A far cry from the sexual coming-of-age and teen-angst tale that was Spring Awakening, for which Mayer won the Tony Award for Best Direction, American Idiot — a narrative expansion of the album — is about a young man named Johnny (played by Spring Awakening's Tony-winning John Gallagher, Jr.), who journeys from the soulless suburbs in search of something greater, all in the post-9/11 age of media-saturation, fear and cynicism. His two pals, Will (played by Michael Esper) and Tunny (played by Tony nominee Stark Sands), take their own paths.
Johnny is also known as Jesus of Suburbia, a name familiar to fans of the 2004 Grammy Award-winning source album, a punk rock hit that has sold more than 12 million copies.
Here's how the producers describe the experience: "
American Idiot follows the exhilarating journey of a new generation of young Americans as they struggle to find meaning in a post 9/11 world, borne along by Green Day's electrifying score."
The 90-minute rock musical draws on all the songs from "American Idiot," plus material that did not make the album, plus a handful of numbers from Green Day's latest Grammy-winning album, "21st Century Breakdown" (including the song "21 Guns").
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