Review: Green Day's 'American Idiot' Musical
It Happened Last Night
American Idiot The Musicial / Photo courtesy of mellopix.com
Brought to the stage by director Michael Mayer, the man behind 2006's surprise Broadway hit Spring Awakening, the stage-musical version of Green Day's American Idiot is currently enjoying a trial run in the band's native East Bay, and early indicators were promising: Ushers in the Berkeley Repertory Theater handed out earplugs before the show -- what is this, My Bloody Valentine? -- and one kid in the lobby even had a mohawk.
Better still were the charmingly didactic essays in the playbill ("Punk rock was born in the late '70s out of a reaction to the status quo…" Got it, Grandpa?). And not to spoil anything, but by the end of the 90-minute performance, the stage had been witness to half a dozen chugged beers, a couple of joints, several syringes of heroin, one drug-related suicide, one O.D., and one bout of very realistic-looking sex on a futon. Mamma Mia, that's our kind of musical!
So how was it? Well, the Green Day songs (everything off 2004's American Idiot plus two B-sides, four tracks from this year's 21st Century Breakdown, and one unearthed ballad Armstrong wrote for his wife when he was 19) sound as anthemic as ever, if a little showtuned-up. And lead actor John Gallagher, Jr. (playing Jimmy, the "Jesus of Suburbia") sounds enough like Billie Joe Armstrong to not be distracting.
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But Mayer has added only the barest of plots to the conceptual muddle that was the original album: Jimmy leaves suburbia for the big city, falls in love, gets hooked on dope, hits rock bottom, and ultimately flees back home. One of his buddies goes to Iraq and loses a leg; the other is a loser who doesn't go anywhere at all. The whole time a bank of TVs plays clips presumably depicting American idiocy: Slurpees and Twinkies at 7-11, night-vision bombing runs from the Middle East, Family Guy. It's all supposed to represent the hollowness of the American dream, or how life sucks, or something. Anyway. Fight the power!
Musicals are inevitably kind of corny, but this one could have used at least a little more bite. It's easy to imagine the kids a few blocks away at 924 Gilman Street, the famed Berkeley punk club where Green Day got their start, laughing at Idiot the way East Villagers in the '90s mocked Rent—as watered down and cheesed up. The dialogue (what little there is) is all, "What the fuck?" this and "Motherfucker!" that—a 13-year-old Wicked fan's idea of punk rebellion. And with tickets more expensive than seats at an actual Green Day show, there really doesn't seem much point.
Although in fairness, the production should get credit for at least one bold choice: The show's lead sponsor is Levi's...but Jimmy's jeans are not. Now that's punk.
14 Comments
Click here to comment- Posted By tough guy
10.11.09 12:52 PM
i agree with the 1st person, it is a shame you don't take ur writing serious. this further more gives me a reason NOT to read spin. other guy, you can take a show like that serious because it IS based on reality. because you dont live in that kind of enviroment, doesnt mean it isnt happening in multiple places in america. this IS old green day. wake up!
- Posted By Intellegent Reader
10.11.09 7:29 PM
This review further proves why I wont read Spin, once again an arrogant and ignorant review written by a pretenious snob. Congrats, assholes.
- Posted By Anonymous
10.12.09 1:32 PM
If you are defending Green Day, there is no doubt this country has gone to an ADD-riddled shit-hell. I'm done, i don't want to live in a fucking country where mouth-breathers from 13-30 still want to listen to the tripe that green day spills from their mouth and defend it on spin.com. I only came here from a linked website. Fuck you all.
- Posted By idolhands
10.12.09 2:05 PM
I like the review..I also think that Green Day giving the green light (no pun) on this just shows how over the top the band has become. I guess it is flattering that someone should love an album and story so much that they want to create a theatrical reporduction. However, I would like to think that Green Day would have the mind to say .."thanks byt no thanks." I think the idea is cheesy and from the trailer, it looks like some kind of high school musical. This just seems something more on the scale of U2 than Green Day. But whatever...
- Posted By Sierra Lillie
10.13.09 9:23 AM
HORRIBLE REVIEW... Green Day is one of the best "punk" bands out there. They haven't sold out like some other bands. This is why I don't read SPIN. It's a badly written magazine. I bet you people don't even listen to good music.
- Posted By Anonymous
10.13.09 8:01 PM
"HORRIBLE REVIEW... Green Day is one of the best "punk" bands out there. They haven't sold out like some other bands. This is why I don't read SPIN. It's a badly written magazine. I bet you people don't even listen to good music."
Sierra Lillie
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Sierra Lillie: i bet you are no older than 19 or 20 years old. Green Day was considered good music in the beginning. now it all just sounds the same. they havnt sold out?!?! are you fu**ing serious?!? they play their $hit on Kiis fm and repeatedly on KROQ, and thats not selling out to you?!? the majority of people that spend money on their cds and concerts these days are the youngins who barely even knew they were around back in the day. the same type that worship fall out boy and the like.
i agree this wasnt a great review. you say you dont read spin? i bet its because you're too busy reading alternative press or whatever crap magazine spews out the poppunk $hit that kids eat like candy nowadays. broaden your horizons sweetie. yeah green day is good at what they do , and i give them props for that, but its almost 2010 and music has changed in so many ways. pull your head out of your ass and try to learn a thing or two.
- Posted By tiri
10.14.09 1:19 AM
I bet Sierra is older. I am 37 and I have the same sentiments and I don't read some of the alternate press etc....most of my Green Day friends are older than me so generalities are not a good thing to make...In fact they are all in their 40s....just to let you know
- Posted By idolhands
10.14.09 9:34 AM
First off..its hard to say that green day sold out..i mean they always do what they want to do..which would not be selling out.. HOWEVER they play they mainstream game..but its really not so new and shouldnt be suprising..they have been playing the mainstream game since 1994..the only difference is the songs have changed. They went from 2 minute songs about adolescents to 4 - 5 minute songs that appeal to a broader group. Punk rock? really?? I think not. Go find a punk band like black flag or something..dont compare green day to like, Blink 182 or something because im afraid to say those types of bands are not punk rock. Recording records with Rob Covallo on Reprise records is the opposite of punk rock..UNDERSTAND THAT! My dad likes Green day and hes 54..ok, not punk rock. Having a theatrical version of one of your records is one of the silliest things a band can do.. Not even U2 have done that...and they are over the top more than any band i can think of. Saying you dont read spin, yet you are here on the spin website....reading it.. haha. Get a grip and accept that green day is not punk, they are as big as sting or U2 or aerosmith. Nothing wrong with it..just dont get it twisted.
- Posted By Stephan
10.15.09 1:55 AM
Were The Who silly when they green lighted Tommy as a Broadway musical? Just because it's musical theatre doesn't immediately make it corny. Of course, you really can't make a punk rock musical. And, of course, Green Day isn't really punk rock. They're pop punk, they have been since the 80's, that hasn't changed. I don't think putting one of their albums onstage is a ridiculous thing to do; Green Day is not Minor Threat.
Plus, Michael Mayer and John Gallagher, Jr. are fantastic. Watch Spring Awakening. This makes sense.
10.10.09 3:12 PM
A horribly written review. It is a shame you don't take your writing seriously.