Good Company Theatre’s American Idiot Holds onto Your Heart like a Hand Grenade

By Christy Hudson

People passing by the Ogden Amphitheater might think there is a punk rock concert going on inside, and they wouldn’t be entirely wrong. I was so excited to view Good Company Theatre’s production of Green Day’s American Idiot. I’m a Green Day fan (although I admittedly became a fan after getting into the musical), and I listen to both their album American Idiot and the Broadway soundtrack all the time. So, yeah, I was pumped.

When most people hear “Broadway musical,” the first thing that comes to mind is probably not a punk rock band. However, a guy named Michael Mayer thought just that as he listened to the Green Day album, and he brought it to life on Broadway in 2010. Mayer worked with Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tre Cool to turn their concept album into Broadway’s American Idiot, music by Green Day, lyrics by Armstrong, and book by Armstrong and Mayer. The musical also includes some b-sides, as well as songs from their album 21st Century Breakdown.

Johnny, Will, and Tunny are fed up with their mundane lives in “Jingletown, USA,” and they decide to hit the road and head to the big city. However, they quickly become separated. Will stays at home because he finds out his girlfriend is pregnant, but he finds his life becoming more and more meaningless and he sits on his couch watching TV day in and day out. Tunny, still feeling unfulfilled in the city, decides to enlist in the army, where he is quickly wounded in battle. Johnny finds himself falling for a beautiful girl, as well as some hard drugs, which become an internal battle for the affection of “the son of rage and love.”

The three leads are very strong together. Timothy Swensen (Johnny), Sean Bishop (Will), and Taylor Knuth (Tunny) sing and act excellently in their respective parts, and they have good chemistry as one another’s best friends. The songs that they get to sing together are all great, one of my favorites being “Wake Me Up When September Ends.”

The three female leads are also very talented. Savannah Moffat plays Whatshername, the girl Johnny falls for. Liz Corona plays the Extraordinary Girl, the nurse that treats Tunny after he is wounded in battle. Caroline Hanks play Heather, Will’s girlfriend. They all have beautiful voices, which add great harmonies to Green Day’s original music. They are all showcased together in “21 Guns,” where they sing the majority of the solo parts. Moffat also leads all of the women of the cast in “Letterbomb,” their song of empowerment, a song which Billie Joe Armstrong has said was always meant to be sung from a woman’s perspective.

The cast also features Seth Foster as St. Jimmy, Johnny’s rebellious, antagonistic alter-ego. Foster is incredibly expressive, and he has so much energy in his performance. He commands the stage with ferocity as St. Jimmy fights to control Johnny’s life, and he crushes the difficult vocals the songs demand.

That last part, though, really applies to all of the performers. Punk rock is not the easiest music genre to sing, and this show is 90 minutes of nonstop power songs combined with crazy, energized choreography and blocking, created by Director/Choreographer Austin Archer.

In the program, the rest of the ensemble members do have named characters. They are just not explicitly said during the play, so I don’t know who is who based only on the names. But pretty much every ensemble member gets a chance to solo, whether it’s the “Favorite Son” or the guy with the “Rock and Roll Girlfriend.” They are constantly onstage, harmonizing, moshing, and helping the movement of the show progress through the characters’ journeys.

The music is provided by a live band, which is onstage for the whole production (I mean, you seriously can’t do a Green Day musical without a live band). It is led by Music Director/ Keyboardist Ginger Bess, and features Guitarist Grant Leland, Bassist Spencer Howe, Drummer Alex Larson, and Cellist Yian Chi. There were some moments when the music was a little off, but the players were always able to sync up again and get back on track. Leland has several strong solos on the guitar, which he really pulls off beautifully, especially since his biography in the program says he has only been playing for two years.

Some of the songs are also performed on acoustic guitar by Johnny (Swensen). He is also incredibly skilled, and the sound is clear and smooth. One of my favorite numbers that he played was “When it’s Time,” a song Green Day wrote but did not release until they decided to include it in the musical.

The show opens with the angsty cast singing about their frustration with their boring, commercial lives, and their desire for freedom and individuality. One of my first thoughts during the title song was, “Turn up the volume!” I mean, I’ve blasted the song louder than that through my car speakers. In that way, the opening number was a little underwhelming. But the energy did increase as the story progressed, and the show was able to flow more smoothly. The actors and band seemed to find their groove and became more unified, and the volume blended better, so it was easier to understand the lyrics.

Unfortunately, there were some other sound issues. Some of the microphones seemed to go in and out, or else not get turned on at the right time, so there were lines that were lost to the audience. Johnny’s microphone stopped working correctly about halfway through the show, and a lot of his songs became muted. However, I was impressed with Swensen’s ability to project, and even with a mic’d band playing behind him, he wasn’t completely drowned out. It was just disappointing because his performance was so captivating. He showed so much emotion, and his portrayal of Johnny was spot-on. It was a bummer we couldn’t have heard him better.

One of my favorite elements of the show is the set. Lydia Oliverson has covered the stage with television screens to reflect what is happening onstage. Even at the times when the characters aren’t literally flipping through the channels, flashes of video, images, and messages appear on the screens. Some of them are clips from real shows and news broadcasts, while others were recorded by the cast. The screens are used in the introductions of characters like St. Jimmy and the Extraordinary Girl. My favorite usage, though, was probably during “Letterbomb.” There are clips from some familiar strong females in the media (for example, a beloved Disney princess, and a strangely powerful girl). Make sure to keep an eye on the TV screens throughout the performance.

Set Designer Set Designer Chris Philion and Lighting Designer William Peterson have done well at contributing to the mood and spectacle of each scene. The loud, high-energy numbers use a lot of movement, with lights going all directions. The softer numbers have more intimate lighting, or sometimes just a spotlight to isolate the character, showing us that he is all alone in the world. Costume Designer Amanda Dobbs has also done well at portraying contemporary punk styles, representing the individuality and expressionism that this generation is drawn to.

If you are a fan of Green Day, Good Theatre Company’s American Idiot is worth checking out. It is full of talented performers and musicians who pay great homage to the band. So, if you’re into loud punk rock music, enjoy unconventional theatre, or you “beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies,” this might be the perfect show for you. And even if you’ve never listened to a lot of Green Day, with all of the passion and emotion, rage and love this production presents, you may even walk away a fan.

Good Company Theatre Presents Green Day’s American Idiot, Music by Green Day, Lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong, Book by Michael Mayer and Billie Joe Armstrong
Ogden Amphitheater, 343 25th Street, Ogden, UT 84401
August 16-27, 2018, Thursdays-Mondays, 8:00 PM Doors Open 7:30 PM
Tickets: $25 Reserved, $20 General Admission
Contact: 801-629-8718
Good Company Theatre’s Facebook Page
American Idiot Facebook Event

*Contains strong language, drug use, dramatization of war, and other adult situations. Recommended for mature audiences only.