American Idiots

A slight digression: My blog is going through an existential crisis. So its title has been temporarily replaced by an almost quizzical 'Eh, what?' It will be re-christened with ceremony as soon as it 'finds' itself.

The American Idiot musical was less than spectacular. I found that all the parts of the musical I enjoyed involved me mouthing the words to the songs with gusto. The cast's version of 21 Guns is what prompted me to attend the musical, and in that bucket, they did not disappoint. But when they were performing the songs which I was not familiar with, I was too busy trying to like the musical to actually appreciate it.

Truth is, the story was cliched as far as coming of age stories go, and the dialogues and acting left a lot to be desired. Before I went to the musical, I read up about it online, as any half-decent bastard child of the digital age is wont to do. There was someone out there who was complaining that they had taken their children to the American Idiot musical and was shocked at the amount of profanity and obscenity. The person is clearly tech-literate enough to leave a review on a website, and is obviously concerned about the content their children are exposed to. What I fail to understand is why they wouldn't check if a show, any show, was suitable for children. I mean, each song in the album has a minimum of 3 censoring beeps for crying out loud! Blaming a show for having inappropriate content when you didn't bother to be careful is like seriously stupid. Worse than me trying to convince myself that I eat chocolate for health reasons.

All through the musical I was hoping that Billie Joe Armstrong would drop in like the internet proclaimed he might, but all I got was a very talented (voice wise) cast, a really bad script and about 30 different sized displays flashing at me, not unlike the creepy rooms where people are locked up and forced to watch propaganda till they are brainwashed.

The choreography wasn't brilliant, and mostly involved head banging in different formations. It has now become obvious to me why I am not part of the stage. That much head banging would find me popping at least 3 aspirins a day and my liver would prematurely give out. I appreciated how they maneuvered the props in and out of the scenes without making it clunky or obvious, but that is just a drama rookie's opinion. I suspect that fancier zig-zagging happens in other, better performances.

I like to think that there were many subtle references which I did not get, either as a result of not being American or of not paying enough attention to the story. But a sneaky little voice in my head tells me that I am just looking for ways to justify my uncanny enjoyment of the show despite it being utterly mediocre.

I kept hoping they would play Minority, but that wasn't in the set list. There was a good post show rendition of 'Time of your life' though which redeemed the show slightly in everyone's eyes. Verdict? It was fun, but only if you make it fun in your head. Otherwise, just be glad that you bought the relatively inexpensive tickets in the balcony and move on.