Those jaded punks that populate Green Day’s American Idiot have made their way onto the Broadway stage, raising hell with their cynical rants in the same theatre that once housed such wholesome musical classics as Oklahoma! and Hello, Dolly!. American Idiot the musical is the latest odd couple of rock and Broadway, and follows in a long tradition of rock musicals to play the Great White Way that began with Hair in the late 1960s and has included productions like Grease, Jesus Christ Superstar, and The Who’s Tommy.
Green Day’s Grammy Award-winning magnum opus American Idiot, released in 2004, is an ambitious, politically astute concept album that addresses the themes of rage and love in the post 9/11 Bush-era. According to the band's frontman and lyricist Billie Joe Armstrong, Idiot was written as a narrative with the intention of one day having it staged or made into a film. Armstrong, in fact, turned to musical-theatre productions like The Rocky Horror Show and West Side Story for inspiration in writing the album.
Green Day jumped at the chance to work with director and longtime Idiot fan Michael Mayer—whose adaptation of the controversial 1891 German play Spring Awakening won a host of Tony Awards in 2007, including one for Best Musical—when Mayer approached the band about adapting the album to stage. Mayer and Armstrong worked closely together, expanding the show’s score by weaving in some Green Day B-sides and a few songs from their second consecutive rock opera, 21st Century Breakdown (which shares some overlapping themes with Idiot), to help fill in narrative gaps. The two also collaborated on a book that further clarifies Idiot’s plotline and characters. Green Day call the Broadway production of American Idiot the highlight of their career.
After a successful 2009 tryout at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, where Idiot became the top-grossing show in that theatre’s history and had its run twice extended, the production moved to New York’s St. James Theatre, where it opened on April 20, 2010, attracting theatre and concert-goers alike. The 95-minute one-act play has no dialogue and is told strictly through Green Day’s music.
American Idiot is the story of three disenchanted youths—Johnny , Will, and Tunny—who are caught up in suburban angst (“Funeral for a Friend”/“American Idiot”). The trio decide to make a run for the city (“Jesus of Suburbia”) after Johnny (aka Jesus of Suburbia) borrows money from his mother and buys bus tickets for himself and his friends. Before he gets his chance to escape, however, Will is forced to stay behind when he learns that his girlfriend Heather is pregnant. Johnny and Tunny carry on without their friend, joining up with a group of equally disillusioned youths to head for the city ("Holiday").
While Johnny roams aimlessly around the city, pining for a woman he sees in an apartment window ("Boulevard of Broken Dreams"), Tunny struggles to adjust to urban life and enlists in the army after being “recruited” by a television ad ("Favorite Son"). He realizes that his generation has become so desensitized that nothing, not even the pizzazz of the city, can excite him ("Are We the Waiting"). Frustrated by his friend's departure and his inability to find what he’s seeking in city life, Johnny conjures up the all-powerful alter ego St. Jimmy, who lures him into shooting heroin (“St. Jimmy”) while Tunny is deployed to a war zone, presumably Iraq, and is soon shot and wounded. Meanwhile, back in suburbia, Will sits on the couch drinking beer and begging release as his girlfriend's pregnancy progresses ("Give Me Novacaine").
Johnny finds that St. Jimmy has given him everything he's ever wanted when Johnny at last gets his chance to spend the night with the girl he saw in the window, whom he calls "Whatsername" ("Last of the American Girls"/"She's a Rebel"). Johnny and Whatsername go to a club and shoot drugs together before having sex ("Last Night on Earth").
Will continues to struggle with fatherhood as Heather becomes increasingly irritated with his immaturity. Despite his pleas to stay, Heather eventually leaves him, taking their baby with her ("Too Much, Too Soon"), while Tunny, laid up in an army hospital bed ("Before the Lobotomy"), hallucinates a balletic aerial dance between he and his nurse ("Extraordinary Girl") and realizes that he’s fallen in love with her ("Before the Lobotomy (reprise)").
Tempted again by St. Jimmy, Johnny tries his best to ignore him, watching Whatsername sleep and musing on their relationship ("When It's Time"). The lure of drugs, however, proves too great and Johnny succumbs to St. Jimmy, becoming increasingly erratic. He eventually threatens Whatsername, and then himself, with a knife ("Know Your Enemy"). Whatsername attempts to calm Johnny down while the Extraordinary Girl dresses Tunny's wounds and Will sits on the couch, once again alone ("21 Guns"). Frightened and fed up, Whatsername reveals to Johnny that St. Jimmy is a figment of his father's rage and his mother's love ("Letterbomb") and leaves him.
Johnny is forced to admit that his life has amounted to nothing ("Wake Me Up When September Ends"). St. Jimmy again appears and makes a last-ditch effort to get Johnny's attention, but realizes Johnny is lost to him. St. Jimmy commits suicide while Johnny cleans up and gets a desk job. He soon realizes that he doesn’t belong in the city and returns to his hometown where he is reunited with Tunny—who has returned as an amputee with the Extraordinary Girl—and Will—who has been reunited with his baby ("Homecoming"). Sometime later, Johnny reflects on losing the love of his life ("Whatsername").
American Idiot has received glowing reviews from critics—including the all-important rave from The New York Times—who call the show "eye-popping," "exhilarating," and "deeply moving." The one gripe has been Idiot's slender plotline and minimal character development, narrative shortcomings that are forgiven with music this thrilling. One critic, in fact, noted how difficult it is for the audience to remain "politely, soberly seated."
Already a Grammy winner for Best Rock Album, American Idiot has been nominated for three Tony Awards, including one for Best Musical. The Tonys will be broadcast live this Sunday, June 13th, and will include a performance by Green Day.
The Original Cast Recording "American Idiot" Featuring Green Day was released in April and includes all the songs from the musical plus a brand new recording of “When It’s Time.”
American Idiot plays the St. James Theatre through early September.
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Green Day not only have a hit Broadway show on their hands, but they have their very own edition of Rock Band as well, making them the only other band besides The Beatles to be immortalized by the Rock Band franchise. The game features 47 tracks spanning the band's career, including two full albums—Dookie and American Idiot—and twelve out of eighteen tracks from 21st Century Breakdown, with the remaining six tracks available in the "Plus" edition of the game. Green Day: Rock Band hit stores June 8th.
