"American Idiot" Now Playing in LA
Fresh from a successful run on Broadway, "American Idiot" makes its Los Angeles debut at the Ahmanson Theater in Downtown LA. Based on the 2004 album of the same name by San Francisco punk rock band Green Day, "American Idiot" is a tale of three friends from a small town who each embark on different life journeys.
Johnny, aka "Jesus of Suburbia" (Van Hughes) and his buddies Will (Jake Epstein) and Tunny (Scott J. Campbell) are the three angst-filled main characters. Green Day's songs are woven throughout the show to illustrate the story: having become disaffected from all society has shown them ("American Idiot"), and full of small town boredom ("Jesus of Suburbia), the three embark on a journey ("Holiday") to find some excitement and glory. We follow as each slowly finds hismelf in a place he never imagined ("Boulevard of Broken Dreams")
Tunny becomes enchanted by the lure of a military career ("Favorite Son"), as Will stays back with his girlfriend, Heather (Leslie McDonel) thanks to an unplanned pregnancy ("Are We the Waiting?") and Johnny meets Saint Jimmy ("Saint Jimmy"), a drug pusher played by Joshua Kobak, and falls in "love" ("Last of the American Girls") with Whatserface, played by Gabrielle McClinton. The young men soon find themselves at a crossroads where their lives are forever changed. One by one, they come home only to find you can never really come home again.
"American Idiot's" songs are full of an angst-ridden energy and a rage that is unfamiliar to Broadway aficionados. The vocally powerful performers deliver each lyric with an explosion that captures the audience from beginning to end. Vivid and explicit, "American Idiot" speaks to a new generation of theater-goers, and it relates to that rebel deep within us all. "American Idiot" is now playing at the Ahmanson with nightly runs Tuesday - Sunday, and weekend matinees.
Purchase tickets online or call (213) 628-6772. Lottery tickets are available for $30/pair of orchestra seats, registration begins when box office opens daily. In addition, those who don't win the daily lottery will be automatically included in a second chance "loser's lottery" for complimentary tickets to the final Saturday night (April 21 at 8 p.m.) performance.
March 13 - April 22, 2012
Tuesdays - Fridays 8:00 PM
Saturdays 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM
Sundays 1:00 PM and 6:30 PM
Length: 1 hour 30 mins, no intermission
Yolanda Machado is the Sassy Mama in L.A. LA Native, valley girl for life, when she isn't stuck in traffic, she enjoys movies, wine, food and discovering new places to take her family throughout LA while avoiding the 405.
Photos: Doug Hamilton/CTG Media
