It isn’t hard to adapt an album from songs to stage when they are written to tell a story on purpose! That’s the case with Green Day’s “American 
Idiot: The Musical,” now on at the National Theatre. The punk rock band’s seventh full-length studio album — a veritable rock opera — was apparently always meant to have its angst acted out around the country.
Fans of songs like “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” “Holiday,” “21 Guns,” and “Wake Me Up When September Ends” will recognize the main character “Jesus of Suburbia,” (played by Jared Nepute) who is about as anti-hero as it gets. He hates his town and those close to him, so he heads to the city to seek fame and freedom.
Played out almost entirely in song (expect very little dialogue between characters), the album follow Jesus’ story — and those of two of his friends who take vastly different life turns — in a perpetual battle of rage versus love, ruin versus redemption.
The vocals are on point, the set (and its transformations) are mesmerizing, and the overall theme is realistically messy. 
Get excited. Get angry. Sing along. And forgive some transitional parts in the plot that just don’t gel. Sometimes it’s nonsensical… but isn’t most teenage angst?
American Idiot: The Musical continues at National Theatre in a limited engagement through February 23rd.
*All images credit Jeremy Daniel
