The strained neck veins, the patented intense head tilt; The cast of the touring American Idiot was in fine form. I was amazed at their stamina, as they energetically head-banged, pelvic thrusted, and rocked out in the stylized mosh-pit of Green Day’s greatest hits. The musical’s strength was in the ensemble and the early scenes in which there wasn’t so much a message as a mashup of slick choreography and astoundingly good lighting design. After the opening numbers, loud and brash and endearingly earnest, the thin plot unwound like so many tales told by misunderstood youths. It made its point, along with a few other more muddy conclusions.
Though the book may have felt a bit thin (Why, in a musical with two songs that prominently feature the slur f*****, is there no openly gay character to address it? Why are only the male characters reliably named? Why was there a number featuring a woman in what can only be described as a “sexy burka”? Who is funding Johnny’s drug habit? How can a drug-addled runaway hold down a full time office job?) the energy was certainly not.
The show is about the development of the main character, Johnny. The show ends with a reunion; Johnny’s returned home. He’s kicked heroin (also meth?) and he’s ready to be a productive member of society. I just wish he hadn’t been the main character. I found no insight in his descent into drugs. My heartstrings were unmoved by his ennui and petulant journey to adulthood.
The main men were all, in a way, extremely unlikeable: one, a stoner deadbeat dad, another, an ungrateful artist. I get it; they are the American Idiots. Is the veteran, the woefully underdeveloped third friend? Is the teenage mom, who got out of a neglectful (possibly abusive) relationship? Is the perpetually half naked Whatsername, whose life is threatened by her lover?
I vote we reboot. The women of the show; Heather, Whatsername, and the Extraordinary Girl deserve to be the stars.
Keep all the head-banging, though.
I saw American Idiot at the National Theater on January 19th, 2014.
Though the book may have felt a bit thin (Why, in a musical with two songs that prominently feature the slur f*****, is there no openly gay character to address it? Why are only the male characters reliably named? Why was there a number featuring a woman in what can only be described as a “sexy burka”? Who is funding Johnny’s drug habit? How can a drug-addled runaway hold down a full time office job?) the energy was certainly not.
The show is about the development of the main character, Johnny. The show ends with a reunion; Johnny’s returned home. He’s kicked heroin (also meth?) and he’s ready to be a productive member of society. I just wish he hadn’t been the main character. I found no insight in his descent into drugs. My heartstrings were unmoved by his ennui and petulant journey to adulthood.
The main men were all, in a way, extremely unlikeable: one, a stoner deadbeat dad, another, an ungrateful artist. I get it; they are the American Idiots. Is the veteran, the woefully underdeveloped third friend? Is the teenage mom, who got out of a neglectful (possibly abusive) relationship? Is the perpetually half naked Whatsername, whose life is threatened by her lover?
I vote we reboot. The women of the show; Heather, Whatsername, and the Extraordinary Girl deserve to be the stars.
Keep all the head-banging, though.
I saw American Idiot at the National Theater on January 19th, 2014.