Review: SRO Productions Makes a Passionate and Poignant AMERICAN IDIOT

California mainstream punk rockers Green Day released their seventh album AMERICAN IDIOT back in 2004. It was a work intended to be an operatic narrative project similar to the Who's TOMMY or David Bowie's ZIGGY STARDUST, and it was the band's editorial response to 9/11, the Bush years, and wars in the Middle East. Green Day proudly proclaimed it as their "punk rock opera", and it went on to be a critical and popular success bringing them back to glory as a rock band in heavy rotation on alternative radio stations. The songs as a whole were meant to sardonically criticize television news, the Bush administration, and the war in Iraq. Yet there was an overarching theme about "rage versus love", and that became the jumping off point to translate the album into a splashy Broadway musical in 2010. At its heart the songs could be simplified to address the frustration everyone feels going from teen to adult in a world that doesn't quite make sense.

Standing Room Only has taken AMERICAN IDIOT and boiled it down to emotional essentials with a young cast and ingenious director Chris Patton at the helm. They have steered away from politics for the most part, and contained the story of three young guys coming of age within the small venue of the Obsidian Theater in the Heights. It becomes more intimate, and perhaps more personal and universal. It is a love story about three friends and the paths they take to grow up told through expressionistic rock songs. Despite all the middle fingers and spiky hair-dos, the musical feels like power pop and is suddenly easier to relate to.

At the core of AMERICAN IDIOT's storyline are three slackers Johhny, Tunny, and Will who live in the suburban wasteland of Jingeltown, USA. They watch TV and hang out with friends at the 7-11. The three musketeers decide to head to the big city to find new lives, but Will is stopped by his pregnant girlfriend who wants him to stay and be a father. Johnny and Tunny proceed on, but once there Tunny feels even more lost. He decides to join the army and heads off to war. Johnny ends up finding drugs, music, and the girl of his dreams. The rest of the play chronicles their journey into adulthood and back together.

Standing Room Only has assembled a young cast that is extremely talented to pull this one off, and they do an incredible job with a high energy performance that requires them to keep an audience engaged for ninety minutes with no intermission. Most of them have been seen in other SRO shows or musicals around town, while the rest are recent college graduates who specialized in performance. No weak link can be found among them, and Tamara Robertson has them sounding incredible as an ensemble. The opening number "American Idiot" proves how tight these guys are vocally, and they blow your hair back in the first few bars. Eric Dano gives them bouncy choreography that turn them into rocking cheerleaders whose favorite move is to give the audience or other cast members the bird. It's all cute, catchy, and well executed.

The three male leads are suitably strong with Justin White doing amazing work with both his songs and his guitar. J.T. Fisher and J.T. Hearn compliment Justin quite well vocally, and it's easy to believe this trio as diehard adolescent friends. Ragan Richardson, Connor Lyon, and Ronna Mansfield are gorgeous in both face and voice, and deliver passionate performances that anchor the show's heart. The men and women of the ensemble do exemplary work carrying off the rock musical with Kiefer Slaton standing out as a strong physical and vocal presence throughout. But if anyone is capable of taking the Green Day material up out of theatre kid aesthetic into real rock and roll, it's John Forgy as the sinister and sexy St. Jimmy. He gives a daring performance that takes the volume from 10 to 11 the moment he appears onstage in prototypical Billie Joe Armstrong drag. He's the one you can't take your eyes off, and he creates his own stamp on the iconic role easily. He captures the spirit of AMERICAN IDIOT and steals the show anytime he is onstage. He's the rockstar.

Technically things are precisely on-point, and the show is a marvel of inventive staging in Obsidian's small space. The lights are great, and the sparse sets work like gangbusters to ease through the story's broad narrative of suburban and city life. Costumes are cleverly constructed, and I loved all the slacker stylings and inventive use of multi-purpose items throughout. The band handles live rock music well, and manages not to punish the audience with a nice level somewhere between comfortable and loud. Ear plugs offered at the box office were not needed.

Chris Patton should be proud that he has a cast and technical crew to execute his intimate vision so well for this production. AMERICAN IDIOT is everything you could want from a regional premiere as it takes the slick polish of Broadway and redefines it into passionate intimacy for a playhouse. Audiences are going to have an excellent time rocking out with these kids. The director has found a great way to keep the message of the show accessible, and SRO has one of its best productions under its now studded black leather belt. I actually want to be an American idiot if it's half as much fun as seeing this show.

AMERICAN IDIOT runs through Halloween night October 31st. SRO Box office can be reached at (713) 300-2358 or through http://www.sro-productions.com/. Performances are at the Obsidian Theater located at 3522 White Oak Drive Houston, TX 77007.

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