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American Idiot Musical (Theatrical Production)


J'net

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Billie Joe really does wish he was a hairdresser, doesn't he?! :lol:

So it seems...makes me think of those pics of him giving Mike a mohawk a long time ago for the Network video.

I would let him give me a mohawk...even if it would look like shit on me.

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Another fairly positive review (blog):

http://sfist.com/2009/09/17/sfist_reviews_..._american_i.php

and ANOTHER mostly positive review from the East Bay Express author that also discusses briefly the thoughts of others in attendance:

http://thedopereport.com/2009/09/17/green-...-on-press-night

Edited by MassHysteria
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I just had to pop over and leave a comment on that one :).

Good response to that poor review J'net I agree with everything you said

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a ANOTHER mostly positive review from the East Bay Express author that also discusses briefly the thoughts of others in attendance:

http://thedopereport.com/2009/09/17/green-...-on-press-night

I like this one a lot. Great points about whether Tommy and The Wall are any deeper than American Idiot may or may not be, among other gems in the review.

I'd say on the whole, the reviews err on the side of positive rather than negative. Maybe if they work on the script a bit more for the second incarnation, they can work out some of the kinks. Other than that, so far, so good, despite the first one.

Thanks for commenting on that first review J'net. I think he was having a bad night! Maybe it was his Red Tide or something.

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I like this one a lot. Great points about whether Tommy and The Wall are any deeper than American Idiot may or may not be, among other gems in the review.

I'd say on the whole, the reviews err on the side of positive rather than negative. Maybe if they work on the script a bit more for the second incarnation, they can work out some of the kinks. Other than that, so far, so good, despite the first one.

Thanks for commenting on that first review J'net. I think he was having a bad night! Maybe it was his Red Tide or something.

Hahaha, t ann ... "his Red Tide or something." :lol:

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What does it say after:

''The production adheres to the album, here fleshed out by B side “Too Much Too Soon,” compilation cut “Favorite Son,” and four tracks from the band’s current''

There's no link on to another page (apart from a squigly thing that makes a funny noise) and nothing underneath it. Apologies for being a thicko that's yet to grasp the internet :huh:

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I've been reading the reviews as well, and from what I can see, those that are negative are largely disappointed that it's not a Green Day concert (all I can say is sucks to be them). So far I think JC's rant and rave is closest to how I felt about the musical. The concept isn't flawed per se, but the execution of the concept has flaws and that's to be expected.

Even though it's opened officially at Berkeley Rep, I can almost guarantee there will be a whole host of tweaking pre B'way (and, yes, I do think this will make it to B'way and to London -- London LOVES this type of show, LOVES, LOVES, LOVES, although how anyone can buy theater tix there when a Big Mac costs US$4-plus boggles the mind). So those who are troubled by negative reviews (especially the reviews that aren't really reviews at all, just some stream-of-consciouness BS -- go J'net for calling him on it), don't sweat it. Mayer and Hulce are B'way pros and they want a successful show; it is, after all, how they pay their bills. They'll take the sensible criticism, make the tweaks necessary and the show will be better for it (please, please please lose the cirque du I Dream of Jeannie segment, please???).

Art is a process, a journey -- and who better to be fronting that journey (not fronting Journey, of course) than Green Day, Mayer and Hulce? It's going to be a fun ride -- bumpy but fun.

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What does it say after:

''The production adheres to the album, here fleshed out by B side “Too Much Too Soon,” compilation cut “Favorite Son,” and four tracks from the band’s current''

There's no link on to another page (apart from a squigly thing that makes a funny noise) and nothing underneath it. Apologies for being a thicko that's yet to grasp the internet

That's right - there's an HTML coding error. If you do a view source you can read the rest, or here it is:

four tracks from the band's current 21st Century Breakdown, including recent singles “Know Your Enemy” and “21 Guns.” During the show’s previously unreleased hit-worthy ballad “When It’s Time,” written by a 19-year-old Armstrong for his future wife Adrienne, Tony-winning actor John Gallagher, Jr. sits on a bed and accompanies himself on acoustic guitar while his heroin-blasted girlfriend lies listlessly beside him, trapped in limbo between dreams and death.

Rather than complex plotting, Mayers offers spectacle and symbols closer in spirit to the abstraction of both traditional opera and rock & roll than to the glitz of typical Broadway musicals: A bed rolls away and glowing yellow lines suggest a 7-11 parking lot as the chorus wails “Jesus of Suburbia” while thrashing about in military precision. “Dreaming, I was only dreaming,” a quartet of wounded soldiers somberly croon 21st Century Breakdown’s “Before the Lobotomy” while lying in hospital beds as a veiled woman in Muslim garb floats above the stage, removing her blue robes to reveal a pink stomach-bearing ensemble reminiscent of I Dream of Jeannie. That’s as lavish as this street-conscious, mass-media-minded presentation gets.

After a standing ovation from a crowd that included the band, their friends and family, 21st Century Breakdown producer Butch Vig, and <em>Amadeus</em> actor Tom Hulce (one of American Idiot’s producers), the cast and audience celebrated in a sprawling party that spread out through the building, onto the patio, and into Berkeley Rep’s neighboring Thrust Theatre. A circus-like atmosphere prevailed, courtesy of new wave dance classics, Rock Band karaoke, vodka snow cones, vintage pinball, and a stylist offering free haircuts to the brave. Toward the end of the evening, she relinquished her clippers to Billie Joe Armstrong, who improvised an impressive Mohawk on a willing victim. <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/photos/gallery/29950916/random_notes/photo/1"(The evidence is right here.)</a> Amidst these festivities, Armstrong’s sister and mother, Anna and Ollie Armstrong, provided emotional back story to the triumphant event.

“Today was the 27th anniversary of the death of Billie Joe’s dad,” Ollie confided between motherly exclamations of pride. “We visited his gravestone today.”

“There are lines in the songs that specifically refer to our hometown or to our dad,” Anna elaborated, alluding in part to “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” Armstrong’s confrontation of the trauma inflicted by their father’s death when he and Anna were 10 and 14. “The show is particularly meaningful for us because we know where it comes from.”

- Barry Walters

Edited by pattifan
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“Today was the 27th anniversary of the death of Billie Joe’s dad,” Ollie confided between motherly exclamations of pride. “We visited his gravestone today.”

wow, that's got to have been bittersweet for the Armstrong clan.

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after all, how they pay their bills. They'll take the sensible criticism, make the tweaks necessary and the show will be better for it (please, please please lose the cirque du I Dream of Jeannie segment, please???).

Hahah, I haven't even seen the show yet and from what everyone says, I hope they kill this part by the time I see it next Friday! :) But, of course, that's not going to happy.

BTW, Sally, if you are thinking of seeing Othello at the Public with the Labyrinth Theater Company... don't do it! One of the worst experimental Shakespeare shows I've ever seen. I couldn't even sit through the second act, and I NEVER leave a show at intermission.

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Hahah, I haven't even seen the show yet and from what everyone says, I hope they kill this part by the time I see it next Friday! :) But, of course, that's not going to happy.

nooooooooooohhh!!! It's one of my favorite parts!

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nooooooooooohhh!!! It's one of my favorite parts!

haha... ok, well, for you, i hope they leave it! :)

Though I'd say it's running 50/50 the love/hate for that scene that I've read.

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haha... ok, well, for you, i hope they leave it! :)

Though I'd say it running 50/50 the love/hate for that scene that I've read.

And I'll just close my eyes, I guess. Or play a round of solitaire on the iTouch.

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t ann:

BTW, Sally, if you are thinking of seeing Othello at the Public with the Labyrinth Theater Company... don't do it! One of the worst experimental Shakespeare shows I've ever seen. I couldn't even sit through the second act, and I NEVER leave a show at intermission.

I left at intermission too! No way I was going to sit for another 2 hours when the first 2 were so excruciating.

On topic: American Idiot could be performed almost 3 times in the time it would take to sit through Othello once. :/

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I left at intermission too! No way I was going to sit for another 2 hours when the first 2 were so excruciating.

On topic: American Idiot could be performed almost 3 times in the time it would take to sit through Othello once. :/

I'm glad it wasn't just me! And now... back to American Idiot...

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i don't know how to feel about that... i was kinda hoping 21CB would be made into a show haha

Hey you never know if American Idiot turns out to be a huge success you just may see 21st Century Breakdown turned in to a show too

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