Welcome to a new kind of tension: Keegan Theatre’s production of American Idiot has the right sense of youthful urgency and earnestness that befits the Green Day rock opera …
Matthew Keenan’s abstract abandoned-building set (its broken windows often splashed with 2000-era media symbols) properly captures the show’s tone. A young, diverse cast energetically brings to life the unarticulated anguish the teens are experiencing: smart, loose choreography drives this home in numbers like the defiant “Holiday.”
… Though the show’s vitality is clearly visible in upbeat numbers like “American Idiot” and “Jesus of Suburbia,” it’s those songs of quiet desperation that stay with the audience: the plaintive “Give Me Novocaine,” the haunting “Before The Lobotomy,” and most of all the wrenching “21 Guns.” Just try to witness that gorgeous, desolate anthem and not get chills.
