'American Idiot' musical arrives at IU Auditorium

The Broadway adaptation of Green Day’s “American Idiot” captivated the audience with a provocative, sexually-charged performance Tuesday in the IU Auditorium.

“Idiot” took the audience back to the days of teenage rebellion, breath stenched with alcohol and substance experimentation.

“This production is about trying to get away from the media-saturated world and becoming your own person, not being the ‘idiot’ in America,” said Jenna Rubaii, who played The Extraordinary Girl. “They go through hell, but all learn something in the end. It’s a very universal thing. It really touches young people, especially.”

The musical revolved around the tortured young soul Johnny, played by Alex Nee, who is paralyzed with self-doubt, fear and immense self-loathing.

His friends Tunny, played by Thomas Hettrick, and Will, played by Casey O’Farrell, are equally lost.

All three of them searched for liberation, which ultimately took them down three very
different paths.

While Johnny meets the woman of his dreams and takes intense trips on heroin, Will impregnates his girlfriend and Tunny becomes a soldier in the U.S. Army.

“It’s a very honest coming-of-age story,” said Alyssa DiPalma, who played Whatsername. “I think it’s important for the audience to take away that you need to make mistakes to get where you need to be and where you need to go.”

The story is told through movement and music. The rock-hard abs and bulging muscles of the performers show the physical strength the production required.

“This show is incredibly exhausting,” Rubaii said. “Being on the road is incredibly tiring. I think doing eight shows a week just staying in one place is exhausting enough, but when you’re touring, it just intensifies everything. You have to contend with the changing climate, getting enough sleep. It’s really a true test of stamina.”

Audience reaction was largely positive.

The set was designed to look like an auto garage and included mixed elements that were highly indicative of the message of a media-saturated culture.

Televisions littered the stage, projecting images from American popular culture and news media.

“The set is incredible, especially given the way the TV’s were always in sync throughout,” freshman Aliana Martinez said. “I think it gives a big energy to the show because it doesn’t stop moving.”

Particularly memorable images included one of former president George Bush biting into Lady Liberty as a vampire, a stop-motion green screen of St. Jimmy and several moments throughout the show that were in sync with the production itself.

“I think it’s so novel to show it like that,” sophomore Kathryn Boots said. “Most of the audience members around me were shocked once we saw how physical the show actually was, but we accepted it.”

Fellow audience members agreed, including freshman Cameron Mullin, who said he was not expecting the long sex scene.

“The show has so much angst,” freshman Bailey Moser said. “There are so many things I wasn’t expecting from a Broadway play, like the sex scene and the drug use.”

The musical is meant to give young people a voice.

“I’m hoping people take from it that you should be your own person,” Rubaii said. “Not be blind to the reality that is surrounding you because it is so easy to get caught up in the media, getting peer pressured into what everyone else is doing, letting those voices and being you and doing the right thing for yourself.”