this ain't yo mamma's musical, punk

So yes. American Idiot. I had been curious about it, which fueled my desire to see it. It's kind of an interesting idea, marrying punk rock with musical theater. It's been done before, of course, in shows like Rent, Spring Awakening, Hair. What interested me the most though, was the idea that this show is about our own time and our own issues, not about living in America at the end of the millennium, or during the 1960s or 1890s Germany. The concept here is inherently relatable to our lives today since we're living it. Aside from that, I know of and like Green Day, and it sounded like fun in a loud and angsty sort of way (how could someone not love a show that was called "Hair's sullen, cynical grandchild"?)

This is, essentially, how I summed it up to someone a few days after I saw it. It was good. Good, not great. Was it the best thing I've ever seen? No. Would I see it again? Yes. Would I recommend it? Also yes.

Plot? The time is now. The show follows three young men (introduced early on, but names promptly forgotten, at least by me) coming of age in our own turbulent times, confronted by a sea of conflicting messages constantly being blared over the airwaves by the media. And boy, are they PISSED OFF about it. An hour and a half and 21 musical numbers ensue, following Johnny (an excellent, excellent John Gallagher, Jr.) who struck out to the big city to play in band (maybe?), met Mimi (whoops, I mean, well, actually she's called "whatsername") and does some serious drugs doled out by "St. Jimmy". Johnny's friend Tunny goes with him, decides to join the army, goes off to fight and comes back wounded. Their other friend, Will, is all set to go off with them but finds out his girlfriend is pregnant. Time for him to get off the couch and grow up.

All of them do a lot of growing up, actually, in this fast-paced show. Green Day's music is like poetry (no, seriously) and although I went in knowing a handful of songs, I have had several of them in my head since we've returned (damn it). My friend Heidi is well-known in our circle for reading her Entertainment Weekly and therefore knowing her shit, and she told me that the album American Idiot was written sort of like a rock opera, with a theme running throughout. The transition of this music to the stage seemed like a natural progression, and the music actually lends itself to this kind of dramatization and aggressive, physical, non-jazz hands style dancing.

So - what worked for me? The amazing cast and their tremendous energy. Every one of them gave 110% for the entire show- especially the girl in the opening song, who made her entrance upsidedown on a trapeze like thing. She hung there for a good long time, bopping and head banging along with the music. Then she came to the ground, got off and started dancing. Dude. I can barely headbang standing up without getting dizzy, after doing all that, I would have fallen down or something. I also now have a serious crush on John Gallagher Jr. I loved at the end (SPOILER ALERT HERE, people!) the curtain had gone down and came back up on the whole cast holding guitars. They played and sang "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" which is one of my absolute favorite songs. Also loved the voice of "Whatsername" Johnny's love interest, played with serious awesomeness by Rebecca Naomi Jones.

So what didn't work for me?? Oh, I don't know. I didn't hate it or anything, I'm just kind of lukewarm about it, I guess. I had issues with the "plot" such as it was. I didn't feel a strong connection with the characters. I remembered "Johnny" but not really any of the others. If you don't know their names, how can you be expected to care about them and what happens to them?

I remember reading somewhere that it was a good idea to listen to the cast album prior to attending the show, to really hear and understand the music and what was happening. I mean, I'm not a dummy and so it wasn't like I didn't understand what they were saying, but there was a lot going on and it was really LOUD. And I think sometimes they could have gone further - this music has strong messages in it, you have tvs all over the set, just go for it. I left with kind of an "oh" feeling, not quite knowing what they wanted me to get out of the show. Although, I have been sitting around pondering it since last Tuesday, so maybe it did something right after all?? I just didn't know though - Is it a call to action? A call to awareness? Am I supposed to leave happy? Sad? Pissed off? Should I go off and start a revolution? Is the answer that maybe there ARE no answers and maybe I'm an American Idiot myself??

Afterwards, we went to Junior's for some post-show discussion and snacks. I had cheesecake (strawberry shortcake cheesecake, in the interest of full disclosure) and Heidi (surprise!) had soup.

just one look and i can hear a bell ring...

We arrived in NYC last Monday and stayed until Thursday morning. I wanted to cram the visit as full of stuff as possible, including shows. I was a little worried, because although I personally see no problem with spending my days in darkened theaters, my dear friend might not have agreed with my plans. As I planned the trip, my list of must-sees dwindled - mainly because so many of them closed in the meantime - A Little Night Music (we were a few weeks too early to see Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch take over in this show.), God of Carnage and Sondheim on Sondheim were a few on my list that closed before we got to town. I also wanted to see American Idiot, La Cage, Promises, Promises and Everyday Rapture. The nerd in me wanted to go to the Addams Family to see what had been changed since I saw it here in Chicago. So much to see, so little time. In the end, we decided on two - Mamma Mia! (one of the rare shows open on Monday) and American Idiot.

I love, love, love, love, love, Mamma Mia! I've seen it twice here in Chicago, the first time was at the Auditorium Theater and the second, last January, in Rosemont, and I just love it to pieces. I'd been wanting to see it on Broadway, just because I thought it would be a great evening of big, splashy fun.

And it was. The cast was wonderful, the best I have seen, and included Beth Leavel as Donna. She was amazing. She sang her face off, she was hilariously funny. The rest of the cast was good as well and included John Dossett as Sam - he also played Herbie in the Bernadette Peters Gypsy - I was so sure I recognized his voice from somewhere, and after a phrase in "Knowing Me, Knowing You" I was like "Herbie!!" I had been a little nervous about our Sophie, as her bio indicated she'd been on the recent national tour - and the Sophie we saw in Rosemont SUCKED a whole bunch - but it was not this girl, Natalie Gallo, who was a fantastic Sophie.

The plot, let's face it, is completely ridiculous but WHO CARES? The music is happy, cheery froth, and there is nothing better than standing up at the end and singing "Waterloo" with the rest of the audience and the cast in their awesome metallic 70s gear. The thing that still bothers me, that I notice every single time, is the line in "Thank you for the Music" which is the original and goes "I've been so lucky, I am the girl with golden hair" when Sophie is not actually golden haired. I just sit there and go, no, you're not. The logo bride isn't golden haired either, so I'm not sure what's up with that. Is she singing "Thank you for the Music" as a song that she learned from her mom? But it seems to be delivered like the rest of the songs, as the character's dialogue, and the rest of it seems to fit - "mother says I was a dancer before I could walk..." etc. So I don't know. I guess it is not one of those things that we are supposed to think too much about.

It is such a feel good show, I left the theater on a cloud of ABBA-induced euphoria. How can I resist you, indeed.

my, my, how could i resist you?

Went to Mamma Mia yesterday afternoon in Rosemont - I had to miss my Colts who beat the socks off of those Jets, but que sera sera (They won!). Golly my goodness, I haven't been to the Rosemont Theatre since we opened the place with Barry Manilow all those years ago... It was a fun atmosphere, along with loud "ya-ta-da" carpet. The show was just fun. It's not deep or earth-shattering theater, but who cares? It was so much fun and everyone knows how much I loves me some ABBA. We had a very sedate audience though - at the end, there is supposed to be a singalong with Mamma Mia! Dancing Queen and Waterloo, and while everyone seemed to be on their feet, we were the only ones singing. Wassup with that, Rosemont?? Then we all trundled out of the theater, from the warmth of the Greek Isles into the snow (!) where we sat around for a really long time, waiting to get out of the parking lot. And now, I'll be broken-hearted, blue since the day we parted...

Addams Family Therapy...

So the show needs a little work before heading out east - I think it has a lot of potential and I am planning to see the final show on January 10 - anyone wanna come? (PS Who died and made Chris Jones the king of Chicago theater critics? I don't usually read the Tribune and so had no idea he was considered "the city's most influential theater critic" I certainly am not that influenced by him...)


From Today's New York Times... December 29, 2009
Revisions for ‘Addams Family’ By PATRICK HEALY
The producers of “The Addams Family,” one of the major new musicals scheduled for Broadway this spring, announced on Monday that they have hired the Tony Award-winning director Jerry Zaks to take over the $16.5 million production and supervise significant changes.

Based on The New Yorker cartoons of Charles Addams, “The Addams Family” began its pre-Broadway tryout in Chicago this month and received several positive reviews from critics — but also a pointedly tough one full of criticism from that city’s most influential theater critic, Chris Jones of The Chicago Tribune, who concluded that the show “needs to be funnier and more visually spontaneous.”

Echoing parts of The Tribune review, the musical’s lead producers, Stuart Oken and Roy Furman, said that the plot needed to focus more tightly on the Addams family members and that all — starting with Gomez (played by Nathan Lane) and Morticia (Bebe Neuwirth) — needed their eccentric and subversive personalities clearly established in dialogue and song before the main action of the plot begins.

The feedback from critics, colleagues and friends, Mr. Oken said, “is that perhaps we were taking a little too much for granted assuming that the audience walks in with the relationship with the Addams family fully intact, and we didn’t appropriately reconnect the audience to the family members.”

No one on the creative team has left the show or been fired, Mr. Oken said, with Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch (both Broadway newcomers) still listed as the directors and production designers, and Mr. Zaks billed as creative consultant. But when asked who was running the show from here on, Mr. Oken replied, “Jerry, with Phelim and Julian having meaningful input.”

Mr. Zaks is close to Mr. Lane, having directed him in the long-running Broadway musical revivals of “Guys and Dolls” in 1992 and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” in 1996, for which Mr. Lane won the Tony Award for best actor in a musical. Mr. Oken and Mr. Furman said Mr. Lane neither demanded nor requested that Mr. Zaks or any other show doctor be hired.

Mr. Zaks was not available for comment on Monday, his assistant said, but relayed a prepared statement in an e-mail message, saying that he “enjoyed the show enormously” and that he was delighted to “take this original musical to the next level.”

Mr. Zaks had been scheduled to direct “All About Me,” another new musical on Broadway this spring, but Mr. Oken said that he and Mr. Zaks asked the lead producer of that show, Jeffrey Richards, to release Mr. Zaks, and that he had done so.

The two lead “Addams” producers were at pains in a telephone interview on Monday to emphasize that the show was not in trouble, with Mr. Furman volunteering three times that hiring Mr. Zaks was “not being done defensively or out of weakness.” But they acknowledged that the musical, which is capitalized at $16.5 million for Broadway, needs changes to improve its hopes for a long run and a potentially lucrative life as a touring production.

Broadway producers have a long history of using so-called show doctors to make fixes, from Jerome Robbins to Neil Simon to, most recently, the Tony Award-winning choreographer Rob Ashford, who assisted on “Shrek the Musical.”

Mr. Jones, the theater critic, as well as some theater producers who have seen “The Addams Family,” said the cast members were well matched to their parts, but that some lacked enough big numbers and charming moments. Mr. Jones also noted that Ms. Neuwirth “looks like she’s not having much fun,” a point that the two lead producers denied. They added that Ms. Neuwirth (a Tony Award winner for “Chicago” and “Sweet Charity”) did not ask that the musical’s directors be replaced by Mr. Zaks or someone else.

None of the cast members could be reached for comment on Monday.