Green Day sets a new stage on fire

I know I’m not the only Green Day fan who wishes he lived in San Francisco.

Photo c/o Berkeley Repertory Theatre

Ever since American Idiot first exploded in 2004 comparisons to The Who’s Tommy were endless. Rolling Stone‘s review called the album an “old school rock opera” and there’s been continuous talk of bringing the album to the stage. And that time has finally come – almost 5 years to the day since the album came out - with the recent world premiere of American Idiot: The Rock Opera at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

National reviewers have not been invited to see the play, though the New York Times has a decent feature about the opening. The San Francisco Chronicle seems to have the most extensive review coverage of the play itself (as well as photos):

Heidi Schumann for The New York Times

“Wildly entertaining…The music of Green Day practically blasts the lid off Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre. The cast and creative crew match the pulsating wall of sound for sheer energy and pump it up with Broadway-quality pipes, stage-rattling, thrashing choreography, flying bodies and walls crammed with pulsating video and projected images. Never has the Roda appeared more expansive yet bursting with images and action…The rock opera that opened Wednesday, in a world premiere with Broadway aspirations written all over it, packs plenty of excitement and entertainment into a remarkably theatrical rock concert…The lyrics are crystal clear as well. Every poetic twist and angry pun of Armstrong’s words comes through.”

One comment I’ve been reading about – which is something that I can see being an issue – is the flow of the narrative of the play seems to stall at times. The play follows the songs of the album, bringing in the songs’s charaters (St. Jimmy, Johnny, Whatshername, Jesus of Suburbia) to life. The problems lies in the fact that the entire play is only the lyrics from the album. No additional text has been added, no bridges to connect different scenes, no overarching narrative to connect the storylines.

That said, it still must be one helluva show. American Idiot has some of the most powerful music Green Day has ever written, mixed with director Michael Mayer and starring John Gallagher Jr. (both of whom just won Tony awards for Spring Awakening) an eventual Broadway debut seems likely.

At least that’s what I keep telling myself to keep me from booking my flight to San Francisco (the limited engagement has been extended to November 1st).

John Gallagher, Jr. and Tony Vincent star as Johnny and St. Jimmy. Photo courtesy of mellopix.com

John Gallagher, Jr. as Johnny, Rebecca Naomi Jones playing Whatsername, and Tony Vincent playing St. Jimmy. Photo: Liz Hafalia / The San Francisco Chronicle