Green Day’s American Idiot rocks and rolls across the country

In 1940, Woody Guthrie released what is considered to be one of the first, if not the first, concept album, a collection of songs that has a narrative beginning, middle and end. In the years since, many artists from Frank Sinatra to Frank Zappa have recorded concept albums, and some concept albums have seen life beyond the audio recording on stage and screen. Pink Floyd The Wall became a movie. The Who’s Tommy went from album to movie to Broadway musical. Les Misérables actually started as a French concept album and became one of the most loved musicals in history. And in 2004, Green Day released their concept album (born when the tracks for the album that was in production had been stolen) American Idiot.

In September 2009, after eight months of preparation, the first staged version of American Idiot premiered at the Berkeley Rep to great acclaim, breaking box office records. The show opened at the St. James Theatre on Broadway on March 24, 2010 and won two Tony Awards for Best Scenic Design and Best Lighting Design but lost to Memphis in the Best Musical category. The cast recording also won a Grammy. The show ran on Broadway until April 24, 2011 and the first national tour commenced in December of 2011.

American Idiot has rocked and rolled into Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre (May 7 – May 12), and they are raising the roof. The story focuses on three friends, Johnny, Tunny and Will, young men in a post 9/11 world, stuck in a small town with nothing to do and nowhere to go, wondering if the good guys still wear red, white and blue. The friends decide they have to get out of town to find themselves, but Will finds himself with an unexpectedly expecting girlfriend and is forced to stay behind. Johnny and Tunny find that life in the big city isn’t so great either when you’re flat broke, and Johnny is left alone when Tunny commits the ultimate betrayal – he enlists. Johnny becomes the central character as we follow him through months of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll while Tunny’s and Will’s lives become peripheral but important to the story.

As a rock opera, the show has a surprisingly deep story of love and life, asking the audience to think about how they fit into the world around them, and to examine what paths their lives have taken while Johnny seems to go from one dead end to another, especially after he falls under the spell of St. Jimmy, a pusher who gets him hooked on drugs to help ease the pain of his life. Not even meeting the girl of his dreams can break him out of his downward spiral, but he learns that hitting rock bottom is the only way he can come back out on top … or perhaps just exactly where he started.

I’m no Green Day fan, nor a fan of any hard rock music with a punk edge, but I have to say I was totally enthralled with this production of American Idiot. I can’t imagine the toll singing these songs night after night takes on the cast, but they deliver with all the ferocity, anger, despair and even hope that is required of the material. Alex Nee (Johnny) in particular is just stunning, delivering the leads on the bulk of the show’s songs (his resemblance to Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong is certainly no accident). There isn’t a weak voice in the entire cast from the leads to the co-stars to the rest of the ensemble. And not only do they have to sing, they have to deliver some powerfully intense choreography as well. In one stunning number, Tunny and his “dream girl” do a song and dance while flying high above the stage with some beautifully balletic moves.

The set itself is a character in the show as well. Looking like a three-story warehouse interior with about three dozen video monitors scattered from one end to the other, each character manages to have their own separate unique space on stage even though there are no walls or major set changes save for a rolling staircase and a large structure that is turned on its side and used as a bus for one ingenious number. In addition to the video monitors, which bombard you with various images and graphics, the wall of the set becomes a screen itself when video is projected along its full expanse. It is quite a remarkable set and it’s not hard to see why Christine Jones (set) and Kevin Adams (lighting) won those Tony Awards.

If you’re in the Baltimore area, do yourself a favor and head down to the beautiful Hippodrome before the show closes on May 12. American Idiot is a stunning theatrical experience. Be warned though, the show is loud and contains many scenes of sexuality and drug use as well as a liberal use of the F-word. It’s not for the faint of heart, but if you can handle a rock and roll musical that makes you think and feel, then this is the show for you. The American Idiot tour will continue in Jacksonville, Ft. Myers and Tampa through the end of May before heading to San Diego, San Jose, Las Vegas, Tokyo and Seoul (with more dates to be announced). You can get more information about the show and ticket information by visiting the official website.