Tag: american idiot

William Peace Theatre’s Rendition of American Idiot Earned Applause and Cheers on Opening Night

William Peace Theatre's production of American Idiot runs April 21-24 (photo by Ron Yorgason)

If you’re in the mood for a punk rock opera, William Peace Theatre’s production of American Idiot might be just what you need. With music by the band Green Day, lyrics by Green Day’s Billy Joe Armstrong, and book by Armstrong and Michael Mayer, the show premiered in 2009 at Berkeley Rep and opened at the St. James Theatre on Broadway in 2010.

Raleigh, NC director and choreographer Amy White has assembled an energetic cast; and musical director Matt Hodge, with himself on keyboards, supplies an eight-member band.

The story centers on three disaffected suburban youths — Johnny, Tunny, and Will. Determined not to become “American idiots,” they decide that they have to break out of what they feel is an oppressively humdrum existence. The plan is to flee to the freedom, excitement, and opportunity of the big city.

“American Idiot” Offers Viewers a Unique Theatre Experience

Anyone who has listened to Green Day’s smash-hit concept album American Idiot knows that there’s a story lurking underneath the surface of the sometimes-angsty, sometimes-poignant lyrics. In “American Idiot,” the stage musical adaptation of the album, which just completed its short two-day run at DPAC, that story is expanded on in the form of three… Continue reading “American Idiot” Offers Viewers a Unique Theatre Experience

Green Day’s “American Idiot” Is a Hollow Rock Show

Musical theater is always looking for a reinvention. In the mid-1990s, Jonathan Larson’s groundbreaking musical Rent reshaped the modern American musical and exposed audiences to what the form can be: it can rock. And since then, musical theater writers have been experimenting with the delicate art of the rock musical. It makes sense, then, that… Continue reading Green Day’s “American Idiot” Is a Hollow Rock Show

Green Day’s Electrifying Broadway Hit “American Idiot” Will Play DPAC on April 29th and 30th

At 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 29th, and Wednesday, April 30th, the Durham Performing Arts Center will welcome the national tour of Green Day’s electrifying 2010 Broadway musical American Idiot to its 2,700-seat state-of-the-art theater in the Bull City’s American Tobacco Historic District. Jared Nepute will star as Johnny in this incendiary hit, which the… Continue reading Green Day’s Electrifying Broadway Hit “American Idiot” Will Play DPAC on April 29th and 30th

Green Day’s 2009 Punk Rock Opera, “American Idiot,” Really Rocks Raleigh Memorial Auditorium

Van Hughes (left) as Johnny and Joshua Kobak as St. Jimmy will cavort with the company of the First National Tour of "American Idiot" Jan. 31-Feb. 5 in Raleigh (photo by Doug Hamilton)

Tony Award®-winning scenic designer Christine Jones’ splendid multilevel warehouse-interior set for “American Idiot” is festooned with the unblinking eyes of dozens of TVs, punctuating the proceedings with news footage circa 2004, saucy MTV-style video snippets, and live shots of the cast. This show won’t just have Generation Y slackers tapping their feet and dancing in their seats; it has a much broader appeal that even Baby Boomers can appreciate.