American Idiot, Arts Theatre *

Apathy is the worst reaction you can have to any piece of art. If American Idiot the musical left me feeling angry, at least it would have been provocative. Instead, I faced two hours of a bland attempt at rebellion. Since seeing the musical, I have listened to the original Green Day album of the same title. Here, Billie Joe Armstrong's message is far clearer with a larger impact. What was an angry attack on post 9/11 society has become a story of an adolescent having mini tantrum. I've never been a fan of the Jukebox musical, seeing them as cheap and contrived. Therefore having the song '21 Guns' turned into Amelia Lily singing to stop the protagonist committing suicide, my heart sank. Luckily, I only saw the second preview so the creative team have time to iron out the dodgy lighting, sound and instruments as well as making sure that the company can sing in tune all the way through the musical. The advertisement putting Lily as top billing is blatantly misleading as she, along with every other female cast member, has almost nothing other than one or two solo spots and is solely there to have sex in a musical that is trying to be shown to be progressive and revolutionary (being given the prestigious name of 'whatsername' tells you all you need to know). It's a shame that the female members of the company are underused as they have much better voices and pronunciation than the men of whom I could barely make out a word that they sung. Racky Plews' direction and choreography doesn't help by glorifying heavy drug use that is never resolved or questioned. That on top of the theatre not having any air con and keeping the doors shut until 2.25 for a 2.30 start led to perhaps one of the worst theatrical experiences I have ever had.