AMERICAN IDIOT

 

Directed by Bradley McDowell

Book by Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer

Music By Green Day

Lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong

A Queanbeyan Players production

Q Theatre, Queanbeyan to 29 June

 

Reviewed by Len Power 21 June 2024

 

A punk rock musical based on the music of rock band, Green Day, the show opened on Broadway in 2010 and ran for a year. Using all of the songs from the band’s ‘American Idiot’ album and additional Green Day songs from their album, ‘21^st Century Breakdown’, the musical focusses on three disaffected friends, Johnny, Tunny and Will who, after broken relationships, drug experimentation and injury in the military, look back with regret at their wasted youth.

Surprisingly melancholy in tone, the show is full of appealing music and songs. With little dialogue, the show is virtually sung through. The songs comment on the mood of the characters at each moment in the slim storyline.

According to the program, this has long been a passion project for Director, Bradley McDowell. His production, including a striking and towering set design by Kyle Maley, successfully captures the grungy atmosphere that the music and songs demand. The costuming by Sammy Marceddo, makeup and attitude displayed by the cast show a fine understanding of the milieu of the music. This musical is not your typical Broadway musical, and it is very powerful in its own right.

Zac Izzard - standing (Will) and John Whinfield (Johnny)

John Whinfield gives a strong performance as Johnny and is matched by Darcy Kinsella as Tunny and Zac Izzard as Will. All three are fine singers and display a notable strength of feeling in their songs. Amongst the large cast there are also fine vocal performances by Declan Pigram as St Jimmy, Shelby Holland as Whatsername, India Cornwell as Heather and Abigail Dunn as Extraordinary Girl. David Cannell shines as Rock n Roll Boyfriend.

Abigail Dunn (Extraordinary Girl) and Darcy Kinsella (Tunny)

The large chorus sings and performs a huge amount of the music. Nathan Rutups’ spot-on choreography is showcased well by this cast, who dance it with breathtaking energy.

Musical directors Jen Hinton and Brigid Cummins have achieved a high standard with the singing and the band plays the score with a clarity that brings out the depth of emotion in the music.

At times looking like a rock concert rather than a book musical, the show has an excellent and exciting lighting design by Jacob Aquilina (Eclipse) and a nicely balanced and clear sound design by Telia Jansen (Eclipse).

Whether or not punk rock music is your thing, there’s no denying that this is a fine production by a cast and crew who really understand the era of these songs.

 

Photos by Photox Photography

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.