Leaderboard

I think one of, if not the biggest, superstar of this entire production is TOM KITT. For all of us GREEN DAY fans, this production starts with the music. And how he blows it up astounds me. He has layered in so much yet keeps the intergrity of the grit and soul of this album. Im not sure if the Broadway community can truly appreciate what he did with this music, I surely hope so, because it is amazing.

This is exactly my husband. I will be very curious as to what he thinks when we see it. So far he hasn't wanted to see any previews or hear any of the new arrangements and I'm pretty sure he has no idea about my involvement here! He just isn't the kind of fan I am but certainly loves their music. It will be interesting to here his comments afterwards.

I had my doubts, too, but after seeing it myself, I have to agree with what everyone has said up here^^ I agree with you Dorie about stepping away from Green Day a bit - when I seperate the two things, it's great for me. I love the album and the music on its own, but then the musical is like another take on it, and I love that, too. It's like looking into someone else's in-depth perspective on what the album means to him, and of course part of that is Billie Joe's (most of it, lol) but added to or expanded is Michael Mayer's. Some of it I've seen in my own head and felt in my own heart, but a lot of it I hadn't before. And I like it. I was curious as to what my hubby would think after he saw it - he is a Green Day fan and loves their music, but he's doesn't "GET" the whole Green-Day-fan-thing, if that makes any sense, lol. He really liked it a lot, but also said that he doesn't know if people who don't already love their music will love the musical. I disagree because I think their music is so very diverse and easily relatable to many different people. I guess we will see. And YES Abbey!!! Yes. His arrangement of Before the Lobotomy is just...

Hear, hear!

I had my doubts before seeing it last week too. Trust me, you *have* to see it. The performance is good enough -- and especially if you're familiar with Green Day's music, eye-opening enough -- that I wound up pecking notes about it into my Blackberry while I was watching the damn thing to make sure I didn't forget key details to discuss here later. I haven't had time to distill them into a post yet but I promise, I will. For now, just trust me that you have to see it in person to really understand why everyone who does see it comes away from it going "holy $*#!!". Executive summary: (1) your understanding of the meanings of some of the songs and the connections between them will change depending on which character is singing which part of which song; (2) unless you've lived a perfect and sheltered life, you will absolutely identify with at least one of the characters or situations, and because of this at least one of the numbers will come along and just fucking NAIL you emotionally when you least expect it; and (3) Tony Vincent (St. Jimmy) absolutely OWNS the show (when you see it live for yourself, watch him carefully -- see where he goes, what he does, and most importantly, where he lurks). More to come later.

Aw, you might love it, you might not. Honestly, I didn't love it at first viewing in Berkeley. But it's changed a lot and improved so much since then. I really do love it now. You have to step away from it being Green Day music just a bit and just enjoy the energy and performances as they stand alone. I think whenever something is done like it was on Letterman last night, it's always somewhat awkward because the audience hasn't related to the characters and doesn't know their stories from just viewing that one part of the musical. If the performance of 21 Guns on the Grammys had been set like it is in the show, I don't think it would have gone over so well. They were wise to make that more of a performance than a snippet of the show.