American Idiot Musical (Theatrical Production)

[drumstick]

omg! I'm so happy for all of you guys...

I just hope I'll be able to see it one day

[Welshy]

Wow, after reading everything I REALLY wish I could see this, sounds amazing.

Do the songs from 21st CB and the AI b-sides fit in well together?

[MassHysteria]

Wow, after reading everything I REALLY wish I could see this, sounds amazing.

Do the songs from 21st CB and the AI b-sides fit in well together?

I think some do, but others need a little work. Favorite Son, Before the Lobotomy, and 21 Guns fit great. Too Much, Too Soon helps develop the story of Heather and Will, but I think it could use some smoothing out in the presentation (Theo and Alysha have great solos in this that I love). The one song that I have the most issues with is Know Your Enemy. I think that scene needs some work.

What do the others think?

[J'net]

Wow I am surprised he was at the musical tonight, I thought the only day that he or any of the guys would be there would have been the opening night on Friday

I'm not at all surprised. Since they are still making changes to the show as they watch the previews, I'm sure Billie will want to see how those changes work out. Some of them may even be his suggestions, so of course he'd want to see how they're applied.

[Tripe]

Uhhh, thought I would bring this over here from facebook. I thought someone would have recapped over here by now! This is from seeing the show on Friday:

It's early morning and I can't sleep, so I thought I might as well jot down a few thoughts about the American Idiot musical Jim and I saw last night in Berkeley at the Berkeley Rep/Roda Theater.

We stopped by the meetup at Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe in Emeryville beforehand. It was nice to see Janine, Zoe, J'net and her son Daniel, and Diane and her friend Ruth. Great to meet Sara and her brother Aldo too. There were about 20 people there altogether, I would guess.

We all got to the Rep before the doors opened at 7:00. It was a beautiful evening, so no hardship to hang out on the sidewalk chatting before they let us in.

At 7:00, we entered. I wanted to try one of the specialty drinks the bar had created for the show, so Jim got a beer and I got a Whatsername. It was yummy, although I think they skimped on the alcohol - it seemed like a lot of juice to me, and less vodka! Some people got the Jesus of Suburbia, which had Midori in it, and found it awful!

They had a "graffiti wall" on one wall of the lobby, where we could write comments and thoughts about the show, the music, or Green Day in general. It was fun to read what people wrote!

Went to seats inside the theater about 7:45. It was really a very small place - just one level of balcony. Jim and I had great seats on the floor level - 3rd row back, right side. We heard at this point that all three band members were in the theater. I had originally thought they would not come to this performance, figuring they would go to the more later "formal" opening night. In retrospect, though, I can see they would not want to have missed this very important show. "Preview" or not, it was the first time the show was to be seen with a full audience, and a very significant one for the cast and crew. The Rep documented the show after the performance was over by taking a full 360 degree photo of the cast on the stage and the audience standing in the theater - look for that on the Berkeley Rep website at some point, I am sure.

Tre Cool sat a row or two back from me and across the aisle. His "date" was manager Pat Magnarella. Mike was with his daughter Stella a few rows back. Billie Joe and Adrienne and his sons were back a few rows as well. I thought it was very cool that they just sat in the seats with the rest of us - wanting to feel the audience reaction, etc.

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE STORY LINE!!!!

The musical itself - really great! As you've probably read, the story follows three friends - Johnny, Will, and Tunny - and their parallel stories as they separate and come back together at the end. Johnny (Jesus) is the main character; his life is kind of shitty with his mom and stepdad, Brad. All three of them want to get out of what they feel is a dead end life.

I can't remember whether it was Will or Tunny, but one of them ends up with a pregnant girlfriend, and the other one goes into the military. I'll just call Tunny the one with the new baby and Will the one who goes into the service for purposes of this recap, K? EDIT: After reading the program on the flight home last night, I believe I have the characters backward....Tunny goes to the Middle East and Will has the new baby. Not that it matters that much! Anyway, Will's girlfriend (Heather) is unexpectedly pregnant, so he finds his plans changed by having to stay home with her. Tunny gets signed up for the army from the "Favorite Son," one of my favorite performances, and presumably goes off to Iraq or Afghanistan. Johnny heads for the big city and hooks up with St. Jimmy. St. Jimmy is played by Tony Vincent in this show and I couldn't imagine a better casting! Great singing voice and an absolutely mesmerizing performance. The perfect combination of evil charisma.

Novacaine was one of the first standout songs to me during the show. It was so well choreographed, especially with three different things going on at once. We watched Tunny in the desert with the army, dodging bullets from the enemy, Johnny beginning drug use with the eager assistance of St Jimmy, and Will in a stupor on the couch, overwhelmed with the responsibilities of a soon-to-be-arriving baby.

Things get worse: Tunny gets injured in the Army, Johnny (who has met Whatsername by now) gets more into drug use and starts mistreating the girl he loves/getting her hooked on drugs, and Heather leaves Will, taking the baby, since he can't handle fatherhood. There is a very moving performance of Last Night on Earth sung by St Jimmy, Johnny and Heather.

Johnny also sings a very tender version of "When It's Time" to Whatsername - just playing the guitar and singing solo, much the way Billie Joe sang it in concert. The performance notes discuss this song and how it was a tune BJ wrote to Adrienne way back when they first met when he was 19 years old. So it's been around for awhile. Very lovely in performance.

One of the standout performances has to be Before the Lobotomy going into Extraordinary Girl. Here, Tunny is in the hospital, injured in battle, and an "angel" comes down to him. Both actors are on "Peter Pan'" type flying apparatuses (I'm sure there is more of an official name for this, sorry), and Tunny arises from his hospital cot and they fly through the very tall stage set as they sing to each other. Really, really well done. The angel later takes the form of a nurse who helped Tunny get better after his injuries.

Johnny, in the meantime, is living a life of dissolution and partying with St. Jimmy. Whatsername finally has had enough, and she gets angry. What follows is a female singing performance of Letterbomb that is excellent. Anger and rage and female empowerment - loved it!

Will sits on the couch "watching Spike TV" and realizes he misses his girlfriend and baby. Too late, Heather reappears as a hottie in a black dress along with her new rock and roll boyfriend. He sings the Tre Cool part in Homecoming and it is one of the truly most enjoyable parts of the show. I admit to sneaking a peek at Tre during that part of the show to see his reaction. He seemed to enjoy it hugely!

Johnny comes to his senses, ditches St. Jimmy (or is it just the St. Jimmy part inside of him, hmmmm?) and decides to go home. Tunny is coming home from the Army with a purple heart medal and a new Extraordinary Girl/girlfriend. The three friends meet up for the ending of Homecoming, which is one of the most powerful parts of the show. Standing ovation at this point and it wasn't even the end.

The final song is Whatsername....where Johnny waxes poetic on his lost relationship with his former love.

There are probably lots of things I have forgotten. The musical allows the songs to tell the story, so your attention is constantly moving from song to song with very little break to contemplate. There is a tiny amount of dialogue from Johnny, but it's in the form of a verbal letter he is writing to his mother at home. All the songs from American Idiot are performed. Know Your Enemy, part of Before the Lobotomy, Last Night on Earth,and 21 Guns were performed from 21CB. And Favorite Son, When It's Time, and at least one other song ere included as well. Edit: The song I couldn't remember was Too Much Too Soon, which was sung to Will as Heather decides to leave him with the baby.

As a fan, I knew I would love the show. And I did. To be slightly critical, I thought it started off a little slow with American Idiot. Not sure how they could possibly inject more energy into that song, but it was a bit of a flat start for me. Perhaps I am just so used to the massive energy of that song in concert, I expect the same in a stage performance! Once Jesus of Suburbia began, however, I was hooked. And it only got better. I was interested to see what my husband, as a non-fan, would think. He is certainly familiar with the music and enjoys American Idiot more than any other GD album, but he is not a fan like me. Anyway, he enjoyed it a lot. He commented that the first song performance did not grab him, but by the time we were a few songs in, he thought it was great. Some of the images are definitely disturbing - the drug use and shooting up, etc. This is not a happy-go-lucky, all the ends are tied up neatly type of story!

I hope more of you get to see it. I'd definitely recommend it. They have already extended its run at the Berkeley Rep by three weeks. If the reviews are great, I can't help but think it will go East to NYC at some point.

[Sarahnade.]

omg! I'm so happy for all of you guys...

I just hope I'll be able to see it one day

This.

Tripe: I would suggest putting those in [spoilers]

Thanks for it too!

[Tripe]

This.

Tripe: I would suggest putting those in [spoilers]

Thanks for it too!

Done. Thanks!

[Sarahnade.]

Done. Thanks!

Sure!

Those spoilers excited me very much too. I want to see it even more now!

[norcalgreendayfan]

I'm not at all surprised. Since they are still making changes to the show as they watch the previews, I'm sure Billie will want to see how those changes work out. Some of them may even be his suggestions, so of course he'd want to see how they're applied.

Yeah you and Beth have a point, of course one I didn't think of but it makes sense now that you both brought it up that he would attend a few shows to see how the musical is progressing with some of the tweaks and suggestions being made to the musical to make the end product even better as a whole and so that the critics will have something positive to say when it is time for them to see the show.

[Sarahnade.]

I hope this hits Broadway in the summer. I'll only be able to go see it if it's in the summer.

[Nikki_Nimrod]

Those spoilers excited me very much too. I want to see it even more now!

THIS!

& thanks Tripe for posting the summary, sounds absolutely amazing!

[TheFearOfBreakingDown]

Holy hell. The full version of 21 Guns is blowing my mind.

Like..wow. This is the most amazing thing ever.

Wait..... Is there a fully version of "21 Guns" now??

Some of us are dying here...

[incendiary girl]

I hope this hits Broadway in the summer. I'll only be able to go see it if it's in the summer.

If it transfers, I doubt it would take longer than late Spring/early Summer to open. A lot of shows open in the Spring, so you should be good!

[Sarahnade.]

If it transfers, I doubt it would take longer than late Spring/early Summer to open. A lot of shows open in the Spring, so you should be good!

*Hyperventalates*

I hope so! If then, I'm definetly seeing it!

[IscoredWaddlesgoals]

Uhhh, thought I would bring this over here from facebook. I thought someone would have recapped over here by now! This is from seeing the show on Friday.:

It's early morning and I can't sleep, so I thought I might as well jot down a few thoughts about the American Idiot musical Jim and I saw last night in Berkeley at the Berkeley Rep/Roda Theater.

We stopped by the meetup at Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe in Emeryville beforehand. It was nice to see Janine, Zoe, J'net and her son Daniel, and Diane and her friend Ruth. Great to meet Sara and her brother Aldo too. There were about 20 people there altogether, I would guess.

We all got to the Rep before the doors opened at 7:00. It was a beautiful evening, so no hardship to hang out on the sidewalk chatting before they let us in.

At 7:00, we entered. I wanted to try one of the specialty drinks the bar had created for the show, so Jim got a beer and I got a Whatsername. It was yummy, although I think they skimped on the alcohol - it seemed like a lot of juice to me, and less vodka! Some people got the St. Jimmy, which had Midori in it, and found it awful!

Went to seats inside the theater about 7:45. It was really a very small place - just one level of balcony. Jim and I had great seats on the floor level - 3rd row back, right side. We heard at this point that all three band members were in the theater. I had originally thought they would not come to this performance, figuring they would go to the more later "formal" opening night. In retrospect, though, I can see they would not want to have missed this very important show. "Preview" or not, it was the first time the show was to be seen with a full audience, and a very significant one for the cast and crew. The Rep documented the show after the performance was over by taking a full 360 degree photo of the cast on the stage and the audience standing in the theater - look for that on the Berkeley Rep website at some point, I am sure.

Tre Cool sat a row or two back from me and across the aisle. His "date" was manager Pat Magnarella. Mike was with his daughter Stella a few rows back. Billie Joe and Adrienne and his sons were back a few rows as well. I thought it was very cool that they just sat in the seats with the rest of us - wanting to feel the audience reaction, etc.

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE STORY LINE!!!!

The musical itself - really great! As you've probably read, the story follows three friends - Johnny, Will, and Tunny - and their parallel stories as they separate and come back together at the end. Johnny (Jesus) is the main character; his life is kind of shitty with his mom and stepdad, Brad. All three of them want to get out of what they feel is a dead end life.

I can't remember whether it was Will or Tunny, but one of them ends up with a pregnant girlfriend, and the other one goes into the military. I'll just call Tunny the one with the new baby and Will the one who goes into the service for purposes of this recap, K? EDIT: After reading the program on the flight home last night, I believe I have the characters backward....Tunny goes to the Middle East and Will has the new baby. Not that it matters that much! Anyway, Will's girlfriend (Heather) is unexpectedly pregnant, so he finds his plans changed by having to stay home with her. Tunny gets signed up for the army from the "Favorite Son," one of my favorite performances, and presumably goes off to Iraq or Afghanistan. Johnny heads for the big city and hooks up with St. Jimmy. St. Jimmy is played by Tony Vincent in this show and I couldn't imagine a better casting! Great singing voice and an absolutely mesmerizing performance. The perfect combination of evil charisma.

Novacaine was one of the first standout songs to me during the show. It was so well choreographed, especially with three different things going on at once. We watched Tunny in the desert with the army, dodging bullets from the enemy, Johnny beginning drug use with the eager assistance of St Jimmy, and Will in a stupor on the couch, overwhelmed with the responsibilities of a soon-to-be-arriving baby.

Things get worse: Tunny gets injured in the Army, Johnny (who has met Whatsername by now) gets more into drug use and starts mistreating the girl he loves/getting her hooked on drugs, and Heather leaves Will, taking the baby, since he can't handle fatherhood. There is a very moving performance of Last Night on Earth sung by St Jimmy, Johnny and Heather.

Johnny also sings a very tender version of "When It's Time" to Whatsername - just playing the guitar and singing solo, much the way Billie Joe sang it in concert. The performance notes discuss this song and how it was a tune BJ wrote to Adrienne way back when they first met when he was 19 years old. So it's been around for awhile. Very lovely in performance.

One of the standout performances has to be Before the Lobotomy going into Extraordinary Girl. Here, Tunny is in the hospital, injured in battle, and an "angel" comes down to him. Both actors are on "Peter Pan'" type flying apparatuses (I'm sure there is more of an official name for this, sorry), and Tunny arises from his hospital cot and they fly through the very tall stage set as they sing to each other. Really, really well done. The angel later takes the form of a nurse who helped Tunny get better after his injuries.

Johnny, in the meantime, is living a life of dissolution and partying with St. Jimmy. Whatsername finally has had enough, and she gets angry. What follows is a female singing performance of Letterbomb that is excellent. Anger and rage and female empowerment - loved it!

Will sits on the couch "watching Spike TV" and realizes he misses his girlfriend and baby. Too late, Heather reappears as a hottie in a black dress along with her new rock and roll boyfriend. He sings the Tre Cool part in Homecoming and it is one of the truly most enjoyable parts of the show. I admit to sneaking a peek at Tre during that part of the show to see his reaction. He seemed to enjoy it hugely!

Johnny comes to his senses, ditches St. Jimmy (or is it just the St. Jimmy part inside of him, hmmmm?) and decides to go home. Tunny is coming home from the Army with a purple heart medal and a new Extraordinary Girl/girlfriend. The three friends meet up for the ending of Homecoming, which is one of the most powerful parts of the show. Standing ovation at this point and it wasn't even the end.

The final song is Whatsername....where Johnny waxes poetic on his lost relationship with his former love.

There are probably lots of things I have forgotten. The musical allows the songs to tell the story, so your attention is constantly moving from song to song with very little break to contemplate. There is a tiny amount of dialogue from Johnny, but it's in the form of a verbal letter he is writing to his mother at home. All the songs from American Idiot are performed. Know Your Enemy, part of Before the Lobotomy, Last Night on Earth,and 21 Guns were performed from 21CB. And Favorite Son, When It's Time, and at least one other song ere included as well. Edit: The song I couldn't remember was Too Much Too Soon, which was sung to Will as Heather decides to leave him with the baby.

As a fan, I knew I would love the show. And I did. To be slightly critical, I thought it started off a little slow with American Idiot. Not sure how they could possibly inject more energy into that song, but it was a bit of a flat start for me. Perhaps I am just so used to the massive energy of that song in concert, I expect the same in a stage performance! Once Jesus of Suburbia began, however, I was hooked. And it only got better. I was interested to see what my husband, as a non-fan, would think. He is certainly familiar with the music and enjoys American Idiot more than any other GD album, but he is not a fan like me. Anyway, he enjoyed it a lot. He commented that the first song performance did not grab him, but by the time we were a few songs in, he thought it was great. Some of the images are definitely disturbing - the drug use and shooting up, etc. This is not a happy-go-lucky, all the ends are tied up neatly type of story!

I hope more of you get to see it. I'd definitely recommend it. They have already extended its run at the Berkeley Rep by three weeks. If the reviews are great, I can't help but think it will go East to NYC at some point.

I'm really sorry but I've got a terrible sense of humour and most of that (story) sounds bloody hilarious. :whistling:

[JHyena86]

YES! Finally someone wrote out something about story. Sounds interesting, very musical-y. I really hope I get to see it. My dad would actually like this one...he usually dislikes musicals 'cause he doesn't know the music, but he can't use that excuse for AI....

Edited September 7, 2009 by phanofgondor

[pasalacqua91]

p.s.

Lulu! Awesome to see you, your bro and mom again!

It was great seeing you too!

[Kaddi.]

omg! I'm so happy for all of you guys...

I just hope I'll be able to see it one day

Yeah, same here. Even if it won't be played in Germany, I still hope they'll at least release it on DVD.

[jess123]

can anyone scan the program notes they handed out?

[Guest Shangri-La]

can anyone scan the program notes they handed out?

pdf download: http://www.berkeleyrep.org/season/0910/ai_program.asp

[jetsrule128]

where is the 21 guns full version?

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

Holy hell. The full version of 21 Guns is blowing my mind.

Like..wow. This is the most amazing thing ever.

What? A full version of 21 Guns? Can you pleeaase post it, or pm it?

Uhhh, thought I would bring this over here from facebook. I thought someone would have recapped over here by now! This is from seeing the show on Friday:

Great recap, thanks

[Juliette]

Aaah I'm so jealous ! I must see this some day.

[Marie_GD]

Hey guys, I have the complete song, but firstly I'm talking to Warner about copyright infringements, and as soon as that is settled I will have the complete song posted on my website Green Day Inc

[Nikki_Nimrod]

Hey guys, I have the complete song, but firstly I'm talking to Warner about copyright infringements, and as soon as that is settled I will have the complete song posted on my website Green Day Inc

Awesome, thanks so much!

Kick ass site too