It was recently announced that American Idiot will indeed be opening on Broadway this spring season. I haven't been this excited about a new musical in a very long time. Even though reviews of the Berkeley production were mixed, there are a few reasons I'm looking forward to this. I already like the Green Day album and the cast version of "21 Guns". The cast hasn't been announced yet, but I'm guessing it will be similar to the Berkeley cast, which featured many promising young actors like John Gallagher, Jr. (already a Tony winner) and Rebecca Naomi Jones. Sure, the music is preexisting, but it's still a new musical based on an original concept.
Looking briefly at the other new musicals that have opened or will open this season, I enjoyed Memphis, but mostly because of the performances. I thought the music was generic and the book fell apart in places. I also enjoyed Fela!, but found it flawed as I wrote about here. Million Dollar Quartet doesn't excite me that much, I'm not sure why, I guess I'd rather listen to the actual artists (Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley). The Addams Family has a good cast, but it reportedly had troubles in out of town tryouts. I don't know what's going on with Spider-man: Turn Off The Dark, but I don't expect it to open any time soon. I am looking forward to Sondheim on Sondheim, which seems more like a revue than a new musical, and Come Fly Away, which is a dance driven rather than story based. So, I'm going to go ahead and pin most of my hopes on American Idiot.
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At the risk of sounding like the old fart I am, I'm assuming American Idiot will be extremely loud. Like ear-splitting. That does worry me. Also, from what I've read it doesn't have much of a plot. (What is it with plotless musicals?!)
But I do love John Gallagher Jr. I like rock-based musicals. And I actually do own the CD and like the title song, although I think I've only listened to it once or twice.
I guess I'll see how the reviews turn out.
As someone who doesn't get to see too many Broadway shows unless they are touring, I have to say I'm not too excited about "American Idiot". I just can't see their cast album being any interesting if they're just doing Green Day songs. I mean... isn't that kinda what Green Day albums are for? I don't know, I guess I'm just not much of a fan of these musicals that use popular music like "Rock of Ages".
RubCar91, I don't have much of a problem with shows that use popular music, if it's well done. I didn't like "Rock of Ages" because I didn't find it all that funny or entertaining, and I'm not a huge fan of that music anyway. "American Idiot" was originally conceived as a rock opera, the way The Who's "Tommy" was, so I think it could work, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.
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