Green Day's AMERICAN IDIOT Extends Through End of August at City Lights

"American Idiot does Green Day proud in San Jose." "Boy, did they deliver at City Lights." "Knock-out performances." "Tight, wild and most impressively, spontaneous."

Thanks to these and other raves from the media and audiences, City Lights Theater Company is extending the run of its hit rock musical Green Day's American Idiot. While the show was originally set to close Aug. 21, the company has added five performances: at 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, Aug. 24-27; and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 28.

The show, which features a live band and a 21-member cast of millennials performing Green Day's powerful music, has drawn sold-out crowds since previews began on July 14. Audiences are especially enjoying seeing the show up close in City Lights' 100-seat house.

Randy McMullen of The Mercury News, for one, wrote, "Placing more emphasis on the actors, especially when they are so close to the audience, sheds new emotional insight on the rather underwritten story about American youth trying to escape a barren existence, only to find their choices can have brutal consequences."

City Lights' Green Day's American Idiot has also been named a Recommended Production by TBA Awards adjudicators at Theatre Bay Area.

Performances are at 529 S. Second St. in San Jose's SoFA arts district: 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sundays. With most dates selling out, City Lights starts a waiting list at the door 30 minutes before curtain. For the latest on ticket availability, parking information and other details, go to cltc.org or call the box office at 408-295-4200.

The show, directed by Jeffrey Bracco, centers on three young friends: a trio of guys yearning for escape from suburbia. Forced to choose between their dreams and the safety of home, each embarks on a different journey for meaning in a media-filled, post-9/11 world.

This fall, City Lights begins its 34th season on Sept. 22 with the Jon Robin Baitz family drama Other Desert Cities. Up next is the comedy Calendar Girls by Tim Firth, based on the hit 2003 film; followed by Aaron Loeb's darkly comic thriller Ideation. Kit Wilder's world-premiere adaptation Frankenstein opens next spring. After that is Gina Gionfriddo's Rapture, Blister, Burn, a witty look at modern gender politics; followed by the Goth-rock musical Lizzie.

Pictured: The cast of "Green Day's American Idiot" lets it rip. Photo by Susan Mah Photography.