Waste of my 85 minutes... AMERICAN IDIOT- Page 2
Waste of my 85 minutes... AMERICAN IDIOT
#25Waste of my 85 minutes... AMERICAN IDIOT
Posted: 4/9/10 at 11:44am
Jeez, I'm not even from the Rent Generation, I'm way too young.
Way to generalize.
The vast majority of the audience in Berkeley (the one time I saw it) seemed to be former hippies in their 40s. Very NPR-type. They were all boppin' their heads and rocking out. I, however, was not.
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
#26Waste of my 85 minutes... AMERICAN IDIOT
Posted: 4/9/10 at 11:53amBack in the olden days, when RENT first opened, and I was still waiting tables in the theatre district, I remember the 40-something couples (or just the wives at matinees) coming in after the show, and repeating "La vie boheme! La vie boheme!" It was pretty clear that they suspected that, by growing up, they had lost whatever "cool" they may have possessed in their youth, and that appreciating the more repeatable aspects of the show helped them re-capture that cool. More power to 'em, I thought, if it gets them through the day in Mamaroneck.
PReeves2
Leading Actor Joined: 3/20/10
#27Waste of my 85 minutes... AMERICAN IDIOT
Posted: 4/9/10 at 12:01pmare people in their 40's seeing this show and loving it like they did RENT though? didn't find anything catchy for me to sing along with like in RENT. I found the TV screens to have more of a story line than the actual show.
PReeves2
Leading Actor Joined: 3/20/10
#28Waste of my 85 minutes... AMERICAN IDIOT
Posted: 4/9/10 at 12:07pmP.S. they should just turn this show into a RENT revival...i'd certainly see that more than once. this cast wouldn't have a problem singing that show. they are all talented enough.
#29Waste of my 85 minutes... AMERICAN IDIOT
Posted: 4/9/10 at 12:19pm
This show has no originality, and no purpose on Broadway, I love rock musicals, but this is just a corporate/commercial FORMULA with no artistic integredy or contribution to art or theatre. When i saw this, I felt the same heartless chill as I get when seeing corporate Disney/Movie adapt Musicals. But I guess it's alright since they aren't trying to be original, or have artistic integredy; they never say that's their mission. And what's wrong with a show making money? All shows' purpose is to make money right? Of course. I'm just saying all this because I want you to know thay you're all buying into it, saying what THEY want you to say, and CONFORMING.
With predecessors like RENT, SA, and N2N, the rock musical is now a formula which AI is now the first rock formula show designed soley to take advantage of prior successes, and not to be original.
Stephen: "Could you grab me a coffee?"
Me: "Would you like that with all the colors of the wind?"
#30Waste of my 85 minutes... AMERICAN IDIOT
Posted: 4/9/10 at 12:25pmWell the ENORMOUS success of Mamma Mia started this. Now all bands think they can slap a loose story around their catalog and throw it on a stage. UGH!
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal
"I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
#31Waste of my 85 minutes... AMERICAN IDIOT
Posted: 4/9/10 at 12:31pmI don't really think you can compare American Idiot to Mamma Mia in that sense. Wasn't the original AI album written with a storyline already in mind?
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
PReeves2
Leading Actor Joined: 3/20/10
#32Waste of my 85 minutes... AMERICAN IDIOT
Posted: 4/9/10 at 12:36pm@Lizzie I think that statement to the press was just a line to sell tickets and help Green Day feel somewhat attached to the b'way show. looks to me like the producers wanted to give michael mayer another show to sell on b'way and find another hit like Spring Awakening.
Marquise
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/1/04
#33Waste of my 85 minutes... AMERICAN IDIOT
Posted: 4/9/10 at 12:36pm
This show is NOT FOR MUSICAL THEATER PEOPLE.
It isn't? Then WTF is it doing on Broadway?!!!
Unless they are adventurous in spirit or the come from the Rent age and beyond.
I don't rent. I own. I started renting at the age of 19 but soon decided it was much better to own than to pay someone else's mortgage.
All these panties in a twist!
I don't wear panties, I prefer boxers.
Come on. You knew this show wasn't for you when you bought your ticket.
I did? You know this? Are you psychic? Why do you think I would even do such a thing?
One question:
Are YOU an American Idiot?
#34Waste of my 85 minutes... AMERICAN IDIOT
Posted: 4/9/10 at 12:39pm
I've seen Mamma Mia three times and will happily go again and again. Why? Because I love the music and I think it's a fun night at the theatre.
I saw Rent numerous times on Broadway and on tour, starting with the original cast when I was in my mid-20s. My 64 year-old parents have seen it numerous times as well.
I hated Spring Awakening.
I have no desire to see American Idiot.
It's possible that people simply do not fit all generalizations and may enjoy shows for their own reasons which have nothing to do with other shows whatsoever.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#35Waste of my 85 minutes... AMERICAN IDIOT
Posted: 4/9/10 at 12:48pmWell TaleofTwo said that they enjoyed Spring Awakening so why would they think they wouldn't enjoy it. I kinda want to see it, but with that in mind I think it looks very strange.
Cape Twirl of Doom
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/2/05
#36Waste of my 85 minutes... AMERICAN IDIOT
Posted: 4/9/10 at 1:22pm
Wasn't the original AI album written with a storyline already in mind?
-----------------------------------------
I think that statement to the press was just a line to sell tickets and help Green Day feel somewhat attached to the b'way show.
----------------------------------------
Uh, no. Lizzie is correct. The album was created to tell a story, that was not just something added for Broadway. Here is what Rolling Stone said about the album when it was released in 2004.
"But here [Green Day] are with American Idiot: a fifty-seven-minute politically charged epic depicting a character named Jesus of Suburbia as he suffers through the decline and fall of the American dream. "
"American Idiot is the kind of old-school rock opera that went out of style when Keith Moon still had a valid driver's license, in the tradition of the Who's Tommy"
"On American Idiot, the thirteen tracks segue together, expanding into piano balladry and acoustic country shuffles. The big statement "Jesus of Suburbia" is a nine-minute five-part suite, with Roman-numeral chapters including "City of the Damned," "Dearly Beloved" and "Tales of Another Broken Home." "
"The plot has characters with names such as St. Jimmy and Whatsername, young rebels who end up on the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams." But the individual tunes are tough and punchy enough to work on their own."
"It's Phantom meets Hamlet... Phamlet!"
Borstalboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
#37Waste of my 85 minutes... AMERICAN IDIOT
Posted: 4/9/10 at 1:23pm
Well, if AMERICAN IDIOT has given us anything, its some good old fashioned shrill pubescent shout-outs of it's unequivocal AMAZING-NESS!! And, of course, the subsequent fits of impotent, stingless bitchiness that ensues any expressed thought to the contrary.
As someone who missed out on the whole Starshines thread, there's comfort here...there's comfort.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
#38Waste of my 85 minutes... AMERICAN IDIOT
Posted: 4/9/10 at 1:37pm
Uh, no. Lizzie is correct. The album was created to tell a story, that was not just something added for Broadway. Here is what Rolling Stone said about the album when it was released in 2004
It's just not a good story...
#39waste of my 85 minutes... american idiot
Posted: 4/9/10 at 2:32pmany show that inspires blowjobs in the seats is clearly doing its job.
r.i.p. marco, my guardian angel.
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
broadwayjim42
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/19/03
#40waste of my 85 minutes... american idiot
Posted: 4/9/10 at 2:57pm
My daughter and I saw it (the show, not the bj) Tuesday night. She loved it...I liked it. We knew pretty much what to expect going in and no, it is not your mother's musical. And given the amount of tattoos surrounding me on all sides, it's not your mother's audience either.
Very impressed by John Gallagher and Stark Sands...didn't realize the latter has such a good singing voice.
#41waste of my 85 minutes... american idiot
Posted: 4/9/10 at 3:37pmOh, you don't KNOW my mother!
Those Blocked: SueStorm. N2N Nate. Good riddence to stupid! Rad-Z, shill begone!
wickedpoppinsfan
Stand-by Joined: 2/18/08
#42waste of my 85 minutes... american idiot
Posted: 4/9/10 at 3:57pmI got tickets to see it for my birthday tomorrow, because it was chepeast I could find, and it's 85 minutes so it won't take up my whole day. When you were in the audience did you find any like teenagers like high school teenagers, because I don't want to be the odd one out at the theatre.
#43waste of my 85 minutes... american idiot
Posted: 4/9/10 at 4:14pmThere has always been a story to it as Lizzie and CToD pointed out. Green Day spent years working on a concept album, due in part because somebody stole the master tracks from an album never released and they started with AI from scratch. That being said as theatrical as the music was, the story was just not very tightly wound. I never really saw characters like in Quadrophenia or Tommy. Just ambiguity. I would say 21st Century Breakdown as a concept album has a stronger story/storytelling, some tracks of course were incorporated to this musical, though does not hold a candle to American Idiot as an overall album.
Holbee
Featured Actor Joined: 8/3/05
#44waste of my 85 minutes... american idiot
Posted: 4/10/10 at 12:25amMichael Mayer had a different story than the one Green Day had in mind. His version had more characters, more situations more diversity. Unfortunately it didn't have the songs to back it up. So the songs are forced onto a plot. In the original St Jimmy was the ****ed up older tough who held court down at the 7-11 that Jesus of Suburbia admired. Whatshername was the politically minded girl who actually got Jesus thinking in a new way. In Mayer-land St Jimmy is some kind of pusher (is he even real?) and Whatshername is a drug addict.
Videos