American Idiot
Saw Berkeley Rep's production of American Idiot last night, and, well, it ROCKED. Mostly it reminded me of what a slamming masterpiece the album is and how grateful I was to hear such furious eloquence on a rock album when it came out. It was wonderful seeing it come to life onstage.
It was directed by Michael Mayer, who directed Spring Awakening, of which I'm the only person in North America who's not a major fan: for all the exciting staging, I thought the songs and story of that earlier show worked against one another. With American Idiot, I realized he's not a director so much as a choreographer. I loved what I saw onstage, but I wanted also to understand it, and for the most part I didn't.
Green Day's American Idiot album is a rock opera, about..well, I'm not sure what it's about. The songs are angry and thoughtful and righteous and powerful, but the references to characters and recurring story motifs don't add up to much as a narrative. A stage adaption would have been the ideal way to reveal the story linking these compelling details and build on the emotional resonance in the album's fantastic songs, but this adaption mostly just tells the audience what they may already know, like the unhelpful Help files in Microsoft Windows. Characters mentioned in the lyrics come to life onstage, but it's unclear what relationship they have to one another, or even if they're supposed to share the same scenes in the story.
From the first moments of the show, the young protagonists are angry, disappointed and frustrated; their problems stem from the "hurricane of fucking lies" from the Bush administration, the media, society and their parents. But there are no scenes or songs illustrating exactly why they're so angry - which lies or abuses or injustices directly affect their lives. Certainly a young audience will find reasons to relate to the protagonists' unexplained anguish, but to an older audience - like, say, anyone who can afford a ticket to a Berkeley Rep show - such one-note displays look like adolescent posturing. A little context would have given the already-powerful show a depth and resonance that might have stunned and moved audiences instead of merely impressing them.
But I nevertheless left the show with music pounding in my heart and harmonies in my head. Green Day annoyed me a little when I first heard them - it's that whole "music to piss off your parents" thing, after all - but I've since decided they're the best pop band of the last 25 years. So many songs in this show were so thrilling I'll be singing them for a month. Ultimately it reminds me of how much can fit on a stage and what emotions and experiences demand a place in my life. I'm thrilled to have seen it.
It was directed by Michael Mayer, who directed Spring Awakening, of which I'm the only person in North America who's not a major fan: for all the exciting staging, I thought the songs and story of that earlier show worked against one another. With American Idiot, I realized he's not a director so much as a choreographer. I loved what I saw onstage, but I wanted also to understand it, and for the most part I didn't.
Green Day's American Idiot album is a rock opera, about..well, I'm not sure what it's about. The songs are angry and thoughtful and righteous and powerful, but the references to characters and recurring story motifs don't add up to much as a narrative. A stage adaption would have been the ideal way to reveal the story linking these compelling details and build on the emotional resonance in the album's fantastic songs, but this adaption mostly just tells the audience what they may already know, like the unhelpful Help files in Microsoft Windows. Characters mentioned in the lyrics come to life onstage, but it's unclear what relationship they have to one another, or even if they're supposed to share the same scenes in the story.
From the first moments of the show, the young protagonists are angry, disappointed and frustrated; their problems stem from the "hurricane of fucking lies" from the Bush administration, the media, society and their parents. But there are no scenes or songs illustrating exactly why they're so angry - which lies or abuses or injustices directly affect their lives. Certainly a young audience will find reasons to relate to the protagonists' unexplained anguish, but to an older audience - like, say, anyone who can afford a ticket to a Berkeley Rep show - such one-note displays look like adolescent posturing. A little context would have given the already-powerful show a depth and resonance that might have stunned and moved audiences instead of merely impressing them.
But I nevertheless left the show with music pounding in my heart and harmonies in my head. Green Day annoyed me a little when I first heard them - it's that whole "music to piss off your parents" thing, after all - but I've since decided they're the best pop band of the last 25 years. So many songs in this show were so thrilling I'll be singing them for a month. Ultimately it reminds me of how much can fit on a stage and what emotions and experiences demand a place in my life. I'm thrilled to have seen it.