Upon hearing that Green Day's album, American Idiot would be made into a musical, it was difficult for those familiar with the music to avoid speculating on how it would translate to the stage. I was fortunate enough to attend the first and second preview performances and find out for myself. I'm not only familiar with the American Idiot album; I've been a Green Day fan for well over 15 years. I greatly admire and respect American Idiot as a work of art, an inspirational and emotional rant, and some fun music to dance to. However, I've attempted to write as unbiased a review as possible for someone in my situation.


The audience at the first two shows appeared to be largely composed of Green Day fans, judging by the number of people I knew and the t-shirts worn by many of the others. At the first preview performance, it was surprising to see that Green Day attended and sat intermingled with the rest of the audience. Tre Cool sat behind us, and at times we could hear his reactions to the performance (his audible reactions seemed entirely positive to me).

The show began before the curtain was raised with audio of newscasters' voices broadcasting snippets of news such as, " ... searching for weapons of mass destruction ..." "North Korea" " ... Saddam Hussein ... " " ... more troops ... " " ... the war in Iraq ... " one after another and almost overlapping. It was an effective way to set up the context of the show right from the start.

When the curtain was raised, it kept going up for what seemed like forever. The entire height of the theater was used for the set - right up to the ceiling, and the resulting very large wall area was plastered with pop-culture posters and band posters (some are well-known bands - I saw Misfits, Dead Kennedys, Social Distortion, a little band called Green Day, and more). There were many televisions set into the walls, and throughout the show, they displayed images and scenes that were pertinent to the songs and action going on at the time, helping to tell the stories. Some platforms on the back wall - several to stage left with stairs connecting them - added interesting levels to the set. The height of the set was the first thing that really made me feel the power of the production. As the curtain was raised and the set didn't seem to end, the experience became HUGE.

There is no dialogue in this musical. Obviously, much thought has gone into conveying the three plot lines by using every means possible excepting dialogue. The music and the acting abilities of the fine cast carry the bulk of the responsibility for telling the story. As some have pointed out, this show is more like an opera than traditional theater in that the audience is left to interpret the plot from the music and actions of the characters. The main character, Johnny, is experiencing difficulties at home that even his best friends, Will and Tunny, and their large, supportive group of companions can't seem to help him resolve. As he's planning to leave home with his two best friends, Will and his girlfriend Heather find themselves on the verge of UNplanned parenthood. Will stays home with Heather as Johnny and Tunny say goodbye. Later, in the big city, Tunny is seduced into joining the military by an incredibly charismatic recruiter (whom he first sees on his television).

The three stories progress as the music continues and we see Johnny introduced to the world of hard drug usage by his alter-ego St. Jimmy. He also falls in love with a girl with no name (Whatsername) and has an intense sexual connection with her. In the meantime, Will and Heather struggle with the responsibilities of parenthood; their relationship suffers as a result. Tunny is sent off to experience the horrors of war and is injured while overseas.

Being familiar with the music of American Idiot and its strong political message, I was surprised that this production was not more political. However, on second thought, I decided that since we are no longer living in the Bush era, focusing too much on conditions during that time could have caused the show to seem dated from the start. While there is certainly a political message here, the primary focus is the overwhelming effect of the bombardment of useless, irritating, and even harmful information experienced in today's "information age." Two of the main characters, Will and Tunny, are sucked into the world of television - Will because he's stoned and bored out of his mind and Tunny out of hypnotic fascination - with obvious repercussions.

The show was high-energy throughout, as it should be with the music of American Idiot as its foundation. For most of the performance, I found it challenging to sit (relatively) still in my seat. It is difficult to choose highlights, because every number was compelling and moving in its way. However, some require a mention, so I'll discuss them briefly here.

I was especially impressed with the staging and performance of "Holiday," which shows Johnny and Tunny leaving home. "Favorite Son," the song where Tunny is recruited into the military, was a happy surprise, both in the fact that it was included and in its excellent performance by Joshua Henry and the ensemble.

I found the song "St. Jimmy" exceptional in many ways, primarily because of Tony Vincent's outstanding performance. His appearance and persona are absolute perfection as the character of St. Jimmy. "Give Me Novacaine" and "Wake Me up When September Ends" both demonstrated the universal nature of Green Day's music and its applicability to many individual experiences in that they carried forward all three markedly different story lines seamlessly. The mix of "Before the Lobotomy" with "Extraordinary Girl," which lets us watch as Tunny falls in love with his nurse in the military hospital, was inspired, and its performance by Matt Caplan and Christina Sajous was simply beautiful. These two voices are so moving that, when combined, they became magic.

As a Green Day fan, I was delighted to hear the unreleased song, "When it's Time," performed so clearly and sweetly by John Gallagher, Jr. In contrast, the intensity Rebecca Naomi Jones generated during "Letterbomb" had me twitching in my seat in sympathy with her passion. "Homecoming" and "Whatsername" finished off the show with memorable performances that brought me to tears at times. During "Homecoming," Johnny and Tunny return home, and the entire group of friends reunites (and is introduced to Tunny's nurse, who has come with him).

"Homecoming's" separate sections were beautifully interpreted by different members of the cast. I don't think I'll ever forget Michael Esper's performance of the "Nobody Likes You" segment (an especially fitting mirroring of Mary Faber's earlier rendition). He had that pale, weak, glazed-eyed look of someone who's been staring at the television entirely too long without eating or drinking or sleeping. The juxtaposition of Johnny's solo performance with the ensemble's backing choir in "Whatsername," Johnny's philosophical lament for his lost love, was eerily lovely to the point of inducing chills and tears.

The show is not perfect. Though the outstanding performances of the cast made it difficult to find the flaws, they were there. Some may feel that a bit of dialogue would have helped the audience more fully comprehend the plots; however, I felt the telling of the stories through the music was complete and accessible enough for me to understand (and left open enough for me to interpret to my own liking). I've heard much discussion of the "Extraordinary Girl" flying sequence; several have seen it as a distraction or worse. I can understand why some people find this sequence disconcerting; however, I also understand its inclusion and its unusual nature. Tunny has always lived in the fantasy world of his television set. His mind is pre-disposed to the fantastic, and when he begins falling in love with his nurse while under the effects of morphine, he creates an "extraordinary" conception of her as a girl who magically flies to him through thin air and gives him the feeling that he, too, can fly and rise above his troubled life. It's true that the apparatus is slightly distracting here. There's really no way to make it invisible. I wonder if it would make a difference to the criticisms I've heard if the actors were truly flying under their own power. Some imagination is required to fully appreciate theater of any kind, and I didn't find that this sequence stretched me too far to be enjoyable. However, judging by the comments I've heard, it could be unappealing to a large percentage of the audience, and that could affect the show's reviews and its overall success.

I was unable to find a weak link in the cast. The voices, the acting abilities, the commitment to every move by every member of this exceptional company were an experience in themselves. Each member of the cast is outstanding, but I must mention a few here.

John Gallagher, Jr. as Johnny brings the perfect angst-y uncertainty to this role. He is so unsure of what to do with his life that he's overly suggestible and vulnerable to anyone who might want to take advantage of him. His self-destructive urges are intensified by the life of dissolution he finds himself leading with Whatsername and Jimmy. All of this can be read on Gallagher's face, seen in his body language, and heard in his delightfully expressive voice.

Rebecca Naomi Jones' intense personification of Whatsername brings us a fireball that lights up the stage and destroys every hackneyed preconception of a heroine ever known. In particular, her performance of "Letterbomb" continues to linger in my mind. I have never seen such commitment to a role by any actor as what I saw from her during this song. I wouldn't have been surprised by anything that occurred during "Letterbomb," because she held nothing back. Anything could have happened - including her own spontaneous combustion.

St. Jimmy is a complicated character, but Tony Vincent is obviously a stellar actor. The depth he brought to the character made quite an impression on me, and I heard from many others after the show that I was not alone. Johnny is often spoken of as JOS's "good" side and Jimmy as the "bad/evil" side. However, watching this performance, I saw in St. Jimmy - yes - the evil - the troublemaker - the side that doesn't know when to quit. But I also saw vulnerability, pain, sadness, and even love. When he was up on the highest platform used by the actors, I could still see the depth of expression burning in his eyes. He made me think about the fact that each facet of our characters is a part of what we are - and so, in some sense, it contains a part of every other characteristic we possess. And that makes it painful to try and excise a piece of ourselves just because it's considered undesirable. Just as Johnny is Jimmy, Jimmy is also Johnny.

The basis of this show is Green Day's superb music - American Idiot. It's obvious that someone who revered this work was paying deep attention to every nuance in translating it to the stage. The way chances are taken with the songs as they are interpreted, transitioned and mixed with each other leaves them surprisingly true to the originals. The overall experience of this production actually adds dimension to a work I thought I understood through and through.

It's true that Green Day fans will have an advantage because of their familiarity with the music (knowing many of the characters, understanding the lyrics, etc.), but isn't that true of any musical? And the music is out there - available for any theatergoer to become accustomed with before seeing the show. The production is not perfect (yet?), but it is so thoroughly pleasing that its few flaws hardly matter. The combination of every single individual involved in the show - from its brilliant director, Michael Mayer, to every member of the ensemble and those whose work takes place behind the curtain has created some kind of magic that is rarely seen on or off stage. Billie Joe Armstrong stated in an interview some time before opening night that he believed "People will be blown away." I can't speak for anyone else, but I certainly was.