The Critic

I like the rock group Green Day well enough. Not enough to buy any of their music, but I like some of the songs they've written and I don't punch the radio button when they come on. However, their Broadway Musical, American Idiot is another story. Mark and I went last night, and I've never seen people streaming out of a live theater in such numbers before. Here is my quick critique of American Idiot. Music and singing; If you like Green Day you will like the music. The actors were top notch on this point. They could sing and the band was an on spot, Green Day tribute band. Costumes; What the costume designer must have done is tell a bunch of young college age slackers, to go home and bring back their favorite pieces of clothing. In other words, there were no real costumes. Choreography; I think this is what made a lot of people leave in the first fifteen minutes. The choreography consisted of what I would call 'arm dancing'. Mostly they stood on stage and pumped their arms in different directions and occasionally bent over as if having stabbing stomach pains. Set design; Did you see the show Rent? I thought that was the worst set design... until last night. American Idiot sucked, it had no coherent story line that I could make out. Near the end I did manage to figure some of it, but a lot of the story was puzzling to me. Maybe I'm just an old fart and just didn't get it. Anyway, if you are a Green Day fanatic and absolutely love every thing they do, go see it. Otherwise save your time and money.