Billie Joe Armstrong with the cast of AMERICAN IDIOT at the 2010 Grammys.

You’re sitting in your seat, desperately waiting for the curtain to rise.  People around you are already singing familiar songs.  An announcement comes over the loudspeaker and reveals the name of the performance.  Fans scream, clap, shout, and jump out of their seats with excitement.  You’re obviously attending a rock concert.  No, you’re at American Idiot at the St. James Theatre.

A musical that won’t leave you bored at any time, American Idiot is a non-stop, emotion filled, roller coaster ride through the life of “Jesus of Suburbia” and his two friends Will and Tunny.  You find yourself following the lives of the three burnouts, unhappily trudging through life in so-called Jingletown, USA, a boring, typical suburb, far away from the lights and excitement of a big city.  After planning ways to get out of their mundane lives, one friend stays behind (I won’t ruin the plot by telling you why), while the other two buy bus tickets to escape the city.  American Idiot is the story of their lives and how this crucial decision changed them for good.

As a major Green Day fan, I was terrified that this pop-punk band’s 20 something years of great music would be butchered by Broadway and made too show-tuney in order to appeal to the masses.  However, because the writers collaborated with the band so closely when creating the project, the musical keeps the rough, raw, edginess that is so characteristic of Green Day’s music.  The songs are very close to the originals, but the voices of Tony Vincent, John Gallagher Jr., and Rebecca Naomi Jones make the soundtrack come alive.  The second I came home, I downloaded the album, and to this day the album remains one of my favorites.

Overall, it’s a great show.  The nod it got for Best Musical was definitely deserved.  It’s an enthralling performance, brought together by amazing choreography, abstract set design, and a fantastic cast.  Not to mention the high quality soundtrack and the amazing talent of all of the musicians helping give the musical the crude, grungy, punk sound that truly makes the entire thing cohesive and unified.  It’s a musical that has the emotional rawness of Rent, the angst of Spring Awakening, and the upbeat excitement of Mamma Mia.  Though it has characteristics that are similar to other musicals, American Idiot, like the punk scene that inspired the story, pushes the boundaries and shreds its own path through the traditional stream of your parents’ musicals.