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November 19th, 2010

American Idiot

Green Day's American Idiot

One of the highlights of my NYC trip was seeing Green Day’s American Idiot. My friend M suggested I see a musical while there and I knew it had to be American Idiot.

The show was fucking amazing. I totally fan girled out and cried through the whole thing. That doesn’t mean it’s sad-I was just so happy I couldn’t help it. My fingers were tingly too. As corny as it sounds if felt like a spiritual experience it was so damn good.

From the Amercan Idiot Musical site:
“The smash-hit, Tony Award®-winning AMERICAN IDIOT is Broadway’s most exciting new musical. The New York Times calls it, “thrilling and emotionally charged, as moving as anything on Broadway!” Based on Green Day’s Grammy® Award-winning multi-platinum album and featuring the smash hits “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”, “Holiday” and “21 Guns”, AMERICAN IDIOT is the story of three lifelong friends, forced to choose between their dreams and the safety of suburbia. Their search for meaning in a post 9-11 world leads them on the most exhilarating journey of the Broadway season.”

The stage was so punked out and the themes were so raw the whole thing felt radical and revolutionary. But it got even better. I was fortunate to see the musical when Green Day lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong played the role of St. Jimmy. He only did it for a week and I was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. When he first appeared on stage the audience Screeeeeamed. It was awesome. Seriously, getting to see this sex god up close?

Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong

Goddess that man is yummy. It was beyond spectacular to see Billie Joe play St. Jimmy. He played the role with a wicked prankster tone which I think rocked. The experience felt like part rock concert/part musical/part political activism/part performance art. I was high on fangirl excitement for days and days.

I can’t recommend this musical highly enough. It was awesome, radical, revolutationary, mind blowing, damn enjoyable and worth every penny. I’d see it again if I was in NYC in a heartbeat.

Posted by Vixen in Musings

This entry was posted on Friday, November 19th, 2010 at 10:48 pm and is filed under Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “American Idiot”

  1. whatsername says:

    I was fortunate enough to see the show when it was still at the Berkeley Rep but I am so envious you got to see Billie put his spin on St. Jimmy!!! I watched some youtube cell phone videos of his songs and it was so interesting how the same songs same basic stage movements etc could be performed so differently, comparing him to the usual cast. And of course it was just beautiful hearing him singing those songs in an entirely different context. And it cracked me up because I could totally tell he’d been practicing his enunciation cuz I swear I can’t usually make out that many words so easily when he’s singing, haha!

    I’m completely with you, every time I go to one of their concerts, the best way I can describe how I feel is “going to church” except a GOOD going to church, it IS a fucking spiritual experience and I can totally see how watching it on stage could be too.

    What did you think about the whole “Extraordinary Girl” scene? Since buying the album of the Broadway Cast that and Letterbomb have become my very favorite songs (quite a change from my favorite songs on the original album) and I thought it was brilliant the way they portrayed this iconography of the Islamic woman just waiting to be saved by some strapping American and how that image is fed to boys who go off to war etc etc.


  2. Vixen says:

    WSN-Yes yes and yes! It is like going to church!

    The Extradordinary Girl scene was brilliant! So was the scene where the cover model/muscle man turned into a general-it so captured how the military seduces our youth. I also loved the three American flag girls in the red, silver and blue sequined dresses and how they became dirty and tattered during the battle scene. It showed that American cannot escape the ugliness and pain of war even if we fight it far away.

    And Letterbomb-wow what a scene! Blew me away.

    Oh! I could go on and on I loved it so much!!!


  3. whatsername says:

    Oh yes, so with you, “Favorite Son” was another one where the original song I didn’t actually care for that much but the stage version was amazing! I love what they made it into and the way they showed, like you said, how seductive we make the military look, how glamorous soldiers are portrayed as.

    I didn’t notice the American flag girls, or just don’t recall them, but that’s a great observation, I like the sound of that staging too.


  4. whatsername says:

    Also, can’t help saying, I’ve identified with Whatsername as a character for quite a while now (obviously, lol), and I couldn’t be more thrilled with her stage incarnation. Rebecca Naomi Jones is just amazing.

  5. Vixen says:

    WSN-I was blown away with their version of “21 Guns”. It gave me chills! And to hear a female voice since “Letterbomb”-whoa!!! I personally identify with “She’s A Rebel”-that song just gets me excited and grooving every time.

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