American Idiot (2024)

Music by Green Day
Lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong
Book by Michael Mayer & Billie Joe Armstrong
based on the Green Day album
Sept. 12 - Oct. 5, 2024
Show Webpage
Production Photos

THE CAST
Johnny – Clayton Humburg
Tunny – Rafael DaCosta
Will – DeAnté Bryant
Whatsername – Lauren Tenenbaum
Extraordinary Girl – Adrienne Spann
Heather – Rachel Parker
St. Jimmy – Bee Mecey
Favorite Son – Jordan Ray Duncan
Featured Dancers – Gabriel Anderson, Kaylin Penninger
Ensemble – Gabriel Anderson, Jordan Ray Duncan
Alex Giordano, Amora Marie, Ian McCreary,
Nathan Mecey, Kaylin “Kat” Penninger,
Hannah Renee, Vanessa Simpson


THE NEW LINE BAND
Conductor/Bass – John Gerdes
Keyboard – Chelsea Zak
Guitar 1 – Adam Rugo
Guitar 2 – Xander Gerdes
Drums – Jake Luebbert
Violin – Steve Frisbee
Viola – Mallory Golden
Cello – Marie Brown/Michaela Kuba


THE ARTISTIC STAFF
Directors – Chris Moore, Scott Miller
Directing Intern – Gabriel Scott Lawrence
Music Director – John Gerdes
Asst. Music Director – Chelsea Zak
Choreographer – Chelsie Johnston
Dance Captains – Gabriel Anderson, Kaylin Penninger
Intimacy Coordinator – Ashwini Arora
Stage Manager – Tawaine Noah
Technical Director – Nathan Mecey
Sound Designer – Ryan Day
Scenic Designer – Dr. Rob Lippert
Costume Designer – Lauren Smith Bearden
Lighting Designer – Ryan Thorp
Props Master – Mallory Golden
Graphic Designer – Matt Reedy
Photographer – Jill Ritter Lindberg

REVIEWS

“New Line Theatre’s latest revival of Green Day’s punk rock musical American Idiot vastly exceeds its 2016 production on every level. Co-directed by Chris Moore and company founder Scott Miller, this new staging feels more alienated, more rebellious, and a hundred times more nuanced in its singing and acting than the last. . . Now the lyrics seem almost like glaciers – not so much to see ‘on the surface,’ but with the great mass of their meaning lying deep within the characters brought on to the stage this time. . . This is New Line’s 98th production and, in the post-COVID era, Scott Miller has been quietly experimenting with his company’s DNA, bringing in various talented new co-directors and choreographers. Each time it’s looked like a great collaboration. And it’s shocking, to a critic, to watch a venerable St. Louis company like this step boldly into a new era of dynamic clarity and artistic expression.” – Richard Green, TalkinBroadway

“New Line Theatre’s 33rd season begins with an energetic and angsty American Idiot. . . These songs, performed with vigor by a talented ensemble and backed by a take-no-prisoners band, form the backbone of the production. . . This masterful staging of American Idiot from directors Chris Moore and Scott Miller feeds off of the 2000s vibe of governmental distrust, dystopian fear and youthful agitation and freshens it up. As a result, audiences are treated to a moving contemporary parable that speaks to audiences from across the decades.” – Rob Levy, BroadwayWorld

“Fledgling New Line Theatre director Chris Moore, along with founding artistic director and co-director Scott Miller, tap into the rich reservoir of rocking tunes by Green Day in an infectious, electrifying rendition of Green Day’s American Idiot musical. The production features a litany of pulsating numbers guaranteed to energize its audience. . . Music director John Gerdes leads the magnificent New Line Band as it delivers the musical goods, and more, with rhythm and panache.” – Mark Bretz, Ladue News

“An electric cast brings to life Green Day’s turbo-charged punk rock opera American Idiot, accompanied by an exceptional group of eight musicians whose propulsive rhythms invigorate New Line Theatre’s 98th production. . . New Line first presented this youthful alienation statement as a regional premiere in 2016, and with a fresh crop of performers, has turned the Marcelle Theater into a scorching experience that ramps up passion and urgency. Heads will be banged. . . This cast shows their bond as mostly Gen Z’ers presenting a specific era. It’s hard to think of American Idiot as a period piece, for it remains relevant with its blistering screeds and hopeful ballads. With a complexity that you may not have thought about while hearing the music in radio play or through sound systems, American Idiot shakes things awake in a rant against complacency and manipulation – and that can be heard loud and clear at any age.” – Lynn Venhaus, PopLifeSTL

“Two things are immediately apparent in the opening number of this excellent staging. First, the sound achieves a fine balance between the voices and the eight-piece New Line band – no small matter in a sung-through show in which the lyrics advance the story. Second, the anarchic drive of Chelsie Johnston’s choreography and Chris Moore and Scott Miller’s direction establishes the right atmosphere for a musical about aimless, disaffected suburban youths. The staging and choreography are continually responsive to the show’s demands. . . The New Line staging features fine characterizations and singing.” – Gerry Kowarksy, Two on the Aisle

“The casting is excellent, led by dynamic performances from Clayton Humburg as the thrill-seeking Johnny, DeAnté Bryant as the aimless Will, and especially Rafael Da Costa as the initially directionless but eventually profoundly devastated Tunny. All three have strong voices and presence, carrying their numbers with clarity and authenticity. . . If you love Green Day, you’ll probably enjoy American Idiot. Even if you are not as familiar with the band and their music, however, there is a compelling, well thought-out message here, even though it does have its flaws. In terms of the production itself, this is another strong effort from New Line Theatre, proving that revivals can be just as effective as their original productions, and sometimes even more so.” – Michelle Kenyon, Snoop’s Theatre Thoughts

“New Line Theatre doesn’t fool around, delivering a raw, punky American Idiot. . . This production captures the raw energy and pop-punk spirit of young people railing self-destructively against the world through drugs, sex and rock ‘n roll.” – CB Adams, KDHX

DIRECTOR'S NOTES

In 2000, Geroge W. Bush won the U.S. Presidency.
In 2001, America suffered the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
In 2002, Bush took America to war in Afghanistan.
In 2003, Bush took America to war in Iraq.
In 2004, Billie Joe Armstrong and his band Green Day released their American Idiot album as a response, their own punk rock opera that took direct inspiration from The Who’s Tommy, Jesus Christ Superstar, Hair, and The Rocky Horror Show.

American Idiot followed the life of “Jesus of Suburbia,” a lost, nihilistic anti-hero who goes on a journey of self-discovery. The album sold fourteen million copies worldwide, almost six million in the U.S., and it won the Grammy Award for best rock album. From early on, the band hoped to turn the album into a stage show or film. Broadway director Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Head Over Heels) heard the album and he was knocked out by it.

 A couple years later, in an offhand remark to a Variety reporter about rock music on Broadway, Mayer mused that someone should be thinking about a stage version of the Green Day album. When the actor-turned-producer Tom Hulce read the interview, he called Mayer, with whom he was already working on Spring Awakening, and Hulce called Mayer’s bluff. They met with Billie Joe Armstrong, and he gave the project his blessing. Mayer’s stage version turned Armstrong’s hero myth story into a triple hero myth story.

After a run at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2009, the show was substantially revised and moved to the St. James Theatre on Broadway, where it officially opened in April 2010. The show closed in April 2011, after 422 performances. While Green Day did not appear in the production, vocalist/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong occasionally stepped into the role of St. Jimmy throughout the run, usually with no advance public notice.

Peter Travers wrote in Rolling Stone, “Though American Idiot carries echoes of such rock musicals as Tommy, Hair, Rent, and Spring Awakening, it cuts its own path to the heart. You won’t know what hit you. American Idiot knows no limits – it's a global knockout.” Paul Taylor in The Independent called the show “the Hair of its generation.”

The show has been produced across the country for the last fourteen years. New Line Theatre last produced the show in 2016. In 2024, American Idiot got new life. Center Theatre Group and Deaf West Theatre in Los Angeles mounted a new production, performed simultaneously in spoken English and American Sign Language.