AMERICAN IDIOT is not a jukebox musical!

I THINK I may have LOST a few BRAIN CELLS just NOW. But, I'm GLAD you are PASSIONATE about a SHOW.

Saying American Idiot is a jukebox musical is like saying Jesus Christ Superstar or EVITA are jukebox musicals...

It's a jukebox musical in the sense that it wasnt written/released as a stage show.

It's not a jukebox musical in the senses that the music is culled from a library of a single artist but rather from a single album with an already existing concept. (even though there is one -- or is it two -- songs from another source)


But it's not a big deal either way.

---

Well, then. Nevermind.

---

American Idiot means a lot to me, and by the 24th I will have seen it 8 times. It's the only show that's ever been able to make me cry, and I deeply love it.

Regarding the designation "jukebox musical," I think American Idiot is a borderline case. If the show were just the songs from the Green Day album and the story implicit in it, then there would be no reason at all to give it that label. But the (incredible, moving) show at the St. James has those songs, plus assorted others from the Green Day catalog, and the story has been expanded to include new characters and situations. So I wouldn't yell at anyone for calling it a jukebox musical.

As dramamama said, it's not a big deal, but since that's what the thread's about, I thought I'd type out a few words about it.

Finally, kyle is right, it's full of hot guys, and Andrew Call is my favorite, too. He's also my favorite St. Jimmy.

AI isn't necessarily a jukebox musical, in the traditional sense of the word, but it is basically just a concert of an album. The problem with AI is that it doesn't tell a great story as a whole musical. Individual songs do portray passionate stories, but the whole piece just never gelled.
That being said, it's great that those kids had a great & successful run on Broadway, Grammy's, & such, but as visually stunning as it was, it was never a great musical. That's why it's closing.

---

All musicals close. Every one. It has nothing to do with quality or anything else. All. Musicals. Close.

true indeed joe & kdogg. i think everyone expected it to be a lot more successful than it actually was though. remember talk of it being the next "RENT"? and no matter how many marketing pushes and highly visible appearances, it just never got the legs everyone expected it to unless billie joe was in it. people just didn't want to see it. billy elliott is still open. and so is MDQ for that matter. all musicals close, but this one just didn't have the legs. but congrats to them for the limited success they did have.

---

BUT WHAT.... about... RAUL ESPARZA's.... stomach....?!?!

On a serious note, for the coherent people who are discussing this, because I think it's interesting, I'm inclined to consider it a jukebox musical because it was created around existing songs from a particular band, and that's basically what a jukebox musical is. If the album really was always intended to be a show, I guess that's sort of a different story, but I find it peculiar that there are two contradicting claims about this, and rather convenient that it only comes out now, when the album has been made into a fairly successful show. I'm also inclined to give it a little bit of a pass because the album did always have a story intrinsically there and the musical more or less tells an expansion of that story -- you know, rather than imposing a terrible and stupid story on a hodge-podge of hits. But I still think I'd consider it a jukebox musical. Just one of the better ones.

---

Updated On: 4/5/11 at 11:55 AM

But was it petitioned for "Best Score"? I thought I read somewhere that the producers weren't petitioning it to be.

... But American Idiot has material from two Green Day albums. So it's a jukebox musical (or a "catalog" musical, if you wanna get really specific).

I can't really consider it a jukebox musical without considering Tommy one, which I definitely don't. Even if they culled other albums for more songs to fill in.