Playbill of The Week: American Idiot

17/53

When I was about 12 years old an album came out that in all honestly started my love for Green Day. I received the American Idiot album from a friend for my birthday and the obsession started. YouTube wasn't a thing, we still downloaded music from Limewire and we still had dial up internet. I lived in a small town, listened to Broadway cast recordings, and my parents music choices were Elvis Presley and The Band(there is nothing wrong with these by the way). I remember listening to 'American Idiot' and thinking this was one of the coolest things I'd ever heard, except for Avenue Q and Wicked which were up for Tonys that year. It was political and dramatic, so when they made it into a musical I knew I'd fall in love with that as well.

This show was a beast. A beautiful ensemble piece, that was bright, bold, in your face and didn't apologize for the statement it was making. The energy that radiated off the stage and into the audience was electric. You just wanted to get up and start a mosh pit in the middle of the St.James Theatre, I know I did. It's a musical that helped to reshape what people assumed musical theatre is. It takes something that is classically known as pretty and proper and turns it upside down to introduce anarchy and chaos in the best possible way. No vibrato or ingénue in sight, just troubled, tormented, angsty teens doing what they do best. They are literally swinging from the rafters in this show.

The story centers around three young men. Johnny, played by John Gallagher Jr, who struggles with drug addiction and life itself. Tunny, played by Stark Sands, who learns the trials of war, and Will, played by Michael Esper, a small town nobody who knocks up his girlfriend and develops an alcohol addiction. These characters lead three very different lives and show the downfalls of life. John Gallagher Jr who won a Tony for his performance as Moritz in Spring Awakening is energetic, charismatic and youthful. He gives Johnny such a conflicting performance that you want to follow till the end. He's proved how perfect he is for these high energy, misfit characters, breaking the mold on what a leading man can and should be. Stark Sands portrayal as a wounded soldier is beautiful and heartbreaking. Although he plays a grown man, his innocence comes through and you see the scared boy in mans clothes. And Michael Espers plays the small town, alcoholic, drop out perfectly. He has so much hope to escape the drawn out path for him, but fails. You feel so much for his character, but know that this was going to be his outcome no matter what. His performance in Homecoming is one of my favourite parts in the show, when he sings the section "I fell asleep while watching Spike TV" it's just so good. He's vulnerable and angry, everything about it works.

Then we have the women of the show. These ladies are some of the most badass, rough, take what they want characters out there, and they were played by fearless women. Rebecca Naomi Jones leads the crew of women as Whatsername, a destructive beauty, who follows Johnny's journey, until she makes the brave decision to get out. If you read my Murder Ballad review, you'll know my love affair with Rebecca. She is a bold and beautiful performer. She takes risks and belts her face off and I love both of those things. She redefines the leading lady; a trend in this show. She's flawed, ambitious and dangerous, mixed together creates a perfectly haunting performance. Then we have Mary Faber who plays the narcissistic and selfish Heather. She gets knocked up with Will's kid then leaves him for a life of glamour. She doesn't get much in the show, but what she does get she delivers. I talked about Mary Faber in my How To Succeed review. She's such an underrated performer, who delivers stellar roles in anything she's presented with, including Heather. She gets an amazing little segment in 'Give Me Novocaine' that is mesmerizing. Whenever I listen to the song I constantly replay her part over and over. She makes the smaller role of Heather a dream role because of the vocals alone. I also cannot leave out Alysha Umphress who made her Broadway debut in this show. She's a part of the ensemble but catches your eye every time she's on stage. Her voice is gold and her presence is beautiful. She sings one of the best numbers in the show which is 'Too Much Too Soon' where she gets to literally belt our faces off alongside Theo Stockman. The show could have been 2 hours of just that and I would have been completely content. She's someone who deserves a lot more for the talent she has, she's a brilliant vocalist and a brilliant performer and I am very excited to see what she gets up to.

I could talk about the entire ensemble if I wanted to, from Joshua Henry's 'Favourite Son' to Brian Charles Johnson and Leslie McDonel's scene stealing vocals and overall energy. This is a fire of a cast. Every single performance was worthy of applause. The cast worked there ass' off, and it showed, but not in a bad way.

The coolest thing that this show did was on Friday and Saturday performances the cast would come out into the lobby and would have a party with the audience members. The bar would stay open, the cast and audience would be hanging out together completely taking away the divide from performer and audience member. Walking out from the house into the lobby was one of the coolest experiences I'd ever had at a theatre. Getting a chance to talk to the actors in a chill setting and not somewhere so stuffy and rushed as a stage door was such a delight. You could see the work and effort that the actors put into their performance when you would talk with them. Exhausted from the 2 1/2 hours of punk rock they left on the stage, yet happy and engaging. The show was a perfect example of a 'jukebox musical' taking a musicians catalogue and turning it into a full on story. If Green Day would like to make another musical I'm totally ready.