American Idiot Tour (LA) review

[RemlapLBC]

Posted: 3/16/12 at 12:36am

Last night I saw American Idiot at the Ahmanson in LA. This was the second time seeing the show, after flying to NYC to see BJA as St. Jimmy.

I purchased tickets to see the show in April, but last night after work we decided to join the opening night stand by night line as a last minute decision.

Different vibe of opening night half-filled by CTG donors that Green Day probably is not in their music collection, vs on Broadway where it was a high energy party.

Show and cast were both great. With the less "rock concert" crowd, I actually heard St. Jimmy clearly this time. The set looked basically the same. Actors were all great. Even recognized a few faces that looked the same as on Broadway, which was confirmed when we got home and got to look at the program.

The only bummer was the two of us ended up nowhere close together. I was Orchestra H far side (would be a hot tix any other night) and friend was in row Y more centered. Seat next to me stayed empty entire show, but with no intermission, no way to adjust. Nothing to complain about, show was great and the free price couldn't be beat. I'm looking forward to the third and probably final hanging with the Idiots next month.

They don't appear to have live recorded the encore for free download like on Broadway, but I have it from time #1 with BJA tacked onto the end of the album on my iphone, so I really don't need it again.

If you're in the LA area, they had less people enter the lottery than they had tickets available, so everyone won. Then again perhaps last night was a bad test as $30.00 for front row lottery vs. potentially free stand by line, most people picked free. Your mileage may vary and probably depends on how often the show's media partner KROQ mentions it on air.

Next up, Billy Elliot @ Pantages

[someone.else's.story2]

Posted: 3/17/12 at 2:00am

I just saw it tonight (with the front row lotto seats, which weren't that difficult to win)...and loved it. I hadn't seen it in NY previously, so I can't compare the cast to the B'way one but everyone was uniformly great. I especially loved Van Hughes.

Really, really fun night and absolutely worth seeing!