(no subject)
OH MY GOD SO GUESS WHO SPENT THE DAY IN NEW YORK.
Okay so to preface? I've only actually been listening to Green Day for the past...six months. I suck. I am not actually the World's Biggest Fan and so a lot of the show was probably lost on me, but I am a fan of musical theater and over-the-top concept albums so that's kind of where my perspective is coming from. (also this post is mainly me writing EVERY DETAIL I CAN REMEMBER so that I can look back on it later and not forget, so if you want to skip over it go right ahead)
SO TODAY I SAW AMERICAN IDIOT.
So from the very beginning you can tell this is going to be LOTS OF FUN AND RAGE, with soundbites from newscasts, commercials, and George Bush speeches, and the curtain goes up to show a wall of television screens and plastered-on newspapers and a bunch of dudes staring at them. No seriously the set never changed the whole time, so the TV screens sort of acted like another piece of the set that showed images related to whatever song was going on. Lots of explosions, if I remember correctly.
We start out with, derp, American Idiot! SO MUCH FLAILING. The dancing was really...modern? I guess? I don't know much about dance but this was definitely not your grandma's ballet. There was a lot of headbanging and jumping around and stomping. Basically the kind of dancing you do alone in your room while blasting Green Day. It took some getting used to but it looked really cool once you got into it. Also there was this awesome chick hanging from the ceiling by some chains. I am always down with ceiling-hanging!
So we get introduced to our three (three!) main characters, Johnny, Will, and Tunny. They all hate everything! They need to get out of their hometown! Grr roar America sucks! And that's basically all of American Idiot and half of Jesus of Suburbia. Johnny's got tickets for the bus out of town! Fuck yeah! Everyone grab a guitar!
Except then Dearly Beloved starts up and in comes...my Playbill says Heather, I guess that's her. Will's girlfriend. She's got a pregnancy test and does not look happy about it! So she tries three more of them! Still not happy! So near the end of Tales of Another Broken Home she starts whispering to Will, who's still singing about getting the fuck out of here, and uh. Whoops. Kind of stuck with the pregnant chick. Johnny's pissed about this new development but he and Tunny still take off without him. WILL'S LIFE.
HOLIDAY! Everyone get on the bus! If you Youtube the American Idiot show you'll probably find this song, and you should watch it, because the choreography is fantastic. The bus is actually this metal cage that they use the whole show for all sorts of nonsense, and they're just tipping it over and climbing all over it and slkfjldkj it's so great. Also, FAVORITE SONG. And the guy who does the speaking part at the bridge is ridic and campy and I kind of love him forever.
Boulevard of Broken Dreams! Song I don't really like that much! I'm pretty sure this is where Johnny meets Whatsername, she's just looking out a window looking all cute and Johnny's got his acoustic guitar and starts playing at her and it's kind of precious. ('scuse me while I cross-reference Wikipedia)
Yep okay I was right, awesome. ANYWAY SO THERE'S THIS GIRL WITH PINK STREAKS IN HER HAIR AND HE IS ALL "/PIIIIINE" and then idk stuff happens.
THEN IT'S TUNNY'S TURN TO DO SHIT. There's this awesome commercial that tells him to join the army, and by commercial I mean dance number involving the ensemble girls in heels and sequin dresses and this seriously ripped black guy strutting around in his underpants while the girls molest him to the tune of Favorite Son (which...I didn't know before this show, derp). It's kind of hilarious.
Then there's this weird sequence where the ensemble all comes out in their underwear. Like, not tight sexy underwear like the commercial dude, but boxers and undershirts, which is what Tunny is wearing for pretty much this whole time. And they're marching along (this is Are We The Waiting at this point), and he falls in step with them, aaaand Tunny's in the army! This should be fun.
Back to Johnny, because you know what happens next? ST. JIMMY'S COMIN' DOWN ACROSS THE ALLEYWAY. Everyone's bouncing around, looking up and shouting, and then OUT COMES BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG HELLO WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN A TRADITIONAL THEATER. He looked the same as ever, tiny and spiky-haired and wearing way too much eyeliner and basically the cutest thing. ALSO, THROWING GLITTER. I WILL NOT GET OVER THIS PART BECAUSE BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG THROWING GLITTER AND BEING ALL OVER JOHN GALLAGHER JR. I CAN'T ACTUALLY DEAL.
There was also this incredibly cool little thing he did where the whole ensemble lined up and Jimmy touched each of them in turn and they kind of just fell over in THROES OF DRUG-ADDLED ECSTASY I GUESS? Oh and then he kissed the girl on the end full on the mouth and she fainted. Oh Jimmy. But yeah a lot of his time was spent waving drugs at Johnny and BEING ALL OVER HIM DID I MENTION THAT. All of the touching. With occasional pelvic thrusts. It's like punk Newsies or something. I didn't just say that.
I'm pretty sure after this was the part where Johnny starts giving one of his monologues. He has one after about every other song, starting with the date and sort of in the form of a letter to his mom, usually. This time (I think) he says he shoots drugs for the first time, followed by lots of giggling and hanging out on the bed with Jimmy. No, seriously. And I'm pretty sure Jimmy said "It's fucking time!" at one point and I died. WRITE ME PORN WRITE ME PORN WRITE ME POOOORN.
SO THEN COMES GIVE ME NOVACAINE which is a lot of Johnny getting high and Will drinking beer because his life sucks and he's stuck with a small child and a hot girlfriend who looks like Ashley Tisdale. Woe is Will. The really cool part is the dance Johnny and Whatsername have, where they wrap each other up with the tourniquet Johnny used to shoot something up, and the bed's underneath this spinning platform that goes up and down and it's just REALLY REALLY COOL. Meanwhile, Tunny's at war! There are explosions! He gets hit in the leg! His life is hard!
Then there's this totally cool mashup of Last of the American Girls (another one I didn't know /o\) and She's a Rebel, in which WHATSERNAME IS AWESOME AND EVERYONE SHOULD LOVE HER BECAUSE SHE IS AWESOME. She spray paints a heart on Johnny's shirt! She throws pink fliers everywhere! SHE IS AWESOME. NO, SERIOUSLY. That's about all I have to say on her because I don't actually remember the number that much, ahahaha.
My Playbill says Last Night On Earth was next.
...Lemme check that.
...Oh apparently it was on 21st Century Breakdown and it's the really pretty one that I don't remember the number to AT ALL. Wiki says it's where Will and Heather's baby is born and she sings about it. idk.
BUT THEN! TRAGEDY STRIKES! TOO MUCH TOO SOON! Heather wants to leave! Will is not happy about this! There is a lot of picking up and dragging and my favorite ensemble chick and an ensemble guy who looked like Tre Cool sing harmony and get involved in the fight! idk they might have been their roommates? Or their personified anger or something, I HAVE NO IDEA.
Oh yeah remember Tunny getting hit in the leg? He's in the hospital now, singing Before the Lobotomy with a bunch of other army dudes. It's all very tragic. But then, and here's the cool part, the screens are showing the little EKG thing, right? But then the pattern turns into Arabic script, and The Extraordinary Girl (yep, that's her character's name) FLIES IN FROM THE SKY to give Tunny a love interest! I kind of have trouble understanding just who she is. Like, is she a native he met while serving in the Middle East? Is she also in the army (she shows up in uniform later so this is likely)?
...Oh, Wiki says she's his nurse. Whatever. THE POINT IS SHE COMES IN ON WIRES, AND THEN HE FLIES UP WITH HER ON WIRES, and there's this really cool dance they do up in the air, and I have no idea how they could have choreographed that because it must have taken ages, especially the bits where it seems like he's about to fall to the ground and then catches onto her. So cool. And then there's a reprise of Before the Lobotomy.
Suddenly, cute! Johnny watches Whatsername sleep while playing When It's Time on his acoustic and is generally precious. HE LOVES HER. HOW DARLING. WHY DON'T YOU GET MARRIED AND HAVE ALL OF THE BABIES AND--oh hey look it's Jimmy! Jimmy has drugs! And at first Johnny's like "nooo but whatsername :<" but apparently it's impossible to resist Billie Joe Armstrong waving baggies and singing Know Your Enemy at you. I mean, seriously. The man has glitter. (GLITTER) So Johnny is all drugged up and Whatsername is like :| D: :| and meanwhile on the other side of the stage the Extraordinary Girl is giving Tunny a sponge bath and everyone's singing 21 Guns. I kind of need to go find 21st Century Breakdown because the songs kidnapped from there were pretty good. I thought I'd heard that everyone hated it? And I guess it's not as grr roar punk rock as their other stuff? But uh. This is me who's listening. /o\
ANYWAY. Letterbomb happens, in which Whatsername is AWESOME and is like "fuck this shit I'm not dealing with a druggie boyfriend :|" and kicks Johnny's ass to the curb. Fuck yeah Whatsername. There's lots of stomping and girls being awesome and...awesome things. idk it was awesome.
Oh yeah, the beginning "Nobody likes you..." part? That was Heather bragging about her life after leaving Will and deciding to just party it up, baby included. BASICALLY THIS SHOW IS ABOUT AWESOME WOMEN WHO KNOW WHEN TO LEAVE LAZY ASSHOLE BOYFRIENDS I GUESS?
So everyone's lives suck, and Johnny gets another great monologue, this time addressed to his dad. Followed by Wake Me Up When September Ends, of course. There's a whole lot of staring up at the sky and being sad and a pretty neat projector effect that looked like pieces of paper flying up to the ceiling, faster and faster as the song went. Yeah that's about it.
Homecoming! St. Jimmy climbing to the top of that metal cage I was talking about and stripping his shirt off! Then drawing a heart/cross/thing on his chest before shooting himself with a toy gun that even had a little BANG! flag! And oh my god BJA's little face when he does that, seriously all his faces were pretty much GREAT. Stupid little grins everywhere. I love him so much.
Johnny gets a desk job for about...three minutes, and then just goes FUCK IT and sells his guitar to get a bus ticket home. Will is sadface and alone so he goes to the 7-11 where they met up during Jesus of Suburbia (according to Wiki, at least, I didn't really catch that). Tunny comes back with one Extraordinary Girl and one leg. There are hugs, and Johnny trying to punch Tunny in the face, and then more hugs, and Heather shows up with her new boyfriend (who sang Rock and Roll Girlfriend with her earlier) and gives Will her baby (which...I guess means there are threesomes later? idk idk idk).
AND IT'S ALL VERY AWESOME AND THERE IS MORE STOMPING AND THE ENSEMBLE YELLS AT THE AUDIENCE AND IT'S GREAT. There's even a cool little section with random bits of choreography from the earlier songs, like leitmotifs but in dance. SO COOL.
AND THAT COULD HAVE BEEN THE AWESOME FINALE but then Whatsername happens. Johnny is sadface because his life sucks and he has not earned a girlfriend. I don't think we're supposed to feel sorry for him. He sucks. Whatsername does not.
CURTAIN! Then curtain back up for BOWS! Then curtain back down. Then curtain back up for BILLIE JOE BEING THERE TOO! Also now everyone has acoustic guitars! What is this! First Billie Joe's suddenly starting to sing Dominated Love Slave (which...I just had to google because I only remember him saying "love slave" and ahahaha oh god this is great). Crowd cheers wildly! And then he starts up Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) and everyone cheers some more, and the whole cast starts playing guitar along. Curtain back down! Lights up! The end. \o/
SO YEAH, THAT'S MY PLOT/VISUAL SUMMARY.
General notes on the whole performance:
-COSTUMES. The costumes were barely even costumes, mostly just band T-shirts and ripped jeans and regular punk teen outfits you could wear on the street. The makeup was great, and really picked up on the whole Green Day aesthetic, if that makes sense. There were at least two guys in the ensemble who could have been cosplaying as Tre Cool, it was kind of hilarious.
-I WANT A SCRIPT. I loved Johnny's monologues of ridic and ramble and hilarious. They were kind of half slam poetry and half how I write the Bandleader in my Black Parade Musical AU. Which was a little bizarre, but mostly really damn cool.
-WRITE ME PORN. ALL OF IT. No seriously fucked-up Jimmy/Johnny would be VERY MUCH APPRECIATED.
-My mom liked it! She tagged along because she bought two tickets and no one else wanted to go, and I wasn't really sure how much she would like it, because if you think I'm discriminatory when it comes to guitars, she makes me stop whenever I try to play Destroya at her. BUT SHE CAME OUT OF THE THEATER ALL "OMG THAT WAS AWESOME :O :O :O" AND SHE THINKS BILLIE JOE IS AMAZING (if tiny) AND I MAY HAVE TO PUSH THE ALBUM AT HER IPOD.
-...Did I mention the part where BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG THREW GLITTER AT JOHN GALLAGHER JR.
And if I think of anything else to add I'll paste it on later. For now, FUCK YEAH EVERYTHING IS GREAT.
no but seriously. glitter.
EDIT: Oh yeah, the band! There was no pit (pretty sure this is the same stage where we saw Gypsy, where the whole orchestra played behind a scrim) but instead the musicians were on stage. Guitar and bass on the left, drum kit on the right. The guitarist was kind of deadpan the whole time but he was really precious in his black outfit with a red tie that was really really obviously a BJA cosplay outfit. And then during Rock and Roll Girlfriend the boyfriend hijacked his guitar and just kind of played with his arms on top of the guy, and the guy just leaned his head on the boyfriend's shoulder and I kind of wanted to squish him. There was also a violinist, who hung out at the top of the steps Jimmy made his entrance from, and a cellist, who hung out under the cage sometimes. And of course there were the random moments of EVERYONE PLAYING ACOUSTICS. And that's the music!
Okay so to preface? I've only actually been listening to Green Day for the past...six months. I suck. I am not actually the World's Biggest Fan and so a lot of the show was probably lost on me, but I am a fan of musical theater and over-the-top concept albums so that's kind of where my perspective is coming from. (also this post is mainly me writing EVERY DETAIL I CAN REMEMBER so that I can look back on it later and not forget, so if you want to skip over it go right ahead)
SO TODAY I SAW AMERICAN IDIOT.
So from the very beginning you can tell this is going to be LOTS OF FUN AND RAGE, with soundbites from newscasts, commercials, and George Bush speeches, and the curtain goes up to show a wall of television screens and plastered-on newspapers and a bunch of dudes staring at them. No seriously the set never changed the whole time, so the TV screens sort of acted like another piece of the set that showed images related to whatever song was going on. Lots of explosions, if I remember correctly.
We start out with, derp, American Idiot! SO MUCH FLAILING. The dancing was really...modern? I guess? I don't know much about dance but this was definitely not your grandma's ballet. There was a lot of headbanging and jumping around and stomping. Basically the kind of dancing you do alone in your room while blasting Green Day. It took some getting used to but it looked really cool once you got into it. Also there was this awesome chick hanging from the ceiling by some chains. I am always down with ceiling-hanging!
So we get introduced to our three (three!) main characters, Johnny, Will, and Tunny. They all hate everything! They need to get out of their hometown! Grr roar America sucks! And that's basically all of American Idiot and half of Jesus of Suburbia. Johnny's got tickets for the bus out of town! Fuck yeah! Everyone grab a guitar!
Except then Dearly Beloved starts up and in comes...my Playbill says Heather, I guess that's her. Will's girlfriend. She's got a pregnancy test and does not look happy about it! So she tries three more of them! Still not happy! So near the end of Tales of Another Broken Home she starts whispering to Will, who's still singing about getting the fuck out of here, and uh. Whoops. Kind of stuck with the pregnant chick. Johnny's pissed about this new development but he and Tunny still take off without him. WILL'S LIFE.
HOLIDAY! Everyone get on the bus! If you Youtube the American Idiot show you'll probably find this song, and you should watch it, because the choreography is fantastic. The bus is actually this metal cage that they use the whole show for all sorts of nonsense, and they're just tipping it over and climbing all over it and slkfjldkj it's so great. Also, FAVORITE SONG. And the guy who does the speaking part at the bridge is ridic and campy and I kind of love him forever.
Boulevard of Broken Dreams! Song I don't really like that much! I'm pretty sure this is where Johnny meets Whatsername, she's just looking out a window looking all cute and Johnny's got his acoustic guitar and starts playing at her and it's kind of precious. ('scuse me while I cross-reference Wikipedia)
Yep okay I was right, awesome. ANYWAY SO THERE'S THIS GIRL WITH PINK STREAKS IN HER HAIR AND HE IS ALL "/PIIIIINE" and then idk stuff happens.
THEN IT'S TUNNY'S TURN TO DO SHIT. There's this awesome commercial that tells him to join the army, and by commercial I mean dance number involving the ensemble girls in heels and sequin dresses and this seriously ripped black guy strutting around in his underpants while the girls molest him to the tune of Favorite Son (which...I didn't know before this show, derp). It's kind of hilarious.
Then there's this weird sequence where the ensemble all comes out in their underwear. Like, not tight sexy underwear like the commercial dude, but boxers and undershirts, which is what Tunny is wearing for pretty much this whole time. And they're marching along (this is Are We The Waiting at this point), and he falls in step with them, aaaand Tunny's in the army! This should be fun.
Back to Johnny, because you know what happens next? ST. JIMMY'S COMIN' DOWN ACROSS THE ALLEYWAY. Everyone's bouncing around, looking up and shouting, and then OUT COMES BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG HELLO WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN A TRADITIONAL THEATER. He looked the same as ever, tiny and spiky-haired and wearing way too much eyeliner and basically the cutest thing. ALSO, THROWING GLITTER. I WILL NOT GET OVER THIS PART BECAUSE BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG THROWING GLITTER AND BEING ALL OVER JOHN GALLAGHER JR. I CAN'T ACTUALLY DEAL.
There was also this incredibly cool little thing he did where the whole ensemble lined up and Jimmy touched each of them in turn and they kind of just fell over in THROES OF DRUG-ADDLED ECSTASY I GUESS? Oh and then he kissed the girl on the end full on the mouth and she fainted. Oh Jimmy. But yeah a lot of his time was spent waving drugs at Johnny and BEING ALL OVER HIM DID I MENTION THAT. All of the touching. With occasional pelvic thrusts. It's like punk Newsies or something. I didn't just say that.
I'm pretty sure after this was the part where Johnny starts giving one of his monologues. He has one after about every other song, starting with the date and sort of in the form of a letter to his mom, usually. This time (I think) he says he shoots drugs for the first time, followed by lots of giggling and hanging out on the bed with Jimmy. No, seriously. And I'm pretty sure Jimmy said "It's fucking time!" at one point and I died. WRITE ME PORN WRITE ME PORN WRITE ME POOOORN.
SO THEN COMES GIVE ME NOVACAINE which is a lot of Johnny getting high and Will drinking beer because his life sucks and he's stuck with a small child and a hot girlfriend who looks like Ashley Tisdale. Woe is Will. The really cool part is the dance Johnny and Whatsername have, where they wrap each other up with the tourniquet Johnny used to shoot something up, and the bed's underneath this spinning platform that goes up and down and it's just REALLY REALLY COOL. Meanwhile, Tunny's at war! There are explosions! He gets hit in the leg! His life is hard!
Then there's this totally cool mashup of Last of the American Girls (another one I didn't know /o\) and She's a Rebel, in which WHATSERNAME IS AWESOME AND EVERYONE SHOULD LOVE HER BECAUSE SHE IS AWESOME. She spray paints a heart on Johnny's shirt! She throws pink fliers everywhere! SHE IS AWESOME. NO, SERIOUSLY. That's about all I have to say on her because I don't actually remember the number that much, ahahaha.
My Playbill says Last Night On Earth was next.
...Lemme check that.
...Oh apparently it was on 21st Century Breakdown and it's the really pretty one that I don't remember the number to AT ALL. Wiki says it's where Will and Heather's baby is born and she sings about it. idk.
BUT THEN! TRAGEDY STRIKES! TOO MUCH TOO SOON! Heather wants to leave! Will is not happy about this! There is a lot of picking up and dragging and my favorite ensemble chick and an ensemble guy who looked like Tre Cool sing harmony and get involved in the fight! idk they might have been their roommates? Or their personified anger or something, I HAVE NO IDEA.
Oh yeah remember Tunny getting hit in the leg? He's in the hospital now, singing Before the Lobotomy with a bunch of other army dudes. It's all very tragic. But then, and here's the cool part, the screens are showing the little EKG thing, right? But then the pattern turns into Arabic script, and The Extraordinary Girl (yep, that's her character's name) FLIES IN FROM THE SKY to give Tunny a love interest! I kind of have trouble understanding just who she is. Like, is she a native he met while serving in the Middle East? Is she also in the army (she shows up in uniform later so this is likely)?
...Oh, Wiki says she's his nurse. Whatever. THE POINT IS SHE COMES IN ON WIRES, AND THEN HE FLIES UP WITH HER ON WIRES, and there's this really cool dance they do up in the air, and I have no idea how they could have choreographed that because it must have taken ages, especially the bits where it seems like he's about to fall to the ground and then catches onto her. So cool. And then there's a reprise of Before the Lobotomy.
Suddenly, cute! Johnny watches Whatsername sleep while playing When It's Time on his acoustic and is generally precious. HE LOVES HER. HOW DARLING. WHY DON'T YOU GET MARRIED AND HAVE ALL OF THE BABIES AND--oh hey look it's Jimmy! Jimmy has drugs! And at first Johnny's like "nooo but whatsername :<" but apparently it's impossible to resist Billie Joe Armstrong waving baggies and singing Know Your Enemy at you. I mean, seriously. The man has glitter. (GLITTER) So Johnny is all drugged up and Whatsername is like :| D: :| and meanwhile on the other side of the stage the Extraordinary Girl is giving Tunny a sponge bath and everyone's singing 21 Guns. I kind of need to go find 21st Century Breakdown because the songs kidnapped from there were pretty good. I thought I'd heard that everyone hated it? And I guess it's not as grr roar punk rock as their other stuff? But uh. This is me who's listening. /o\
ANYWAY. Letterbomb happens, in which Whatsername is AWESOME and is like "fuck this shit I'm not dealing with a druggie boyfriend :|" and kicks Johnny's ass to the curb. Fuck yeah Whatsername. There's lots of stomping and girls being awesome and...awesome things. idk it was awesome.
Oh yeah, the beginning "Nobody likes you..." part? That was Heather bragging about her life after leaving Will and deciding to just party it up, baby included. BASICALLY THIS SHOW IS ABOUT AWESOME WOMEN WHO KNOW WHEN TO LEAVE LAZY ASSHOLE BOYFRIENDS I GUESS?
So everyone's lives suck, and Johnny gets another great monologue, this time addressed to his dad. Followed by Wake Me Up When September Ends, of course. There's a whole lot of staring up at the sky and being sad and a pretty neat projector effect that looked like pieces of paper flying up to the ceiling, faster and faster as the song went. Yeah that's about it.
Homecoming! St. Jimmy climbing to the top of that metal cage I was talking about and stripping his shirt off! Then drawing a heart/cross/thing on his chest before shooting himself with a toy gun that even had a little BANG! flag! And oh my god BJA's little face when he does that, seriously all his faces were pretty much GREAT. Stupid little grins everywhere. I love him so much.
Johnny gets a desk job for about...three minutes, and then just goes FUCK IT and sells his guitar to get a bus ticket home. Will is sadface and alone so he goes to the 7-11 where they met up during Jesus of Suburbia (according to Wiki, at least, I didn't really catch that). Tunny comes back with one Extraordinary Girl and one leg. There are hugs, and Johnny trying to punch Tunny in the face, and then more hugs, and Heather shows up with her new boyfriend (who sang Rock and Roll Girlfriend with her earlier) and gives Will her baby (which...I guess means there are threesomes later? idk idk idk).
AND IT'S ALL VERY AWESOME AND THERE IS MORE STOMPING AND THE ENSEMBLE YELLS AT THE AUDIENCE AND IT'S GREAT. There's even a cool little section with random bits of choreography from the earlier songs, like leitmotifs but in dance. SO COOL.
AND THAT COULD HAVE BEEN THE AWESOME FINALE but then Whatsername happens. Johnny is sadface because his life sucks and he has not earned a girlfriend. I don't think we're supposed to feel sorry for him. He sucks. Whatsername does not.
CURTAIN! Then curtain back up for BOWS! Then curtain back down. Then curtain back up for BILLIE JOE BEING THERE TOO! Also now everyone has acoustic guitars! What is this! First Billie Joe's suddenly starting to sing Dominated Love Slave (which...I just had to google because I only remember him saying "love slave" and ahahaha oh god this is great). Crowd cheers wildly! And then he starts up Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) and everyone cheers some more, and the whole cast starts playing guitar along. Curtain back down! Lights up! The end. \o/
SO YEAH, THAT'S MY PLOT/VISUAL SUMMARY.
General notes on the whole performance:
-COSTUMES. The costumes were barely even costumes, mostly just band T-shirts and ripped jeans and regular punk teen outfits you could wear on the street. The makeup was great, and really picked up on the whole Green Day aesthetic, if that makes sense. There were at least two guys in the ensemble who could have been cosplaying as Tre Cool, it was kind of hilarious.
-I WANT A SCRIPT. I loved Johnny's monologues of ridic and ramble and hilarious. They were kind of half slam poetry and half how I write the Bandleader in my Black Parade Musical AU. Which was a little bizarre, but mostly really damn cool.
-WRITE ME PORN. ALL OF IT. No seriously fucked-up Jimmy/Johnny would be VERY MUCH APPRECIATED.
-My mom liked it! She tagged along because she bought two tickets and no one else wanted to go, and I wasn't really sure how much she would like it, because if you think I'm discriminatory when it comes to guitars, she makes me stop whenever I try to play Destroya at her. BUT SHE CAME OUT OF THE THEATER ALL "OMG THAT WAS AWESOME :O :O :O" AND SHE THINKS BILLIE JOE IS AMAZING (if tiny) AND I MAY HAVE TO PUSH THE ALBUM AT HER IPOD.
-...Did I mention the part where BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG THREW GLITTER AT JOHN GALLAGHER JR.
And if I think of anything else to add I'll paste it on later. For now, FUCK YEAH EVERYTHING IS GREAT.
no but seriously. glitter.
EDIT: Oh yeah, the band! There was no pit (pretty sure this is the same stage where we saw Gypsy, where the whole orchestra played behind a scrim) but instead the musicians were on stage. Guitar and bass on the left, drum kit on the right. The guitarist was kind of deadpan the whole time but he was really precious in his black outfit with a red tie that was really really obviously a BJA cosplay outfit. And then during Rock and Roll Girlfriend the boyfriend hijacked his guitar and just kind of played with his arms on top of the guy, and the guy just leaned his head on the boyfriend's shoulder and I kind of wanted to squish him. There was also a violinist, who hung out at the top of the steps Jimmy made his entrance from, and a cellist, who hung out under the cage sometimes. And of course there were the random moments of EVERYONE PLAYING ACOUSTICS. And that's the music!