On Saturday night, a part of me that I thought was completely dead was awoken. That would be the 14-year-old Green Day fan that I once was. I am even listening to Green Day as I write this post.
The reason for getting in touch with my inner-Green Day fan is due to the fact that I saw "American Idiot" on Saturday night. "American Idiot" is a rock musical based on the 2004 Green Day album of the same name. The musical recently finished up its Broadway run and is now in the middle of its national tour. I was lucky enough to catch one of the final shows in Chicago while I was home for the weekend. The musical follows the story of Johnny and his friends Will and Tunny. The trio is stuck in the fictional suburban town "Jingletown," and they are dying for a way out. Johnny secures money for bus tickets, but Will finds out that his girlfriend Heather is pregnant, so he must stay. Tunny and Johnny go on to the city, where Johnny delves into drugs, finds love with a girl called Whatsername and discovers a dangerous alter-ego of himself called St. Jimmy. Tunny quickly tires of city life and joins the Army. He loses a leg, but falls in love with a girl called the Extraordinary Girl while he is in the hospital. After coming home from the musical on Saturday night, I dug up the LA Times' review of the show from 2009. I was drawn into the article from the first few words of the lead: "Attention, everyone. We have a theatrical bulletin coming in: Music videos have just made an artistic breakthrough. And the form has gone live." This lead captured the attitude of the show, and I was awed by the LA Times' ability to do this. The article kept up this, kind of, edgy vocabulary throughout the whole article. Terms like "aesthetically dazzling and socio-politically stark," and "cable pundits were jawing about Saddam Hussein" are words choices that I normally do not see in articles, but I aspire to write this way. This article has also helped me to look at Green Day's lyrics in a new way. The album "American Idiot" is really a modern day concept album. "American Idiot" is a tale of rebellion, heartbreak and growing up. The words in the songs are full of emotion and brought to life in a stunning way through the musical. If you couldn't tell from my post, I am a huge fan of this musical. Go see it. I don't care that it is traveling across the country. Make like an old rock band groupie and follow the tour. It's worth it, I swear.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorThis blog was created for my Journalism 1550 class at Marquette University. I am a sophomore majoring in journalism and minoring in film. Archives
May 2012
Categories
All
|