American Idiot follows the exhilarating journey of a new generation of young Americans as they struggle to find meaning in a post 9/11 world, borne along by Green Day’s electrifying score. This high-octane show includes every song from the acclaimed album American Idiot, as well as several songs from the band’s Grammy-nominated new release, 21st Century Breakdown.
Green Day won two Grammy Awards for the groundbreaking rock opera American Idiot, which sold more than 12 million copies worldwide. Now Billie Joe Armstrong and the band collaborate with one of the theatre's most acclaimed creative teams, led by the Tony Award-winning director of Spring Awakening, Michael Mayer, two-time Tony Award-winning composer and orchestrator Tom Kitt, and Olivier Award-winning choreographer Steven Hoggett, to bring this explosive, iconic album to the stage.
The book fails to develop these characters beyond their initial conflicts, and it wouldn't hurt to have more than a few diary entries from Johnny to guide us. Nevertheless, the dynamic score—the jagged lyrics are by Armstrong, who also composed the driving music, with Mike Dirnt and Trè Cool—leads us into the frazzled psyches of an aimless portion of America's Generation Y. Tom Kitt, credited with musical supervision, arrangements, and orchestrations, builds a bridge between the worlds of rock and Broadway by making the songs accessible to general audiences without losing the chest-slamming intensity.
The new Broadway musical 'American Idiot' starts off at a fever pitch -- and stays there. By the time it ends, 90 minutes later, you may feel more numbed than stirred. Based on Green Day's 2004 concept album of the same name, the show, which opened last night, delivers an impressive amount of terrific numbers. Many have a genuine melodic pull underneath their brash power, and they are imaginatively, punchily staged by director Michael Mayer ('Spring Awakening') and choreographer Steven Hoggett ('Black Watch'). If only we could take a breather once in a while.
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