AN IDIOT’S GUIDE TO STAGE SUCCESS
Green Day’s 2004 album American Idiot was transformed into a Broadway musical in 2009. Now the show is heading to Auckland. Siena Yates talks to one of the stars, Sam Lavery, about why it is still relevant.
AS FAR as concept albums go, Green Day’s American Idiot was one for the ages.
The Grammy Award-winner told the tale of a young Billie Joe Armstrong, a self-proclaimed “Jesus of Suburbia”, hellbent on seeing the world and making an impact, whatever the cost.
Reviews were excellent and five years after its release, the album got the musical treatment; one of the biggest pop-punk bands of the era hit Broadway in a move no one saw coming.
In Broadway Idiot, the doco about bringing the album to the stage, Armstrong says: “I’m open to big, crazy ideas but this album is my baby — I wanna make sure nobody f **** it up!
“When people think of Broadway they think of everyone singin’ and dancin’ and . . . my fear was that it was just gonna be absurd and not relatable — and corny.”
You can understand his fear.
American Idiot was largely autobiographical.
“I just wanted to get the hell out of my town,” says Armstrong. “The story is all about the character, Jesus of Suburbia, wanting to figure things out and step up and stand for something he believes in. It’s about learning the hard lessons.”
The show got two Tony Awards and was nominated for best musical. Now it’s on tour, with the UK production reaching New Zealand next week.
Among the leads is UK X-Factor star Sam Lavery in her first theatre role. She plays main character Johnny’s love interest, Whatsername — named for the final song on American Idiot, about a woman whose name Armstrong has long-forgotten.
“I’ve always wanted to get involved in theatre and when I found out this show was going on tour, it was kind of perfect,” Lavery says. “I really loved the show and the music and everything Green Day.”
Whatsername had a story arc Lavery couldn’t resist. She and Johnny fall in love but he treats her “awfully” and winds up “going down a dark path”.Whatsername tries to help, but after being rejected repeatedly, gives up.
“Something snaps and she becomes this powerful, independent woman who doesn’t need him and is not gonna take that from him anymore,” says Lavery.
The show has retained the political bite of the album, which targeted the George W Bush administration and Iraq war. The current version opens with the voice of Donald Trump and features details such as the slogan: “Make American Idiot Great Again.”
With the album celebrating its 15th anniversary and the show its 10th, Lavery says there’s a “lot of pressure” to deliver Armstrong’s messages effectively.
“We need to make sure things are coming across the way they should, because these stories aren’t lighthearted at all. There’s one scene, which is a five-minute scene of Johnny taking heroin. We researched it so much and it’s so intricate and detailed, you really do come away feeling like [you’ve] just been involved in that — it really hits home,” she says. “I always say to anyone coming to the show that you will go away from it having felt every emotion, from love to loss . . . it’s so intense.”