Green Day's "American Idiot" announced for Sept debut at Berkeley Rep

[SingingCats]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:21pm

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/theater/30berk.html?_r=1&hpw

This is going to rock our faces off!

Updated On: 3/29/09 at 11:21 PM

[winston89]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:24pm

Considering that it is a rock opera, I am not shocked at all.

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:25pm

Armageddon has arrived.

[scaryclowns2232]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:31pm

John Gallager Jr is attached to this, according to the article below.



Scroll down towards the bottom

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:31pm

Ughhhh.

[SingingCats]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:34pm

I'm going to hazard a guess that most of the people commenting have only heard the album's singles. It's VERY theatrical, and will totally work.

[lull89]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:37pm

I wonder how they think there is really an audience for this? I can sort of see the line of thinking that "well, we'll get the theatre fans on board to come and see it, and then the Green Day fans will get on board as well" but in reality fans of each just feel like their side is being sullied by the inclusion of the other. Theatre people like myself think "eew, Green Day" and Green Day fans like my brother think "yuck, Musicals" and nobody's happy. And I'm sure the fans of both are a somewhat limited demographic.

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:37pm

It's more the idea of punk being on Broadway.
I also happen to own the cd. It's going to be a knock off of Spring Awakening.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:37pm

SingingCats: Umm, this is assuming that you think Green Day's music doesn't suck.

Updated On: 3/29/09 at 11:37 PM

[The Glorious Ones]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:45pm

As hesitant as I am about this, perhaps this will pave the way for a stage version inspired by The Decemberists' new album "The Hazards Of Love", which is written in the style of a story. I don't think it's groundbreaking for an artist to have an album with a story-arc... it's just a question of how well that arc is presented.

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:50pm

Goodness, I loathe Green Day.

[hubee]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:53pm

But the songs in American Idiot already have a thread of a storyline and the videos played like a little movie. So I'm very curious and excited since I loved the album

http://tapeworthy.blogspot.com/2009/03/will-broadway-go-dirty-or-go-green.html

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:56pm

scaryclowns2232, Gallagher was in the last workshop back in December.

The cast alongside him included Mary Faber, Patina Miller, Theo Stockman, Alysha Umphress, Brian Charles Johnson, Gerard Canonico, Rebecca Naomi Jones, and Miguel Cervantes.

They've put it together in quite an interesting way. I'm very curious to see how the full fledged production fares.

Updated On: 3/29/09 at 11:56 PM

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:59pm

I think the title suits 99% of the population.

[Brick]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:45am

wow.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:47am

I played American Idiot incessantly for months, a big reason being the album was so theatrical, there's a tremendous emotional journey in there. I can't wait to see what might show up as an actual theatrical product.

[harris007]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 3:46am

Very cool

[iamdangoodman]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 7:49am

OK, so I was at a concert reading of another musical that a friend is in that was across the hall from a reading of this one. And holy s**t! The energy coming from that room was amazing. There were only a handful of us in the one I was at and I wanted to sneak out and over to this one, but since it would have been obvious to him that I wasn't there, I stayed put. But man! I caught the end of it, just from the hallway and through the wall, and it was really incredible. I have to find an excuse to get to California for this one!!

[proptart101]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 9:47am

Disclaimer - I like this CD. At first, I wasn't thrilled - I viewed Green Day as not much more than Clash or Jam wannabees, but listening a few times through led me to a deeper appreciation of the musical, lyrical and thematic integrity found in this project. It's a solid piece of non-linear story telling - snapshots of a world view/society in turmoil, both from without and within.

2 comments -

1) As per the NY Times article - I would rather see a staged version of The Clashes "London Calling", but I'm an old (middle aged - thrived during original punk movement) punker.

Doing a Quadrophenia (movie) type treatment featuring Clash songs and that period of British history could be workable and quite entertaining. There was so much social, economic and artistic upheaval from the mid 70s through the mid 80s that the period cries out for a punkin' good musical. The Clash were certainly the most musically accomplished and diverse of any of the original punk wave - Much better song writing and musicianship than almost every other punk band since (possible exception - Black Flag)

2) Why would I want my face rocked off? It's not much, but I like it just where it is.

[MotorTink]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 10:35am

I am a huge green day fan so to see them going down the route of my other passion is great. Do I think it will be successful? who knows, but I'll definitely follow it and be excited.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 10:39am

I haven't listened to this album in SO LONG. Used to be obsessed with it, though.

I'm sure it'll be good. The album is VERY theatrical.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 10:54am

God almighty, do half of you really wonder why you get, or got, shoved into lockers in school?

"American Idiot" is a masterpiece. And to actually wonder who the audience for it might be, IN BERKELEY, just shows me how out of touch some people can be, probably sitting around listening to Shrek.

Incidentally, Green Day's upcoming album "21st Century Breakdown" is in three acts and inspired by musicals. Not that you nerdoids will care.


I can just imagine what some of you are going to think of Stephen Merritt's songs for the upcoming Coraline musical at the Lucille Lortel.

[James885]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 10:56am

This doesn't come as a gigantic shock to me. I have the album on my ipod and it really is inherently theatrical. All the songs are connected to each other. It's actually a pretty good album and I was never that into Green Day before I heard it, but American Idiot definitely piqued my interest in them. It'll be interesting to see how this show turns out.

[strelimyn]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 12:22pm

I am very interested in seeing how this show develops. When the album first came out, I remember loving it for its sense of storytelling. Ha, I remember even attempting to concoct storylines to go with the songs - but a playwright I definitely am not. But yeah, I intend to follow this project. Very interesting.

[CYAPollyanna]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 2:38pm

This is soooooooo exciting...I think Michael Mayer is the perfect fit for this project!!!

I heard Matt Caplan is one of the leads...he's married to Karen Olivo....he's an amazing singer/songwriter!

This is gonna be amazing...can't wait to see it!