A stage adaptation of Green Day’s 2004 album American Idiot opened on Broadway last week. Here are some of the plot highlights from this boy-pursuing-his-dreams-in-the-big-city story:
A towering crescendo, rotating stage platform, and flashing klieg lights simulate the simultaneous pain and elation of having one’s nose pierced
Love interest reveals she’s a Bush supporter moments too late, when the couple has just finished making love and singing about it
The chorus refuses to stay on stage just because that’s what they were told to do, so they totally mosh in the aisles as punk-colored balloons fall
Early hit “Hitchin’ A Ride” is performed with plenty of vocal razzle-dazzle as originally intended
Main character calls everything he likes “Tré Cool!”
The Angel of Punk Rock turns out to be a disfigured roadie who lives in an underground lair beneath the old CBGB
Chorus dancers wearing leotards with the letters D, U, and H never manage to line up properly
The protagonist ultimately realizes that fulfillment doesn’t come from rigid societal conformism, but from a mild, inoffensive brand of nonconformism that is easily digestible—even widely marketable—to the masses
