The Mark Taper Forum is back, and they’re taking the city back to the aughts for a rock and roll ride! As Green Day would say, “We’re Coming Home Again.”
In a collaboration with Deaf West Theatre, Center Theatre Group has crafted a new incarnation of the hit Broadway show Green Day’s American Idiot based on the album of the same name.
Following a trio of friends who have lost their way as they merge into adulthood, the grit and disaffection of an uncertain life lead them on a journey to find themselves.
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Photo by Jeff Lorch.
There’s Johnny (Daniel Durnat/Voice: Milo Manheim) and Tunny (Landen Gonzales/Voice: Brady Fritz) who are so unsatisfied with their lives, they decide to grab their friend Will and move to the city away from suburbia and their overbearing families.
But Will (Otis Jones IV/Voice: James Olivas) has just learned his girlfriend Heather (Ali Fumiko Whitney) is pregnant with his child and can’t join them.
Tunny winds up enlisting in the Armed Forces and leaves to fight in a pointless war, leaving Johnny by himself. Lost and alone, Johnny meets Whatshername (Mars Storm Rucker) and falls for her. But his lack of direction causes him to swirl into a whirlpool of drugs.
All three must find their way out of their various prisons and rise to the challenge of living life and fighting for what they believe in.
Photo by Jeff Lorch.
Director Snehal Desai’s reimagining of “American Idiot” is a complex and dazzling orgasm of twenty dancing bodies, lights, rock music, intricate staging, and subtitles that light up the stage in various ways. Jennifer Weber’s choreography is a bit of impressively controlled chaos, and the overall conceit of the show is an interesting challenge.
As this is a collaboration with Deaf West, the three main leads and one supporting character are played by deaf actors. While they sign their dialogue and act out their roles, they have “voices” (hearing actors) that sing the songs for them and speak their dialogue for the hearing audience.
This is an ingenious bit of staging and a wonderful way for deaf actors to take the spotlight. I’ve seen productions like this before, but in reverse, where the deaf actors support the singing/speaking actors as if they were their shadow selves.
Here, the hearing actors sometimes wander around their deaf counterparts as they sing or speak, or sometimes they are off behind a scrim or on a different level of the stage as the deaf actors sign their roles. This can add to some confusion, especially when songs like Green Day’s can be so emotional that you tend to be drawn to watching those singing the songs. While I love the idea, it wasn’t a slam dunk for me as the emotions of the piece tended to end up scattered between the two.
Photo by Jeff Lorch.
While I’ve seen the show twice in other incarnations, this time, I felt the story seemed rushed and, because of the large cast, confusing. I wasn’t always sure what was going on with the characters, which caused a bit of disconnect.
That’s not to say this staging doesn’t work, as it seemed to flow beautifully for other people. What helped was the lyrics being displayed on various screens, scrims, and walls around the stage. Even for hearing folk, this was a blessing as it’s not always easy to understand the lyrics in complicated alt-rock songs.
That said, the characters’ voices were extraordinary, with Jerusha Cavasos as Extraordinary Girl often bringing the house down. All three male leads were also exceptional, offering a theatrical edge to the rock soundtrack, as was Rucker as Whatsername.
The three deaf leads were also quite good at drawing us into their stories despite some distractions from where their singing counterparts. What was impressive was their impeccable timing and ability to make the fact that it was, in fact, a musical seem seamless.
Photo by Jeff Lorch.
The tech credits were jaw-dropping, with scenic design by Takeshi Kata, sound design by Cricket S. Meyers, and projection design by David Murakami providing the “wow” factor.
The costumes by Lena Sands were absolutely on point. However, to keep their connection clear, I would have liked the leads and their counterpoints to be dressed more identically.
All in all, Center Theater Group and Deaf West have crafted something fresh and new for the Mark Taper that they should all be proud of, and I hope they continue their collaboration in the future.
“Green Day’s American Idiot” runs through Nov. 16th at the Mark Taper Forum in downtown LA.
For more information and tickets, visit www.centertheatregroup.org.
