Here’s to You
Suburbia
If you woulda told me back in the day that the post-hardcore
pop punk band Green Day were to be responsible for one the most touching and
relatable, well produced and polished musicals on stage in 2014, I’da told you
to bug off.
But American Idiot is just that. If you grew up a
misunderstood, misguided youth in Suburbia, USA – this musical is about you and
your friends. Truly.
When the album came out in 2004, it was different. If you owned
the album, you might have gotten that it was a concept album. But if you were a
casual fan of the band, like myself, you heard the songs as they were released
– separate singles and in order of best for radio play. And they were cool. Allegedly, frontman Armstrong said,
"As soon as you abandon the verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge song
structure ... it opens up your mind to this different way of writing, where
there really are no rules." [Thank you Wikipedia – that’s legit, right?].
The album was made to be a rock opera.
Now jump forward to the musical
adaptation. It is one act – one long act with no intermissions. It is comprised
of songs only – 21 songs, no words except the very occasional one liner. It is performed with a full rock band located
on stage - rocking hard. The set is intricate; a city block scape and rock club
interior both at once, with large TV screens set within its walls projecting
wild images (think early MTV – when it was still good and about music). On
stage, the crew effectively arranged movable props to draw your eye into the
proper setting. A lot is going on quickly, the music driving the energy driving
the emotion of the story itself.
I won’t go too far into the story… I’ll
only say it follows the lives of three young angst ridden men living in
Suburbia through their completely different paths to finding themselves. The
performances were polished, well orchestrated and well delivered. Many of the
situations brought tears to my eyes as I empathized with the characters.
American Idiot was a hellofa good
roller-coaster ride. Here’s to you Suburbia for creating such dynamic emotional
baggage, and to Green Day for recording it.