OGDEN, Utah, Aug. 19, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — You don’t have to love punk music or dance to get a charge out of “Green Day’s American Idiot,” now playing at the Ogden Amphitheater in a Good Company Theatre production.
You don’t even really have to like the lead characters, who, indeed, behave like idiots more than once in the plot, and make decisions that result in no small measure of damage and disappointment.
Head to the open-air venue, and what will blow you away is the electrifying theatrical power of the production, from the direction to the lighting, the costumes to the set design, all of which support a strong group of lead and supporting actors.
(But be warned, adult content and language, with themes including sex and drugs, makes this show most suitable for older teens and adults.)
The 2009 punk rock opera — with music and lyrics by Green Day and book by Billie Jo Armstrong and Michael Mayer — tells the story of three young men disenchanted with suburban life, who plan to leave their parents’ homes and head to the city in pursuit something bigger and more meaningful.
But before the three can leave, Will (Sean Bishop) discovers a commitment that keeps him home. Once in the city, Tunny (Taylor Knuth) finds laying on the sofa there a lot like laying on the sofa at home, so looks elsewhere for adventure.
That leaves only Johnny (Timothy Swensen) in the city to pursue a wild life there.
Swensen is amazing in his lead role, singing nearly full-time in a production with limited spoken dialogue. He projects desire, rage, regret, irony, frustration and at least a half dozen other emotions in a way that cause all eyes and ears to focus on him, even when traffic sounds, muffled by trees and shrubbery, can be heard yards away.
Then there’s his even more intense alter-ego, the drug-fueled St. Jimmy (Seth Foster), an amplified creation who sing-growls where Johnny would only sigh, and leaps wildly across the stage where a defeated Jimmy would only sink to the floor. Foster’s performance is energetic and mesmerizing.
Knuth and Bishop are also great as characters who descend into despair before finding a glimmer of redemption, and both have voices more than up to the task, as do lead female characters Whatshername (Savannah Moffat), Extraordinary Girl (Liz Corona) and Heather (Caroline Hanks), each of whom plays a dramatic and pivotal role in one of the men’s lives.
The ensemble also has excellent singers, who step into featured roles as needed, and who fill the stage with energy and punk-inspired dance moves, choreographed by Austin Archer, who also directed the whole smart production. As with last summer season’s “In the Heights,” Archer again teams up with Ginger Bess as musical director, again with powerful results.
All are dressed in period costumes by Amanda Dobbs, including shorts with fishnets and boots, band T-shirts and lots of plaids.
Set designer Chris Philion created the visually dynamic world where the action takes place, with features including an array of concert/handbill type posters printed on billowing curtains and on the stage floor. And adding to the dazzling cacophony are images projected on 17 or so TV sets, which, in unison, flashing test signals, technical difficulties messages, images of the actors, news commentary and commercials — all by projection designer Lydia Oliverson.
It’s a frantic and frenetic show about not too charismatic characters making questionable choices. What they find on their individual paths includes sex, drugs, damage and disappointment. Yet Good Company Theatre has crafted into energetic, beautiful and amazing to watch.
Shows continue through Aug. 27. For ticket information, click here.
