Midvale Main Street Theater’s American Idiot is a Rocking Good Time

By Cindy Whitehair, Perry Whitehair and Perry S Whitehair

Midvale’s Main Street Theater certainly is not playing it safe in presenting their production of American Idiot, which is based on Punk rockers Green Day’s album of the same name (as well as a few songs from their album ).   Perry and Perry S. are huge Green Day fans, so we knew we had to go see this show.

The show is about three friends from any suburb USA and is set in a post 9/11 world and are fed up with the state of their lives and long for something more.  Johnny (John Patrick McKenna), Will (Michael Howell), and Tunny (Kelly Tansey) decide to ditch suburbia for the city – a plan that is partially de-railed when Will’s girlfriend Heather (Brea McDonald) tells him she is pregnant.  Will decides to stay home and Johnny and Tunny head for the big city.  After a few weeks in the city, Tunny enlists in the Army and leaves Johnny on his own where he engages in drug use, love (and heartbreak) while his sense of purpose slips further and further away. After several months, the friends re-unite as Johnny comes home from the city and Tunny returns from war with the realization that happiness is not where you are, but who you are with.

Billie Joe Armstrong (lead singer and creator of American Idiot) envisioned the album as a conceptual album and possible stage production or movie, drawing inspiration for other concept albums like Jesus Christ Superstar, albums by the Who and musicals like Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Given that this is a rock musical, it is fraught with challenges from the technical side and MMST meets the challenge and defeats it.  The set (design by Jerrod Dew) is a perfect mix of Punk dystopia.   Lighting and Sound Design (Ryan Throckmorton Fallis who also directed the show) takes over where the set leaves off – rounding out a dark, dreary, at times hopeless world.  From a sound standpoint, MMST really conquers the second biggest problem that faces community theaters putting on a rock musical (with a live band) and that is balancing the sound so that the band and the actors are well heard.  The music director (Alec Powell) has the biggest hurdle to overcome – teaching people who are trained to sing “pretty” to rock out…and they nail it!

But the strength of this show by far is its cast.  From the opening cords of “American Idiot” to the closing cords of “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” the cast is pumping out the energy.  There is not one person on that stage that looks like they are just going through the motions – they are all in.  The three friends (McKenna, Howell, and Tansey) are all spot on, but Tansey truly steals the show with her vocals.  She owns her scenes and she makes sure you know it in no uncertain terms.  Ashlee Howell, as Whatsername, is both sweet and savage.  Brea McDonald (Heather) shows great acting range, going from scared teen to tiger mom.  One of the stand out moments in the first act is her “Too Much Too Soon” with Will, Alysha (Kristina Rene Stone) and Theo (Dallon D. Thorup).  McDonald, Stone, and Thorup all swirl around a poor Will who is just trying to make sense of what is going on around him.  Another stand out is Kenneth Starling as St. Jimmy.  St. Jimmy is a metaphor for Johnny’s dark side and for heroin and Starling plays the metaphor to its darkest perfection.

As mentioned above, the whole cast is exceptional, and the ensemble is the rock of this show.  While Stone, Thorup, and Starling stood out in their individual roles, the remainder of the ensemble (Trinidad Allred, Sara Goldberg, Nickolas E. Hofheins, Jordan Hutchings, Charity Jones, Devin Manfull, Samantha Morford, Chris Morgan, Carleigh-Jo Naylor, Darsity Robles, and Drew) cannot go without mention.  They are all critical to the tone of the show and they set the tone well.

Chantelle Wells’ choreography is sharp and crisp – and executed with almost military precision (again a credit to the cast).  Fallis, as director, did a great job in bringing us into a cohesive world.  The audience is completely immersed in the lives of these young people.
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The biggest flaw of American Idiot is probably the lack of a real plot.  The book (Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer) does not do a lot to transition you along (between songs) so if you don’t know all of the words to the songs used (and according to Perry and Perry S even if you do know them all) you will be a little lost.  While the synopsis in the program helped – it’s hard to follow along with the synopsis in a darkened theater. A note of caution – this production is not for younger audiences.  There is strong language and simulated sex and drug use in several scenes.  That said, if you are a fan of Green Day’s music (as Perry and Perry S are) and even if you are not (as I am) you will enjoy American Idiot.  It is a high energy, head banging, blast into the recent past full of catchy tunes that will stay with you long after final curtain.

Midvale Main St. Theatre presents Green Day’s American Idiot. Book by Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer, lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong, music by Green Day and musical arrangements by Tom Kitt.
Midvale Main St. Theatre, 7711 South Main St (700 West), Midvale, Utah 84047
July 12-22, 2018 (dark Monday-Tuesday) 7:30 PM, Weekdays and Saturday, 5:00 PM Sunday
Tickets: $18-22
Contact: 801-566-0596
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Green Day’s American Idiot at Midvale Main Street Theater