In a House With Unlocked Doors… Part Thirteen
The Musical in the UK
By Sharon Mitchell
We had been lucky enough to see American Idiot on Broadway, back in August 2010, and then again in San Francisco in July of this year, but when it was announced that it would tour the UK, we were happy to see it again on our own turf. Eight times. Whoops.
Our first show was in Glasgow on Halloween.
We met up with a couple of friends and the plan was hatched to go in fancy dress somehow related to the band.
The final decision was to appear as members of The Network. I opted to be Doctor Svengali, with my friends dressing as Snoo, Fink and Van Gogh, and we ended the night – still in costume – in a Chinese restaurant on the banks of the Clyde.
That is something that will only happen once in my life, I am sure!
From Scotland, the musical carried on its run in a few other theatres until it landed in the Hammersmith Apollo, in London. This is a great little music venue, not a huge West End theatre, and it proved perfect for this very in-your-face musical.
We had varying luck with seats, never sitting further back than row N in the stalls, and on the very last performance, we were in row A.
It seems odd to see the same show so many times, but I can honestly say that with each performance, I noticed something different.
We had a couple of cast changes due to illness – Johnny, Tunny and St Jimmy were all played by understudies at some point – but the changes were taken in their stride – the new actors fitted into their new roles very well.
As usual, lots of people travelled to see this limited run, many of them from overseas.
There seem to be no plans for a tour of Europe yet, although mention has been made of Japan and Australia, and so we were able to meet up with fans from Italy, The Netherlands, Germany and Austria, along with one all the way from Australia.
Every night the cast came out to sign autographs, and I had to show them my tattoo – a St Jimmy heart/dagger, which I had done after the show in Glasgow – one of my ‘tattoos of memories’.I was given a bass pick from one of the early shows, along with one of the “Love happened here” flyers from the set, and then on the last night, I got another pick from one of the chorus members.
The musical is amazing – so powerful.
Some nights I watched specific actors, other times I tried to concentrate of the flashing images on the screens.
It’s interesting to see how the album resolves itself into a narrative – Billie’s lyrics split between the various ‘voices’ on the stage to make a plot.
I always suspected that American Idiot was written as a performance piece – the album cover states “Green Day PRESENTS American Idiot – STARRING Billie, Mike and Tre – and seeing the musical is like hearing songs that have become so familiar for the first time. I really hope the planned film goes ahead soon, and I would love Billie to reprise his time on Broadway, playing a character he created, understands and that I believe he was born to play.
St Jimmy rules!!!!!
