I suppose "American Idiot" wants to be a satire on the American way of life in the form of a musical. Alas, Billie Joe Armstrong, the credited lyricist, is not Exactly EY Harburg, probably Broadway's supreme satirist. What Harburg Possessed (as did Ira Gershwin, Lorenz Hart and Cole Porter), what wit. That is definitely missing on "American Idiot". Musically there are some nice melodic hooks Certainly, But They tend to be drowned out a little by rock music's general tedium with nonesensical repetition and a tendency not to let the songs finish in time. As all this makes the score more accessible for singers than for actors, That is Exactly what the cast Seems to do: They sing - And They do that very well. HOWEVER, there are some performers in the cast thathave already proven thatthey can fill a role - among them John Gallagher Jr., Mary Faber and Tony Vincent. It might have been nice to challenge them a little. HOWEVER, "American Idiot" is a show That makes even "Passing Strange" seem theatrical.
