McLean Community Players Presents 'Green Day's AMERICAN IDIOT

McLean Community Players' production of the Tony Award-winning hit musical Green Day's American Idiot, based on the Grammy Award-winning album, opens Friday July 21, 2023, and runs weekends through July 30.

This high-intensity show includes every song from Green Day's album, American Idiot, as well as several songs from its follow-up release, 21st Century Breakdown. It tells the story of three friends, Johnny, Tunny, and Will, who struggle to escape the torturous routine of their lives in suburbia. When the three disgruntled men flee the constraints of their hometown for the thrills of city life, their paths quickly diverge when Tunny enters the armed forces, Will is called back home to attend to family responsibilities, and Johnny's attention becomes divided by a seductive love interest and a hazardous new friendship. An energy-fueled rock opera, American Idiot features little dialogue and instead relies on the lyrics from Green Day's groundbreaking album to execute the story line.

Director Kendrick Weingast says, "American Idiot intrigued me from the very beginning due to the math equation it presented: what do you get if you add the fear of a post-9/11 America, plus the discontent and disease of growing up in suburbia, plus religious iconography and the need to find belonging, divided by mass media and a show of patriotism─all set to Green Day's music and the nostalgia of the early 2000s punk rock scene? The answer: a pulsating production full of hope, fear, patriotism, hatred, and at the core of it all─life. From the first rehearsal I could feel the passion radiating off the cast and directorial team; the need to tell this story here and now."

MCP's production of Green Day's American Idiot will run the weekends of July 21-30, 2023. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m. at the Alden Theatre in the McLean Community Center, 1234 Ingleside Ave., McLean, VA 22101.Tickets are $27, general admission; $20 for seniors, students, and McLean Tax District residents. Tickets are available online at www.McLeanPlayers.org and at the Alden Box Office. Group rates for groups of 10 or more are $20 and are available through the Alden Box Office at 571-296-8385.