American Idiot

[Homicidalheathen]

Green Day's American Idiot inspires rock musical

Pop-punk trio Green Day, comprising, from left, Mike Dirnt, Billie Joe Armstrong, and Tré Cool, will see their hit album American Idiot transformed into a stage musical. (Tina Fineberg/Associated Press)American Idiot, pop-punk band Green Day's Grammy Award-winning 2004 concept album, is set to become a rock musical in the trio's Berkeley, Calif. home turf.

Band frontman Billy Joe Armstrong collaborated on the production's story with Michael Mayer, the Tony Award-winning director of Spring Awakening.

The band had "been thinking of bringing American Idiot to the stage but knew we needed to find the right partners," Armstrong said in a statement.

"We were so impressed with [spring Awakening] as well as [Mayer's] vision for American Idiot that we knew we'd found the perfect collaborator."

The musical, to open in September at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, will feature songs from American Idiot — including hit tracks Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Holiday and Wake Me Up When September Ends — as well as numbers from the band's upcoming album 21st Century Breakdown, set for release in May.

Book follows disillusioned characters

Released in 2004, American Idiot has sold about 12 million copies worldwide and won a number of Grammy awards, including a trophy for album of the year and a record of the year win for the track Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

Loosely based on the disillusioned characters depicted in the album's lyrics, the stage musical will follow a number of young suburbanites who choose different paths in life, from fighting in Iraq to spiralling into drug addiction to staying put in one's hometown.

The company will feature 19 performers, with Olivier Award-winner Steven Hoggett enlisted as choreographer.

The production was workshopped recently in New York and is set to run Sept. 4 through Oct. 11 as the opener for Berkeley Rep's 2009-2010 season

[Der Nister]

I love music - I loathe musicals.

They just annoy me, especially "fight" scenes that break out into song and dance ------ WTF!!!!!!

How can you take a tough guy/villian serious when instead of kicking ass he's tap dancing and twirling around on his toes??

[Vampyrerin]

How can you take a tough guy/villian serious when instead of kicking ass he's tap dancing and twirling around on his toes??

Exactly!!!!