American Idiot, Queanbeyan Players, THe Q, 20-29 June

 Green Day's 2004 album represented a progression for the band - known for their fast-punching three-minute pop-punk songs since the early 90s, the album was tied around contemporary issues of youthful alienation and post-September 11th right-wing nationalism, and used longer musical suites made up of multiple songs and recurring characters to tie together these threads into a light narrative of a confused suburbanite young man lost in the world of contemporary politics and life. In 2009 they teamed with director Michael Mayer and arranger and orchestrator Tom Kitt to build a Broadway musical based on the album, creating additional material for their follow-up album, 2009's "21st Century Breakdown", multiplying the protagonist into 3 young men, all alienated and lost as they search for purpose through drugs, through music, through relationships and through the military. 

It's a musically powerful show, from the thrashing title song to reflective songs like "Wake me up when September Ends" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", with Kitt's arrangements building the songs from their guitar-bass-a-vocalist-and-a-drumkit origins to embrace the power of the whole cast singing in harmony, with a string section joining the arrangements for added power. And musical directors Jen Hinton and Bridgid Cummins absolutely capture the mood and the sound, from pure thrash to delicate intimacy to powerful massed balladry. Dramatically the storytelling is a little rudimentary, with the three male protagonists largely disappointing the women in their life (two of the three female leads aren't given real names - one is "Extraordinary Girl", one is "Whatsername") - the women do have musical moments but the show, like the male characters, is never really willing to centre them for very long.  

The material is well performed, though - John Winfield as the central protagonist, Johnny, has a mix of cynicism and wounded innocence, aware that his rebellion is more talk than action. Darcy Kinsella as Will, the one who joins the army, has a sweet innocence to him that gets damaged over the course of the tale, and Zac Izzard disappears into his inner-loss as he refuses to engage with the mother of his child. Shelby Holland as Whatsername and India Cornwell as Heather both show self-determination and power as they push the messed up men in their life away, and Abigail Dunn's dancing as Extrordinary Girl is, well, suitably extraordinary. Declan Pigram as the rock-legend-tempter St. Jimmy struts with the power required to draw us all in.

The ensemble are a vigorous physical presence throughout, throwing themselves into Nathan Rutrup's energetic choreography, releasing tension and belting out the tunes with power. It's a strong, energetic production of a show that works as long as you don't think about the plot too much (and alas, I'm a reviewer so I have to think about the plot a bit).