American Idiot - Review

Arts Theatre, London


****


Book by Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer
Lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong
Music by Green Day
Directed and choreographed by Racky Plews

Newton Faulkner

Green Day’s anarchic and rebellious, teen-angst filled musical, American Idiot is back on the London stage with a star-studded cast who battle, and floor, the age old scepticism of putting celebrities into a commercial show. After a well received UK tour Racky Plews’ take on the concept album returns to the Arts Theatre for a tourist-tempting summer residency.

With music and book written by the band’s front man Billie Joe Armstrong, it’s not surprising that the material entirely embodies the initial anger and frustration toward American society that inspired the album back in 2004. The story follows three friends, Johnny, Tunny and Will as they mature, struggling to grow up in a world of right-wing politics and commercial greed that they don’t conform with and we see the three all end up in very different areas of a painful modern life.

Johnny (Newton Faulkner) is the main focus of the story, with a vision to move to the city and separate himself and his friends from the small town mind-set that they’ve been living in and start a new, free life and Faulkner proves a pleasant surprise with a strong performance. There are a few moments when his voice becomes lost in the on stage anarchy, but he suits the character and seems entirely comfortable in the piece. His shining moment is the calm and quiet rendition of Wake Me Up When September Ends, transporting the audience into an intimate, acoustic gig. Learning that he started his music career playing bass guitar in a Green Day cover band comes as no surprise.

The ensemble though is filled with strong seasoned performers who really make the show. Lucas Rush again soars in his role as the heroin-created alter ego of Johnny, St Jimmy. His energy on stage is gripping and each time he appears you are instantly drawn to watch him.

The same can be said for Amelia Lily continuing in the role of Whatsername, with a chemistry across from Faulkner that is enchanting and despite the small role, Lily shines.

Contrasted against current political and social affairs, American Idiot continues to be a very relevant piece of theatre.

Runs until 25th September
Photo credit: Darren Bell

American Idiot - Review

Churchill Theatre, Bromley


****


Book by Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer
Lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong
Music by Green Day
Directed and choreographed by Racky Plews

Lucas Rush

Green Day's concept punk album explored something that teenagers around the world have been doing forever - questioning societal constructs and their own purpose in life, and feeling as though they are the only person in to experience this existential crisis. But, with a large focus on the post-2001 world, the 2004 release of American Idiot went even further, by ramping up the rage and frustration and channeling this into a highly charged and chaotic collection of thoughts and guitars.

This production, directed and choreographed by Racky Plews, creates a world that is an obvious and direct extension of the original record. How could it be anything else? It is after all written by Billie Joe Armstrong whose influence remains strong throughout. It follows three friends, Johnny, Tunny and Will, who choose to find their own paths in their own ways. Matt Thorpe's Johnny is the epitome of angst, battling his inner demons which are excellently personified by Lucas Rush's St Jimmy who takes full control of the stage each time he appears.

Steve Rushton's Will provides a valuable addition to the house band, picking up a guitar whenever possible, and has a strong voice too, that holds its own against the score - a musical affinity and ease on stage no doubt attributed to his past life as a member of the now defunct Son of Dork. It is this that compensates for the limited development afforded to his character.

Alexis Gerred's Tunny is the more complex and surprising of the three and Gerred delivers a masterful performance. A unique and powerful voice enables him to take full control of his captivating solos and physically, he is comfortable bringing an added intensity to his character.

On the night of this review, Alice Stokoe stepped up in place of Amelia Lily to cover the charmingly titled role of Whatsername. Unrecognisable as an understudy, Stokoe played the part of Johnny's girlfriend, tasked with coping with the rollercoaster that he is on, with unwavering confidence, eliciting both empathy and respect from the audience.

Under Robert Wicks' musical direction, the band makes light work of the frenetic and varied score, and interacts with the characters throughout, which is well-received. Arrangements of Holiday, Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Wake Me Up When September Ends are particular highlights.

The chaos playing out on stage does so against Sara Perks' finely crafted set and the use of a television screen, although unusual at times, works well in providing an additional dimension to the production.

Scene-setting and character exploration is a large part of the first half of the show, but luckily the pace picks up after the intermission, swiftly hurtling towards a finale that pays homage to Green Day's status as one of the biggest bands of its time. Despite all of its drama, it concludes in a way that leaves the audience wanting to pick up a guitar and have its own teenage moment again.

Runs until 2 April, then tours

Reviewed by Bhakti Gajjar

Photo credit: Darren Bell

American Idiot - Review

Arts Theatre, London

****

Book by Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer

Lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong

Music by Green Day

Directed and choreographed by Racky Plews

Amelia Lily and Aaron Sidwell

It has been nearly three years since Green Day’s American Idiot played in the capital and Racky Plews’ take on the show, filling the summer slot at London’s relatively bijou Arts Theatre, delivers an energy and sound that is rarely seen in the West End.

The opening television sequence of various cable news snippets throws the audience into the story’s recent historical time, ingeniously drawing them into a single TV set which replaces the more lavish multiple-screen settings, typically found in a larger scale production. Sara Perks’ design work makes effective use of background art around the stage, mimicking a captive glued to the TV set and thus cleverly and appropriately setting the tone for the opening number, American Idiot.

The show's distinctly modern-era story era follows three young men, Johnny, Tunny and Will, struggling to make sense of a seemingly directionless post 9/11 suburban wasteland, filled with nothing but misinformation, mediocrity and vacuous reality. As in nature so in life – vacuums are abhorred – and it is variously drugs, military service and disparate relationships with girls that fill the boys lives.

Of the three, Aaron Sidwell’s Johnny gives a solid lead performance, combining charisma, presence and humour. Steve Rushton as Will and Alexis Gerred’s Tunny manage to define the frustrations, anger and yet also the hope of their generation.

One of this musical’s curiosities is that the show's girls, whilst vital to its plot, are also strangely marginalised in the narrative. The harshly named Whatsername is played by Amelia Lily (she of X-Factor fame and now making a creditable crossover into musical theatre) whilst Raquel Jones is stunning as the show’s Extraordinary Girl.

In what can prove a tough gig seeking to replicate a band, Mark Crossland does a stellar job as musical director. Alex Marschisone [drums], Brock Eddowes [Bass] and Tommaso Varvello [Guitar] combine to produce a sound that offers up a worthy tribute to the original band.

Plews' vision of the show’s staging and dance is inspirational, reflecting a broad, hands-on grasp of modern popular culture. In her programme notes she speaks of having grown up to Green Day’s pop-punk sound and her work not only defines a respect for the music, it also evidences a profound understanding of Billy Joe Armstrong’s nuance. Powerful stuff.

Whether you’re a fan of quality new musical theatre or just love the music and want to experience the songs of a generation, then go. Green Day’s American Idiot is one of the most exciting and invigorating shows in town.

Runs until 27th September

American Idiot - Review

Hammersmith Apollo, London

*****

Book by Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer

Lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong

Music by Green Day

Directed by Michael Mayer



Jenna Rubaii and Thomas Hettrick



The logo for Green Day’s American Idiot is a clenched fist clutching a hand grenade that has in turn been fashioned from a bleeding heart. No orphaned waifs or green faced witches to depict this show. In what is possibly the most refreshingly intelligent new musical to open in London for some years, Michael Mayer (who also directs) has, in collaboration with Green Day’s creative talent Billie Joe Armstrong, taken the threads from the songs of the American Idiot album and woven a harsh but nonetheless credible and relevant story of America post 9/11.

The show is a refreshing blast of rock opera, painting a grand canvas that charts three disaffected young men, disillusioned with the modern USA.  Johnny falls into a drug-fuelled trajectory that almost destroys him, Tunny enlists and goes to fight in the Gulf whilst Will who also succumbs to a dope and drink fuelled life is forced to confront the responsibilities of accidentally becoming a father, a challenge that he ultimately fails to live up to.

Where musical theatre can typically be a land of charmingly talented whimsy, albeit one in which the most challenging of human circumstances may arise, American Idiot is born, not from the pen of a worldy-wise theatrical composer, nor from the saccharine stack of juke-box musicals that flood the commercial stages, but rather from the urgency of one of the most striking rock albums of this time. The music has a pulsing integrity and the book that is portrayed on stage is often harrowing but occasionally uplifting

The performers are all from the the States, which is where this touring company rehearsed the production under the direction of the original Broadway creatives. A six piece band spread across the largely open, but subtly designed stage, provides an authentic sound that replicates Green Day, but be warned: The acoustics of the cavernous Apollo are unforgiving and some of Billy Joe’s finely crafted poetry is at times lost against the wall of sound. If one can attend with some pre knowledge of the songs, it is to be recommended.

The drugs’ effects are performed harrowingly if not graphically and set against the horrors of war, the show hits deep levels of pathos. Tunny loses a leg fighting and in the field hospital prior to surgery he visualises an Extraordinary Girl. What follows is a sensational aerial ballet performed by the two characters (Thomas Hettrick and Jenna Rubaii) in which a passionate swirling dance and embrace of two talented performers fills the entire breadth, depth and height of the stage in a routine that is breathtaking to observe.  In one of Green Day’s most recognised hits, Wake Me Up When September Ends, Hettrick, with Alex Nee and Casey O’Farrell, Johnny and Will respectively, all play acoustic guitar to open the sensitive number before the band and ensemble fade in to support them.

Mark Shenton of the Sunday Express and The Stage drew some parallels between American Idiot and Movin Out, the show based on the songs of Billy Joel. This blog saw the Joel production both in New York City and in the West End and Shenton is right to comment. On Broadway, Movin Out was punchy and literally moving, taking Joel’s songs to create a believable story of the struggle of America’s post Vietnam veterans. The audience wept. In London though, the show bombed and whilst in the USA it touched a nation’s psyche, at the Victoria Apollo it was just another ( albeit good ) show that lacked  a domestic spark. Green Day have a larger and more youthful audience than Joel, so this production may achieve greater UK success in the future, but where expensive West End tickets require a wealthy  and typically older (and therefore possibly, not so connected to Green Day’s music) audience base, for American Idiot to achieve long or even medium term commercial recognition on this side of the pond will require immense hurdles of culture and attitude to be overcome.

Whilst success for the show "over here" cannot be easily predicted, it is unquestionably  deserved. American Idiot is brilliant, perceptive and whilst not telling an easy tale, is arguably the best new musical theatre in town.


Runs to December 16th