American Idiot Tour Opening Night Review

[Platypus]

Posted: 12/28/11 at 11:09pm

I just got home from opening night of American Idiot in Toronto. Overall it was good, but not amazing. I'm going to do that annoying thing where I compare everything to the OBC and the Broadway production for a few reasons: Namely because I saw them first (twice), because I've been listening to the OBCR on repeat for the last month, but also because I thought the OBC had some amazing vocals (namely the female leads) so it's hard not to compare to them.

As an overall observation, I felt that it was lacking the high energy and "wow" factor of the Broadway production. I left the St. James theatre completely blown away, but not so much this time around. I think it was partly because the sound needed to be turned up - the music wasn't loud enough, yet the mic's were even quieter so a lot of the vocals got drowned out. I also think that the reduced ensemble (from 12 to 10) and the fact that theatre was around 2-3x larger than the St. James theatre made a difference. This kind of show should not be performed in a theatre with 2 levels of balconies.

In terms of the stage, it was simplified for obvious reasons. No more moving platform or car hanging from the ceiling. The TV screens are still there, as are the stairs, but no cellist sitting at the top.

Now on to the cast. There were some standouts, but also some disappointments.

The biggest standout for me was Van Hughes as Johnny. I thought he was perfect in the role. He has a beautiful and powerful voice and he nailed each and every song that he sang. I preferred his Johnny over John Gallagher Jr's because Van's Johnny showed the angst and disillusionment that is central to the American Idiot album while JGR's Johnny just came off as obnoxious and spoiled.

Second standout was Joshua Kobak as St. Jimmy. What a voice! His vocals were crisp and amazingly powerful and pretty much flawless. High energy throughout every song that he sang. He has that same nasal quality that Tony Vincent had in the role (which I liked, but others may not). He also had that same really creepy and intense quality that I liked in Tony Vincent's performance.

Other comments:

Jake Epstein as Will - His voice was nothing impressive, but I did quite enjoy his acting, especially physically. His drunken wobbling and stumbling had me giggling throughout the show. You could feel his pain and struggles throughout but I just wish he had the voice to portray it in his singing.

Gabrielle McClinton as Whatsername- Very pretty and powerful voice and she managed to move gracefully in a rock musical, though I'm not sure how that's possible. I thought she was quite good in the role but I couldn't fully appreciate her after seeing Rebecca Naomi Jones. She had big shoes to fill and she didn't quite fill them. If I hadn't seen RNJ first, I probably would have appreciated Gabrielle more.

Leslie McDonel as Heather - Beautiful voice but she lacked the comedic timing that Mary Faber had.

Scott J. Campbell as Tunny - to be honest, he was a big disappointment. His voice was mediocre but the worst part for me was that his facial expression NEVER changed (think Nick Jonas in the Les Mis anniversary concert). Even worse, he never moved his head while he sang, so from the back of the orchestra I wasn't even sure when he was singing - I had to squint to see if his mouth was moving cause that was the only part of his face or body that ever moved. His acting was kind of static - it was like he was phoning it in, but who does that on opening night? Maybe he was just really nervous?

Nicci Claspell as Extraordinary Girl - pretty voice but nothing to brag about.

Jarran Muse as Favourite Son - It's kind of hard to comment on his performance since his mic was WAY too low. From what I could hear, he sounded pretty good and he had the moves and body that any "sex machine" should.

The ensemble - Overall they were quite strong. Great voices and great dancing and they were very well coordinated with one another. Good looking group, too :). The whole group sounding really amazing in unison during Whatsername, because I think by then they finally had the sound issues worked out

I think that covers the main points... So overall, still worth seeing, but you may be a bit disappointed if you've seen it on Broadway. I'm hoping they work out the sound issues and perhaps some of the vocal and acting concerns that I had will work themselves out as the cast members get more comfortable in their roles. I'm seeing it again on January 12 so we'll see if my impressions change at all.

[rorschach37]

Posted: 12/29/11 at 12:06am

Did they do "Good Riddance"? How did it sound?

[shrekster224]

Posted: 12/29/11 at 12:11am

Great review!

Can you list who is in what role compared to the Broadway cast? I can't tell who would be in the Alysha track. Is it Kaitlyn T (i think?)? Matt DeAngelis has Jingletown, does he also do TMTS? And who's the RnR boyfriend?

[Platypus]

Posted: 12/29/11 at 8:16am

*Spoiler alert*
Lol, I didn't mention Good Riddance cause I consider that a spoiler. Yes, they did it, complete with the full cast playing guitar. I thought it sounded very good. It was the solos in that song that made me realize how great the voices in the ensemble were.

The ensemble tracks:
I believe Talia Aaron has Alysha's track. She did TMTS with Matt DeAngelis. Okieriete Onaodowan was Rock and Roll Boyfriend. Larkin Bogan is in Sean Wing's track. Kevin Moon Loh in Ben Thompson's track. I think that covers everything!

[kdogg36]

Posted: 12/29/11 at 8:39am

Thanks for the review! I saw it in Utica last week and I thought it held up well with the Broadway production, but the theater was much smaller than what you're describing. Maybe that makes a big difference.

Was the audience into it? For American Idiot especially, that makes a big difference in my enjoyment of the show.

Finally, please forgive my nit-pickiness (and I could be wrong), but I don't think the cellist was ever up on the stairs. A violist and violinist were at various levels on the stairs in New York, which were quite a bit higher than the ones for the tour. The cellist, I think, was always at the bottom.

[Platypus]

Posted: 12/29/11 at 9:19am

The audience was great - really in to it. Lots of Green Day shirts in the house, and I'm sure many more fans that weren't wearing band shirts. Big cheers when each of the leads said their first lines (especially Jake Epstein - he's local and Degrassi is really big around here). Big cheers and hoots after pretty much every song. Some people tried to sing along to Good Riddance (way too loudly in my opinion) but it died out when they realized nobody else was joining in.

You're probably right about the musicians on the stairs. Regardless of which musicians were on the stairs on Broadway, there are none on the stairs in the tour.

[Keira]

Posted: 12/29/11 at 11:55am

"the fact that theatre was around 2-3x larger than the St. James theatre made a difference. This kind of show should not be performed in a theatre with 2 levels of balconies."

Although the St. James in NYC also has two balconies. The two theatres are actually very similar in size: St. James seats more than 1,600, and Toronto Centre for the Arts seats 1,850.

I thought it was a great show overall! Van is perfection as Johnny, and Jake was very good as Will, especially acting-wise. Scott's Tunny was sadly hit and miss; some excellent moments, and then some when his voice was barely there. I really wanted to love him, and I hope he improves the power/confidence of his voice. Josh's St. Jimmy is fabulous. I saw him go on a couple times on Bway, and IMO he's the best St. Jimmy other than Tony Vincent, who will always be my fave.

The ensemble really impressed me. But there had to have been mic problems with Favorite Son, because I could barely hear him in the sixth row. There were times during "Extraordinary Girl" when I could barely hear them as well. Hopefully they will have all the sound/tech bugs worked out for the press night tonight. They have to be careful not to drown out the voices. The music needs to be loud, but turn up the mics.

Looking forward to seeing the show again this weekend. :)

[Platypus]

Posted: 12/29/11 at 2:06pm

I stand corrected about the theatres. I obviously didn't do my research. It just felt a lot bigger and I was basing it on a fuzzy memory of the St. James from a year and a half ago. I guess it was just the sound problems that made it less than perfect for me.

[Keira]

Posted: 12/29/11 at 2:20pm

Yeah, I think the sound issues were the culprit. It's the first time I've been to that theatre (I kept meaning to go see Jersey Boys there, but since it isn't downtown it was out of sight, out of mind), and I was actually pleasantly surprised by how small it seemed despite the seating capacity. At least compared to the Canon (or Ed Mirvish Theatre I think they're calling it now), which seems so cavernous to me. I'd rather be in the back row of this theatre than the Canon if I had to be.

That said, I'm always a fan of smaller theatres. :)

Hope they sort out the sound issues before tonight's official opening.



Updated On: 12/29/11 at 02:20 PM

[darquegk]

Posted: 12/29/11 at 4:11pm

Maybe it's personal opinion, but I don't know if you can call "Good Riddance" a spoiler anymore... it was pretty well-publicized during the Broadway run, and it was their TV promotional performance piece for a while, at least on the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

[EdenIsMyHero]

Posted: 12/29/11 at 9:15pm

Saw it in Utica last week. Talia Aaron is in Leslie's old track. Kaitlyn Terrill is officially in Alysha's old track, but she is out with an injury. Jillian Mueller went on for her track and sang TMTS in Utica and I believe Jennifer Bowles (whom they brought in from the old Broadway company to have a 2nd swing while Kaitlyn is out) has been on so far in Toronto.

It is very difficult to say which guy is in which old track because by reducing the number of guys by 2, the tracks have been kind of mushed together.

[beth2027]

Posted: 12/29/11 at 10:03pm

I'm seeing the show in Detroit. I saw it in Broadway several times, so I'm interested to see the changes as well as the new cast. I've seen Leslie, Van, Krystina, Jennifer, and Joshua all in the Broadway version. Leslie, Van, and Joshua in the roles that they're playing on tour.
I think there will be differences, but I'm not terribly worried about it. Updated On: 12/29/11 at 10:03 PM

[shrekster224]

Posted: 12/29/11 at 11:00pm

Do Kaitlyn or Jillian compare to Alysha or Aspen's performance/vocals in TMTS? Hopefully they are not like Lorin...

[Platypus]

Posted: 12/30/11 at 1:02am

The Toronto program lists Talia Aaron in TMTS. I know that there were a few changes last night due to the above mentioned injury, but all of the tracks that I listed were taken directly from the Toronto program, which I compared side-by-side with the Broadway one.

[Keira]

Posted: 12/30/11 at 9:46am

It was definitely Talia Aaron in that role on Wednesday night. I thought she was good, although not as strong as Alysha. Never saw Lorin, so can't compare.

Positive reviews are coming in:

http://www.toronto.com/article/708630--review-beautiful-sound-bitter-fury-in-american-idiot

http://www.blogto.com/theatre/2011/12/american_idiot_musical_a_hit_in_toronto/

http://www.mooneyontheatre.com/2011/12/30/review-green-day%E2%80%99s-american-idiot-dancap/

[canmark]

Posted: 12/31/11 at 6:38pm

I was at the opening night, too, and echo some of the above sentiments. The cast and ensemble had good energy, but the venue wasn't doing the show any favors. TO Centre for the Arts is a large theatre and the two balconies are set back far from the stage. American Idiot, like Spring Awakening, say, is a show that benefits from more intimacy. Also, the Toronto audiences are dead compared to a fanboy Broadway audiences.

Van Hughes was excellent as Johnny. Joshua Kobak was a fine St. Jimmy, with plenty of menace and a slightly Marilyn Manson-ish look. But I thought Gabrielle McClinton's Whatsername didn't quite have enough voice (she looked like Rebecca Naomi Jones, but didn't have her voice or presence).

Similarly, Scott J. Campbell had the look of Stark Sands (innocent, yet hunky), yet his portrayal of Tunny was bland, boring and emotionless. His voice was OK when soft, but when called on for energy, it was not there.

Jake Epstein had plenty of bottled rage as Will. It's a shame his character was chained to the couch the whole night.

The ensemble was energetic, particularly the male ensemble (Matt DeAngelis stood out to me).

The design was disappointing particularly since Christine Jones and Kevin Adams had done such good work with Michael Mayer on Spring Awakening. The projections were also uninspiring. Throwing up video screens with generic images on a RENT-like set is not exciting in a $135 rock show. And while I liked the concept of the three main characters going their separate was to find themselves, I thought there needed to be more book scenes for us to understand who they were and how their life choices affected them.

[canmark]

Posted: 1/1/12 at 11:48am

American Idiot tour cast performed during New Year's Eve festivities in Toronto. Found this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auifnjbXBAM