AMERICAN IDIOT AT THE NEW ALEXANDRA THEATRE, BIRMINGHAM
Theatre Run: Monday 26 November - Saturday 1 December
Performance Viewed: Monday 26 November (Press Night)
Reviewed by Kyle Pedley
American Idiot is an ilk of production that many would unfairly dismiss at face value. From the offset it is loud, bombastic, decidedly adult in tone and content and never particularly subtle or subdued. Much like a typical teenager if you will, and the parallel to the core audience of the shows soundtrack, courtesy of US hit band Green Day, is apparent throughout; this is a show with its finger on the pulse of youthful idealism, naivety and existential frustration. And yet for all of it’s brash excess, it is a production which brims with authenticity, has moments of genuine tenderness without resorting to atypical musical theatre schmaltz, and is a remarkably confident and original example of theatrical storytelling and entertainment. This is not a theatrical shoehorning of narrative, choreography and the music of Green Day into an awkward whole as can so often be the case when shows’ utilise pre-existing music for their soundtracks, but rather a wholly complete, vibrant and brilliantly expressive exploration of a simple yet beautifully executed tale in a manner which champions and explores the unique strengths and advantages of musical theatre as an art form.
Dipping into post 9/11 America, the story follows the paths of three friends Johnny (Alex Nee), Tunny (Thomas Hettrick) and Will (Casey O’Farrell) as they embark on very separate, yet equally resonant and relevant, paths at the exciting, ambitious and suitably angst-fuelled start of their American adulthood. In spite of the productions title, and knowing critiques and digs at the American psyche, politics and popular culture within the songs throughout, the simplicity of the story being told and the brilliance with which it is communicated almost exclusively by song and staging elevates it to a much more universal and effective level. Any overt socio-political commentary takes a backseat to the reality of aspirations and youthful rebellion, the destructive descent into drugs and hedonism of the big city lifestyle, the idea versus actuality of military enrollment and a plethora of other innately human and instantly relatable ideas.
American Idiot explores these with almost inexhaustible energy and invention, including some genuinely dazzling staging, set design and choreography which sees characters leap and bound from balconies, staircases and even shopping trollies without harness or preparation, flip, jump and even fly through a myriad of continually creative and kinetic numbers which repeatedly entertain and occasionally amaze yet never lose sight of what is being communicated. And as if often the case with such a charged experience, when it pauses for breath and hits its more serious and tender moments, they are all the more profound and moving as a result. It’s rousing yet purposeful, poignant without being preachy and filled with some terrific choreography, direction and imagery that, like the story being told, needs little-to-no dialogue to be instantly impactful.
