Review of The Hypocrite's American Idiot

Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called American Idiot. The book was by Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer and the music was by Green Day with lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong. It was directed by Steven Wilson and the musical direction was by Andra Velis Simon. The choreography was by Katie Spelman. It was about three men who were all best friends basically: Will (Jay W. Cullen), Tunny (Steven Perkins), and Johnny (Luke Linsteadt). They each have their own problems and they each have their own girlfriend at some point. Will's girlfriend Heather (Alex Madda) gets pregnant. Tunny's girlfriend Extraordinary Girl (Becca Brown) plays base with him in a band. And Johnny's girlfriend is named Whatshername (Krystal Worrell) and she tries to make him a better person and love him. They learn how to live their lives better and they grow up but it is not easy because a lot of obstacles come up: like drugs, injuries, and thinking that you are not ready to commit yet. I thought this was a fun show. I am not a huge Green Day fan; it is not exactly my style of music, but I liked this show because it was fun and exciting and I really enjoyed it.

There was a song called "St. Jimmy" sung by the character St. Jimmy (Malic White) which was all about drug addiction. It was talking about how drug addiction is amazing even though most everybody in the audience realizes that heroin is not a good thing to put into your body. But I think people do it because they are depressed and sad; but they do know it is not good for them. But the thing is that a lot of people do some kinds of drugs but they don't let them ruin their lives. And heroin is very hard to stop. You knew this song was about heroin because that's what they were doing the entire song: shooting heroin into their veins. The music is very loud and kind of going crazy and that is appropriate because it is basically about drugs. St. Jimmy was a really amazing actor and I thought really rock and roll. Malic is like adorably threatening and it shows you that in drug addiction you are super happy but you are also very very crazy and dangerous and in danger both.

I really liked the song "Letterbomb" that all the girls sang. It was really cool because the show is mostly a show about a bunch of boys, but this is a song that is sung by girls and is about girls. It was a really good, fist-pumping, foot-stomping, girl-power song. I thought the performance of this song was really fun and really awesome. I think Whatshername is telling Johnny that she can live without him just fine. I think she could have stuck around a little bit longer, but he did clearly say I chose my drugs over you and you don’t mean as much to me as something that is hurting me. I am glad that she left him because she does deserve better and it isn’t fair for him to treat her like this and it also isn’t her job to fix him. But it is kind of sad that when he does give up the drugs and wants her back he can’t get her back because she has made her choice.

My favorite song in the show was "Wake Me Up When September Ends" which was a slow tempo song. I liked the lyrics because the rest of the show was very yelly and screamy and i'm-mad-y. They took a little break from that and I appreciated it. The song is about how they are all so sad in this one month because people have lost their limbs, people have lost their girlfriends, and people have lost their chance at happiness. And it is all about how September has been a horrible month and they feel like nothing could ever get better. They are saying they just want to wait until everything is over because then you wouldn't have to live through it. I felt like it was very sad, but sometimes a sad song is needed in a play where there is a lot of really loud music. I feel like it was a very beautiful and sad song with three best friends on their bed or their couch or their wheelchair feeling like they messed up their whole lives. But it is not hopeless because they try to find ways to make themselves happy again. I felt like the actors did a really good job of expressing their roles and made them more than a stereotype of a typical American military man or a typical messed-up person or a typical suburban guy on a couch.

People who would like this show are people who like girls singing powerful songs, adorably threatening drug addiction, and couches. I think people should definitely go see this show. It was super fun and loud and exciting. And even if you don’t really like musicals you would like this show if you like rock and roll.

Photos: Evan Hanover