American Idiot (Musical)

Musicaldaten

American Idiot is a one-act, through-sung, stage musical adaption of rock band Green Day's album of the same name.

The book is by lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer, the Tony Award winning director of Spring Awakening. The lyrics are by Armstrong and the music is written by Armstrong and band mates Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool. Tony award winner Tom Kitt (Next to Normal) has provided the orchestrations. The lead producers for the show are Ira Pittelman and Tom Hulce

Green Day does not appear in the production, but the show has an onstage band.

Production History

Berkeley Rep, 2009

The world premiere at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre began previews on September 4, 2009 and opened on September 15, 2009. It was initially intended to run through October 11, but before the premiere, the theatre announced a three week extension to November 1. After becoming the top grossing show in Berkeley Rep history, the producers extended the run another two weeks to November 15.

Original Berkeley Cast

The cast of 19 includes:

• John Gallagher Jr. (Tony award winner, also of Spring Awakening) as Johnny
• Michael Esper (A Man For All Seasons) as Will
• Matt Caplan (Rent) as Tunny
• Tony Vincent (Jesus Christ Superstar, We Will Rock You) as St. Jimmy
• Rebecca Naomi Jones ("Passing Strange) as Whatsername
• Mary Faber (Avenue Q) as Heather
• Christina Sajous (Rent) as the Extraordinary Girl.

The rest of the cast are as followed: Declan Bennett, Andrew Call, Gerard Canonico, Miguel Cervantes, Joshua Henry, Brian Charles Johnson, Chase Peacock, Theo Stockman, Ben Thompson, Alysha Umphress, Morgan Weed, Libby Winters with Lorin Latarro and Omar Lopez-Cepero as swings.

Broadway

On November 9, 2009, a casting notice was filed with Equity for a planned Broadway production of the show. No further details were announced at that time.

Plot

The musical opens on Johnny, Will and Tunny, three teenage friends unhappily living in suburbia (identified as Jingletown, USA). The three feel numbed by their mundane lives and decide to escape. Johnny (aka Jesus of Suburbia) borrows money from his mother and buys bus tickets to the city for himself and his friends. Will, however, learns that his girlfriend, Heather, is pregnant and decides to stay with her. Johnny and Tunny leave for the city.

While Johnny wanders the city and pines for a woman he sees in an apartment window, Tunny finds it hard to adjust to urban life and, seduced by flashy television ads, decides to join the army. Lonely without his friend, Johnny falls in with a drug dealer named St. Jimmy. Under the influence for the first time, Johnny has the confidence to pursue the woman in the window, known as Whatsername.

As Johnny's story unfolds, the stories of Tunny and Will play out simultaneously. Tunny is deployed to a war zone, presumably Iraq (images of the March 2003 "shock and awe" campaign are seen on the TV screens in the background). He is wounded and ends up in a military hospital, where he hallucinates about the Extraordinary Girl.

Will has difficulty accepting the idea of fatherhood, and Heather becomes increasingly irritated with his immaturity. Despite his entreaties to stay, she eventually leaves him, taking their baby with her. Will laments that everyone he cared for has abandoned him.

Meanwhile, Johnny's drug abuse spirals downward, eventually leading him to heroin, an addiction he shares with Whatsername. His behavior becomes increasingly erratic, and he eventually threatens Whatsername, then himself, with a knife. Whatsername leaves Johnny, after revealing that St. Jimmy was merely a manifestation of his rage against his parents and the establishment.

Johnny is forced to admit that his stepfather, Brad, was right - his life had amounted to nothing. He cleans up and gets a desk job, but eventually realizes that isn't his destiny either. He returns to his hometown and is reunited with Tunny (who has returned from war with the Extraordinary Girl) and Will (who has also been reunited with his child). At the end, Johnny laments that he lost the love of his life, Whatsername.

Musical numbers

The show features all of the songs from the album American Idiot, some B-tracks and a few of the songs from Green Day's latest album, 21st Century Breakdown.

All songs are originally from American Idiot unless otherwise noted.

• American Idiot
• Jesus of Suburbia

1. Jesus of Suburbia
2. City of the Damned
3. I Don't Care
4. Dearly Beloved
5. Tales of Another Broken Home

• Holiday
• Boulevard of Broken Dreams
• Favorite Son (Rock Against Bush, Vol. 2)
• Are We The Waiting
• St. Jimmy
• Give Me Novacaine
• Last of the American Girls (21st Century Breakdown) [added Nov 11] / She's a Rebel
• Last Night on Earth (21st Century Breakdown)
• Too Much Too Soon (b-side of "American Idiot")
• Before The Lobotomy (21st Century Breakdown)
• Extraordinary Girl
• Before The Lobotomy (reprise) (21st Century Breakdown)
• When It's Time (unreleased)
• Know Your Enemy (21st Century Breakdown)
• 21 Guns (21st Century Breakdown)
• Letterbomb
• Wake Me Up When September Ends
• Homecoming

1. The Death of St. Jimmy
2. East 12th St.
3. Nobody Likes You
4. Rock and Roll Girlfriend
5. We're Coming Home Again

• Whatsername
• Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) (Nimrod) [added Nov 5] as a curtain call song.

Green Day re-released the single 21 Guns with the musical cast on Spinner.com on December 3, 2009. Singing along with Billie Joe Armstrong, this version features Christina Sajous, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Mary Faber, and Matt Caplan with backup from the rest of American Idiot cast.

Reception

Reviews for the Berkeley Rep production were mixed. Karen D'Souza of MercuryNews.com called the production "a thrashing collage of songs fused together with hypnotic movement and eye-popping visuals" and noted that the show is "as compelling as it is abstract [and] channels the grungy spirit of punk while also plucking at the heartstrings." However, Jim Harrington of the Oakland Tribune compared the show unfavorably to the original album by saying "[what] once a was fine Gouda, has been prepackaged as Velveeta", and continued sarcastically "In other words, it should do big business on Broadway."

External links

• Berkeley Rep's American Idiot page