Sunday night I had the wonderful opportunity to see Green Day’s American Idiot musical on its last night on Hartford’s Bushnell stage. I was not gonna pass this up. Though I’m not a Green Day fan, I do love theatre, so I was really enthused. The day of, I listened to the Broadway soundtrack and fell in love.
I nearly burst into tears when the show started, if that’s any gauge as to how much I enjoyed it. I’m gonna try to write this without reviewing every single song, but that may just not be possible.
The opening number, “American Idiot”, was brilliant. The set consisted of what appeared to be multiple little “homes”, a wall of televisions, and fun metal structures to climb on. Opening up with Johnny, Will, and Tunny, our three adorable rocker protagonists, it’s high-energy and nearly impossible to not fall in love with. The band was on the stage with the musicians, which was also fascinating; it was like a concert, and chock full of passion. Also, there is nothing more beautiful that the jarring three-part harmony in this song either. It gives me chills just listening to it again now.
The best group number of the whole show was “Jesus of Suburbia”. Let’s face it- it’s the best GD tune, and the adaptation blew me away. It’s the only song of Green Day’s that I’d listen to/sing willingly and not really care, so I was excited to see how it’d be stage and performed. All the vocals were spot-on and I couldn’t help but be totally enthralled with the hundreds of different things going on the stage. There was so much to watch. The choreography was clever and pushed along the transitions from the “songs” in “JoS”. Everything was so tight-knit and though it was the cast’s second performance of that day, it was their last ever in that venue, and you could tell they gave it their all. In “I Don’t Care”, you really got the sense of these budding young men (early 20s) and how they feel about their crappy home of Jingletown. The use of props and lighting here was also beautiful.
“Dearly Beloved” gave me goosebumps. The casting of Heather was flawless and her voice fit in so well with this song that I would’ve preferred she be in the place of Billie Joe Armstrong all the time. Then when it changed into “Tales of Another Broken Home”, the volume picked up and the chaotic movement led to Tunny and Johnny leaving home, while Will had to stay home with his pregnant girlfriend. The use of that plot point with the lyrics was absolutely seamless.
I don’t know if it’s just a theatre kid thing, but there’s some songs in musicals that when you listen to, you just want to SCREEEEAM at the top of your lungs or play really loud or reenact the choreography from the second you hear the first note. For me, that’s “Favorite Son”. Before the song starts, Tunny is flipping channels and this man, the “favorite son” comes out of the TV and performs this number. Tunny gets seduced into the perfect façade of America- he falls for all the propaganda and changes his once-anarchist views and joins the army. It’s heart-breaking because he feels the need to live up to the assumed expectations of his hypothetical father. It shows the real disillusionment of America, and I think that’s the big message to take away.
It changes to “Are We The Waiting”, which made me cry. The vocals are mind-blowing and I couldn’t help but get choked up, even now when I’m sitting here writing this. Tunny’s leaving and this is his representation of how he feels- what a clever way to entwine the tune. I must say that his voice is one of the best I’ve heard in a very long time, and I’m looking forward to him being cast in more Broadway productions.
“Last Of The American Girls/She’s A Rebel” is sung by Johnny about his girlfriend Whatsername. He meets this girl and falls in love with her. When Johnny meets St Jimmy, he wants Johnny all to himself, and this girl takes it away. St Jimmy manages to get Johnny hooked on heroin and the party life and hates Whatsername. Eventually, Johnny gets Whatsername into heroin- a huge parallel to Sid and Nancy. As for the singing of this tune, I think it’s brilliant. I never really consider any albums to every make good albums, much less a classic rock tune like “She’s A Rebel”, but somehow they made it work.
“Before The Lobotomy” is gorgeous. The layered vocals are flawless and the fact that each of them was playing a guitar surprised me. They’re all very talented, in all aspects, apparently. Just three boys and three guitars create this enveloping sound that I could tell entranced the audience. It was some of the loudest applause I’d ever heard after any of the songs in the musical, and it was beyond deserving.
The way that they fit “21 Guns” in was phenomenal. The mix of all the stories- Johnny’s struggle with his life, Will and his baby and ex girlfriend, and Tunny’s war injury and inner turmoil- come together during this scene. The beginning harmonies here are also the best female harmonies of the entire the show. When the guys join in, it breaks through the calmness and opens it up for the chorus to be intense and meaningful. The sheer ardor of this number makes it sit right under “Jesus of Suburbia” on the “best of” list. I adore it.
The final tune was “Whatsername”, when all the guys come home, and Johnny realizes that things aren’t as bad in Jingletown as they were everywhere else. That’s where his real home was. It’s sad because he and Whatsername never end up together, but it’s uplifting because he hugs Tunny and Will, his old buddies, and others he hadn’t seen. The fact that he spent his whole time trying not to be an ‘American idiot’, and he was anyway. He figured the error of his ways and learned from it, and grew up, and became an adult.
After curtain call, the entire cast- and I mean every single one of them, came out with a guitar and performed “Good Riddance”. The fact that they all know how to play the same instrument was really cool and it was a nice surprise because I don’t think anyone was actually expecting it. It’s not on the Broadway soundtrack, so it caught me off guard in the best way.
The verdict? American Idiot has placed itself on my list of ‘Top 5 Musicals’. The composition, the script, the vocals- everything was so well done. Though I don’t like Green Day, that doesn’t matter because it wasn’t a GD concert, it was one of the best musicals of the 21st century.