American Idiot

Punk rock favorites Green Day produced American Idiot around their 2004 concept album of the same name, expanding it by adding tunes from another album, 21st Century Breakdown, various singles, and one unreleased song (“When It’s Time”). At the outset, Green Day leader Billie Joe Armstrong designed the album with a story in mind that linked the songs together; for this, he drew inspiration from Broadway shows like Britain’s Rocky Horror Show and America’s West Side Story. The story is nothing new in Broadway or in film. Three friends, Johnny, Will, and Tunny, are unhappy with their stifling and mundane life in suburbia, and each decides on a different route to find himself. Johnny and Tunny escape to the big city, while Will stays home with his pregnant girlfriend. Finding nothing exciting about urban life, Tunny enlists in the army. Each friend’s experiences incorporate the proverbial trio of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. The characters represent not just the rage that typifies the punk rock scene, but a grander concept: disaffected teenagers yearning for identity in a conformist world. It’s really Rebel Without a Cause for the 21st century. The New York Times found the show “thrilling” and “charged with urgency.” Orchestrator Tom Kitt (Next to Normal) ensured that the music ran the gamut of emotions, reflecting sullen hopelessness, brash bombast, and lush tenderness. Billie Joe Armstrong himself played the role of St. Jimmy for one week, from September 28 to October 3, 2010. He would return in the role sporadically in the early months of 2011, but interest waned when Armstrong wasn’t in the show, and at this writing, it was scheduled to close on April 24, 2011, after 421 performances, with Armstrong returning to the cast for the final three weeks.

Music

Green Day

Lyrics

Billie Joe Armstrong

Book

Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer