The rock musical American Idiot is an adaptation of Green Day’s 2004 concept album of the same name. It centres around three friends as they slowly drift apart: Johnny and Tunny leave their suburban homes to explore city life while their buddy Will stays at home to be with his pregnant girlfriend. Tunny eventually joins the military while Johnny finds himself struggling with his new rock star-esque lifestyle. The show premiered at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California in 2009 before moving to Broadway later that year.

I watched the show when it was in Toronto this past winter and, to be quite honest, I was not that into it. Don’t get me wrong, I love me a good modern rock musical. But I felt that American Idiot didn’t have anything truly original to bring to the table – it looked and sounded like a mash up of Hair, RENT, and Spring Awakening with Green Day constantly playing in the background. The choreography was interesting at times and the performers themselves were engaging enough, but because of the tired plotlines, the show managed to feel stagnant and lackluster throughout the entire hour-and-a-half runtime. But props to Billie Joe for branching out into theatre - maybe his next attempt will wow me a little bit more.