AMERICAN IDIOT

 

 

American Idiot. 

Music by Green Day. Lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong. Book by Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer. Musical arrangements and Orchestrations by Tom Kitt. Directed by Bradley McDowell. Musical directors Jen Hinton and Brigid Cummins. Choreographer Nathan Rutups. Costume design by Sammy Marceddo. Set design by Kyle Maley. Lighting design by Jacob Aquilina (Eclipse) Sound design by Telia Jansen (Eclipse) Properties master – Sarah Abramowski and Sophie Hope-White. Production Manager – Britt Lewis. Stage manager Rachel Laloz.

A Queanbeyan Players Production, The Q. Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre. June 20-29. Bookings: 02 6285 6290

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

Let me say from the outset that Queanbeyan Player’s production of rock musical American Idiot is an absolute triumph. From the moment that the ensemble burst onto the stage in the title song the production explodes with the energy of youth pumping out their tribal cry for recognition in an alienating world. Every aspect of this hugely ambitious staging of Green Days’ rock opera for a modern generation is touched with brilliance.

Declan Pigram as St. Jimmy, John Whinfield as Johnny and Ensemble

Queanbeyan Players have been forging an enviable reputation in recent years but American Idiot takes their productions to a whole new level. Having said that this rock opera casts a shadow across a post 9/11 society. The youth have become disenfranchised and disenchanted. Three country lads Johnny (John Whinfield), Tunny (Darcy Kinsella) and Will (Zac Izzard) decide to escape from their fictional country town of Jingletown to the city for adventure and a new life.  Will learns that his girlfriend, Heather (India Cornwell) is pregnant and resentfully decides to remain in  Jingletown. Johnny falls in love with Whatsername (Shelby Holland), whom he sees on a street corner and succumbs to the influence of drug dealer St. Jimmy ( an insidious performance by Declan Pigram) and Tunny joins the army and is wounded in action. He ends up in a rehab hospital where he hallucinates about Extraordinary Girl ( an exquisite performance by Abigail Dunn). Eventually in a There’s no place like home epiphany the three young men find the support they seek back in Jingletown.

Sex Pistols meet Rent in this demolition of the American Dream. Director Bradley McDowell, musical directors Jen Hinton and Brigid Cummins and choreographer Nathan Rutups not only imbue this highly professional production with intuitive appreciation of Green Day’s accusation of  a nation that expects its people to believe in it when it won’t believe in them. It is the anger that erupts with dynamic force in Rutup’s choreography, the band’s expertly played performance, Kyle Maley’s set design and McDowell’s fiery, fluid direction. In a production charged with the fury and frustration of such numbers as American Idiot, Too Much Too Soon and  Letterbomb, there are also the gentler numbers of longing and reflection such as Johnny's’s Whatsername and When It’s Time. In a song of reconciliation and awareness, the company join Will, Tunny, Heather and St. Jimmy in Homecoming. 

Johnny (John Whinfield) and the Office Girls

Ultimately, American Idiot is a cautionary musical that resonated powerfully with the largely young audience in the Q theatre. At the close, guitarist Daniel Isherwood comes out and the company joins in with Green Day’s Good Riddance (Time After Time) The lyrics echo the experience that Johnny, Tunny and Will have gone through to arrive home in Jingletown.

 

Fxxk.

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road

Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go

So make the best of this test, and don't ask why

It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time It's something unpredictable
But in the end, it's right. I hope you had the time of your life

Darcy Kinsella as Tunny, Abigail Dunn as Extraordinary Girl

As the screams of delight rang through the audience and the clapping and cheering continued unabated, it was clear that the audience had had the time of their life. This production of American Idiot can rightly claim the jewel in Queanbeyan Players' crown.

MUSIC CREDITS

BAND . Drums: Jen Hinton. Bass: Pete Jak. Guitar: James McPherson. Guitar: Jeremy Tsuei and Chris Bennie. Keyboard/Accordion: Brigid Cummins. Violin Bronwyn Potter. Viola: Zigi Yang/Mia Hughes/Pippa Newman. Cello: Nicki Philipse.

Pit singers: Valeria Arciniega Vidurrizaga (Swing). Tara Davidson/Remus Douglas/Benjamin Martin/ Shennia Spillane

Photos: Photox  Canberra Photography Service

 

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