American Idiot - 2nd visit

[Guest alanm]

I was in New York yesterday to see the legendary Brazilian singer and guitarist, Joao Gilberto, perform at Carnegie Hall. The 79-year old Gilberto, the father of the bossa nova, performs solo and is pure magic. Around 1PM, the concert was cancelled due to Gilberto's visa/passports issues concerning entry into the US from Brazil.

 

I decided to pay a return visit to "American Idiot," and was able to get a good seat. Things have changed dramatically since I saw the musical on Thursday, May 13. Perhaps people saw the excerts from AI on the Tony Award telecast -- or more likely school is out. There was a Billy Elliot/South Pacific-like air of anticipation in the theater before the musical started.

 

Things have really come together for the show. I expect - like last night - "American Idiot" will be sold out at most performances until school starts again. If you do not know the songs, listen to the Green Day album or the Broadway orginal cast recording first. It really helps to know the songs. Cheers to the stars, John Gallagher, Jr., was wonderful in May and again last night.

[+ bigjoey]

I saw it over Memorial Day weekend and had been advised to bring ear plugs. I would recommend ear plug to anyone seeing the show. So many of the shows are over amplified; louder does not mean better.

[Guest alanm]

Yes, earplugs are important. But, it's also very important to know the story and the songs, which I learned between my first and second visit to the musical. "American Idiot" is 90 minutes, without an intermission. The story moves very quickly. And there is no quick summary of the plot in the Playbill.

 

You will enjoy "American Idiot" much more if you do a little homework first. I loved the show.

[+ bigjoey]

I bought the Cd and listened to it before hand. Did not think much of the show even having heard the music. I did like the set but not much else. Do not think much of "juke box musicals" but prefer things that are original and written for the theater.

 

I guess I am "stuck" in the past liking what I consider great shows like "My Fair Lady", "South Pacific", "Lion King", "Oklahoma", "Evita", "A Funny Thing Happened...", "Westside Story", "Cabaret" etc where you really feel for the characters, can go out of the theater singing a tune or two, feel rewarded for sitting in those terrible, small seats with no leg room and having paid too much for a ticket.

 

Unfortunately, much of what currently passes for art, theater, music, etc is of a low quality and does not seem destined for the greatness of the past.

 

Now do not write me off as liking nothing "modern" or different. I loved Mathew Bourne's "Swan Lake" and have tickets for it next October. I love it when I see something so creative like that or his "Car Man". I look at much of the work being done today and just do not see the creativity and talent and workmanship of the past (with some exceptions).

[skynyc]

Me, too.

 

I saw AI last week for the second time as well. First time I was up in the nosebleed seats, this time I was in the orchestra.

I loved the show again, even though I don't like or relate to these characters at all. I think the Broadway performance of the music is stronger than the Green Day original, and the kids in this show are quite terrific. Was surprised that no one got a Tony nomination from the cast. The direction was also great, (and also ignored,) but moves quickly and understandably through the story. I have nothing in common with these disenfranchised, entitled kids ("I forgot to shower today...again.") But don't exactly have that much in common with Sweeney Todd or Emile DeBecque, either.

This is one I can pretty safely recommend, but a little homework is a good thing.

[Guest alanm]

I saw AI last week for the second time as well. First time I was up in the nosebleed seats, this time I was in the orchestra. I loved the show again, even though I don't like or relate to these characters at all. I think the Broadway performance of the music is .

 

I agree that a good orchestra seat greatly added to my enjoyment of "American Idiot." I am surprised that you could not relate to Tunny played by Stark Sands, the guy who enlisted in the military.

 

I like all the Broadway shows that bigjoey mentioned in his post. I am old enought to have seen the original cast "Gypsy" (Ethel Merman) and "The Sound of Music" (Mary Martin) 50 years ago.

 

Mary and Ethel were great and I still measure every tradition Broadway show by those two performers. Merman would have hated "American Idiot." I hope Mary would have enjoyed it because it's a musical her son (Larry Hagman) and grandchildren probably like!

[+ Lucky]

Stark Sands starred in Bonnie & Clyde last year at the LaJolla Playhouse. He was a dream on stage, if a bit too young-looking for the part.

 

Friends who saw AI loved it, but they are not theater people, so what does that mean?

[Guest alanm]

It is very difficult to believe that Stark Sands is thirty-one years old.

 

After my first time at "American Idiot," Jonathan Groff ("Spring Awakening," "Glee") appeared out of nowhere outside the theater right after the performance. Stark Sands came out to see what was going on, so at times he was standing right beside me. He looks as if he's still in high school. More important, Stark has a very, very nice butt.

[+ Lucky]

A butt which he showed in Bonnie & Clyde. I nearly melted!

[+ bigjoey]

Dear Alanm,

I think part of the problem is that everything today is amplified where as Ethel Merman, Mary Martin and the other stars of the past used lung power so the people in the last row could hear. Many of the performers today do not have the training to do this (it can be done; think of the opera singers at the MET in that huge house with no amplification). It took a talent to sing that good; today, you can almost whisper or talk with the music and it can sound like singing.

 

I am old enough to remember Broadway shows before amplification and thought they had a better quality. Today, so much is just loud.

 

Gosh, I sound like an old fart.

[body2body]

I remember being cast in a musical for the first time in college. I had a dance background so that was no problem, and the director sent me off to work with the music director, who also taught voice in the music department. He told me "The person in the last row of balcony has to hear you, and understand every lyric. If you cannot do that then you have cheated them." He turned me into a real belter, and over the next 4 years I developed a reputation as a "lyric spitter". Today, everyone has a microphone, and everything is amped. People like Katherine Zeta-Jones and Glenn Close would not have been able to perform without the talents of a sound man dialing up the volume so they can be heard. That being said, shows like American Idiot and Jersey Boys demand amplification because it is inherent in the source material on which they are based. Like it or not AI is doing great business and shows like that keep interest in the Theater in the upcoming generation. The Lobby's of too many Theaters look like "Gods Waiting Room" at intermission- a sea of blue hair, punctuated by the presence of some handsome gay men.

[+ bigjoey]

Yes, some shows do require amplification due to the source material but not EVERY show.

 

I do agree with you about an aging audience, not only in the theater but most classical music venues. I think it results from a poor education. Most of today's education does not stress a "classic" canon of Western literature/music/art but explores third world and contemporary literature/music/art. Most opera performances need to have an undertaker nearby to help remove an audience member or two after the show.

 

Yes, there is much beyond the "classic" Western canon but I feel one needs to know ones own culture foundation before venturing off to newer and other ones. In a society, there needs to be a common currency of culture.