Only a month ago, Green Day made a stop at SoFi Stadium, in the midst of their Savior Tour, where they performed their 2004 hit album American Idiot in full. Twenty years later, the iconic album, which has sold 23 million units to date, is again being spotlighted in the Los Angeles area, this time as an electrifying revival of the eponymous Tony Award-winning musical.

This rendition of Green Day’s American Idiot, the lyrics and book for which are written by group frontman Billie Joe Armstrong (along with Michael Mayer), and is choreographed by Jennifer Weber (ASL choreographer is Colin Analco), has three very special things going for it: it is a Center Theatre Group (CTG) and Deaf West Theatre collaboration, uniting both Deaf and hearing actors; it is the directorial debut of Center Theatre Group Artistic Director, Snehal Desai, who has teamed with Deaf West Theatre Artistic Director DJ Kurs; and, it marks the reopening of the Mark Taper Forum after a year of being being “dark.”

Communication comes in many forms, and theatregoers will not only hear spoken lines and vocalizations, they will also observe actors use American Sign Language to fervidly signal their characters’ motivations. The melding of the two underscores the expansiveness of the human condition, which Desai and Kurs have successfully applied to the Taper stage.
For an intermission-less 95 minutes, the musical aims to do what the album does — which is make an energetic and enlightened statement on what it means to be alive among generations of a populace finding their own voices, pursuing their dreams, and kicking the bad habits that get in the way of self-growth. These themes, touched on by individuals who either oppose or fall in line with the establishment, are further inclusive of all the ups and downs that color life’s trajectories and the relationships that inform them.

The premise homes in on three men — Johnny, Tunny, and Will — who explore stateside notions of freedom, rebellion, and responsibility. Love, rage, town, and country percolate as Green Day’s intoxicatingly head-bashing instrumentals are played by music director David O and his extraordinary band who are seated on the second level behind a scrim (on which images are projected onto) of Takeshi Kata’s high-tech, industrial set.
As occasional live video of the performers, paired with the consistent broadcast of Green Day’s existentially driven lyrics on screens, attendees will be able to fully immerse themselves in the narrative-backed hits such as “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” “21 Guns,” “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life),” and more. This revival of American Idiot is a relentless and unapologetic punk-rock journey not to be missed.

Cover image caption: Daniel Durant (center) and the cast of Green Day’s American Idiot at the Mark Taper Forum. Produced by Center Theatre Group in collaboration with Deaf West Theatre. Photo by Jeff Lorch.
Green Day’s American Idiot runs through Saturday, Nov. 16th at the Mark Taper Forum. For more information on the musical, and to purchase tickets, visit centertheatregroup.org.