American Idiot

Saturday, 5th March 2011

St James Theatre, New York

Essentially a jukebox musical with a nihilistic bent and slacker bravura, Green Day’s Tony nominated American Idiot is a popular concert of songs reimagined into a loose and surprisingly generic storyline.

The three leads were clones in looks to Billie Joe Armstrong and his fellow bandmates in Green Day and collectively have the dream to head out of their hick town for the bright lights of the big city and become alt rock stars.

Will (Justin Guarini) is sidelined before he even gets out of the gate by an unexpected pregnancy; Tunny (Stark Sands) is patriotically brainwashed into joining the military, meeting his dream girl in hospital at the same time he looses his leg; while Everyouth Johnny (Van Hughes) lives the city mouse dream of parties, drugs and passion with his drive of being a musician fading as the months pass.

Although there were some affecting sequences and the punk techno look of the set and projections were pretty cool, overall it just seemed like one long extended video sequence – there was barely enough dialogue between each number, and if you were unfamiliar or (loser!) not a fan of Green Day’s music, you would barely care enough for any of the characters.

The vocals were routinely strong and soaring, and the all ensemble guitar encore to “Wake Me Up When September Ends” was the anthem that brought the loudest roar from the audience.

Overall, a decent 90 minute show, but hardly must-see theatre on Broadway.