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Don’t be an ‘American Idiot’: Your handy guide to the Green Day musical

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The Green Day musical American Idiot hits the Smith Center June 11-16.
Jacob Coakley

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American Idiot
June 11-16; Tue-Sun, 7 p.m.; Sat-Sun, 2 p.m.; $24-$129
Smith Center's Reynolds Hall, 749-2000

American Idiot hits the Smith Center June 11, which means I’ve been answering a lot of the same questions for my friends lately. If any of your friends have queries, hand them this.

• 1. Yes, Green Day wrote a musical. It’s based on the ’04 album of the same name and includes those songs along with B-sides and one new tune.

• 2. No, it’s probably not really a sign of the apocalypse.

• 3. Seriously? Mick Jagger turns 70 this year and is still touring, but you’re annoyed with a rock band for figuring out a way to keep its music vital so its members don’t have to pretend to be septuagenarian teenagers?

• 4. No, Green Day is not in the musical. There is a live rock band onstage, but Green Day does not play. Billie Joe Armstrong appeared as a character during the show’s Broadway run, but he’s not in this production.

• 5. Yes, it really is a musical, with a story, fleshed-out characters and dancing—which is actually quite good. The choreography manages to be more than rock video calisthenics, while never succumbing to the formality of Broadway dance.

• 6. Yes, there’s still lots of sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. It might not be the best thing for 5-year-old Annabelle. But for everyone else, it’s an amped-up, fast-paced tale that’s ultimately about the enduring strength of friendship.

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