although this may have been influenced by my limited exposure to it) so it wasn't the end of the world. My two friends, on the other hand were sat in the right box and missed some of Tunny's story, a bigger loss in my eyes. Either way, I still think getting the tickets for under $40 was reasonable, although I would pay more in the future to have a better view.
The show is slightly unusual in the fact that it runs for 90 minutes without an intermission, and for good reason. As soon as the red curtain raises the show is off with a seemingly boundless energy which doesn't abate until after the final curtain call and encore. I think this is the thing that really struck me about the show - the energy the actors project is immense and almost tangible (and the spit they project is definitely tangible - a downside to the lottery rush tickets it seems!). I honestly do not know how these guys do it night after night, they must be knackered after every show! I have not seen a show with this much energy before and can only compare it to the atmosphere I saw in the recording of the final performance of RENT on DVD - the entire audience had that connection with the stage, exactly how theatre should be.
So what was the show like? Amazing, to sum it up. Yes, the storyline is rather thin at times, and the dialogue virtually non-existent, except for Jimmy's periodic letters to friends and family, but this doesn't matter. The storyline is enough to hold the thing together, but doesn't get in the way of the music and performance. I was surprised to find that it didn't feel like they had moulded the story to the songs (as often happens with 'jukebox musicals') and it all just 'worked'. The choreography is raw yet tight, and the physicality of it is a perfect fit for the music.
The arrangements of the music I could talk about for many paragraphs, but I'll refrain myself to just one. I know Tom Kitt's work from the fantastic Next To Normal, and he has worked his magic yet again with American Idiot. Although ultimately Green Day wrote all the music, Kitt transforms the pieces with complex harmonies and backing orchestrations while keeping the raw edginess of the original work. I am very disappointed Kitt won't have a chance to be recognised for his orchestrations at the Tony Awards, but am very happy he got nominated for the Drama Desk Award. A special mention must also go to Carmel Dean, surely the coolest conductor on Broadway - rocking it out on stage in knee-high converse boots and a mini skirt all while playing piano, accordion and somehow managing to keep all the musicians and singers in check!
The staging was brilliant and really conveyed a sense of oppression and was a reminder of the information overload we get in modern society - particularly during Tunny's 'revelation'. Again, the set conveyed the rawness of the subject matter - reminiscint of a warehouse, full of scaffolding and suchlike. There were some clever double uses for the scenery (the 'Holiday' scene comes to mind) and I think it worked very well - any more and it would distract from the stars, the actors.
Where do I begin? The ensemble were dynamic and integral to the show, most of the cast had at least a couple of lines of solo and the fact that the actors of the smaller parts were given the solos during the curtain call was a nice touch. Onto the main characters, and I'll try to sum each one up in a sentence.
- The Extraordinary Girl (Christina Sajous) was an pleasantly unexpected surprise for me and was impressive in both her vocal and acrobatic skills during 'Before the Lobotomy/Extraordinary Girl'.
- St Jimmy (Tony Vincent) was a frenetic ball of craziness and Tony Vincent played this madness with so much conviction, and back it up with some striking vocals.
- Heather (I saw understudy Libby Winters) unfortunately was often out of my view due to my seating but her anger in 'Too Much Too Soon' (special mention to the talented Alysha Umphress in that song and her vocals in 'Rock and Roll Girlfriend' showed real talent.
- Whatsername (Rebecca Naomi Jones) deserves at least one of this season's awards for supporting actress. Her vocal abilities are phenomenal (see '21 Guns' below) and her acting sublime - also she's damn brave for spending most of the play in just a pair of skimpy knickers!
- Will (Michael Esper) was again, unfortunately out of my view, but his vocals and what acting I saw was superb. All three of the male leads meshed perfectly together, both in character and vocals.
- Tunny (Stark Sands) was a real stand out performance - I really believed he had gone through hell during the storyline and his voice was clear yet heartbreaking - you could hear his pain in every line.
- Johnny (John Gallagher Jr.) is the glue that holds the show together and projects it into something mind-blowing. I have been a fan of Gallagher Jr. his Tony Award winning performance in Spring Awakening and back in January got a chance to see him perform solo at the intimate Rockwood Music Hall in New York. Even so, I did not expect such a performance form him - the fact he got overlooked for Best Actor by the Tony's is simply unbelievable. He managed to cover virtually every emotion, his guitar playing was frequent and excellent and his vocals were both raw and pitch-perfect. His energy is relentless and mesmerising, and you need to see him in this NOW!
Finally, I just want to mention a few highlights and things to look out for. First up was 'Give Me Novocaine' sung by Esper and Sands. This was personally one of my favourite songs on the original album and I was pleased to see it stay close to the original. I was slightly taken aback by the accompanying scene between Gallagher Jr. and Naomi Jones - let's just say they made the scene very believable!
My second highlight also involved Gallagher Jr. and Naomi Jones and that was the little gem of 'When It's Time' - a previously unreleased track that Gallagher Jr. sings. In this one song, we suddenly see a hidden depth to Jimmy's character and his heartfelt outburst ends up being all the more bittersweet as the story progresses.
Finally, my last highlight is the final scenes from 'Wake Me Up When September Ends' through 'Homecoming' and then 'Whatsername'. The music was fantastic and took on a new meaning and I was surprised to find myself welling up during 'Homecoming'. If you have seen it you might recall which section I mean, and the range of emotions the characters went through projected themselves making me suddenly very emotional (not something that usually happens to me during theatre).
All in all, American Idiot is a new genre of theatre that is raw and edgy, more musically complex than you might expect, funny (e.g. 'Favorite Son') but also serious and contains more energy than you can shake a drumstick at. I urge you to go see this at any opportunity, I plan to see it again when I return from the UK and take it all in again. This isn't chicken soup for your soul, but Jack Daniels for your inner rock star.
'21 Guns' by Green Day and the cast of American Idiot (solos by Rebecca Naomi Jones, Christina Sajous, Mary Faber and Billie Joe Armstrong)
