Will Green Day's Broadway musical of "American Idiot" Be Cheesey?

My knee-jerk reaction to this question was 'yes, yes, YES!' However, I have not seen the musical, yet. But the great people of Berkeley, California seem to love it — as the musical broke attendance records at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Of course, the band is from Berkeley, so, I'm sure that was certainly a factor.

According to Rolling Stone:"The stage musical version of Green Day’s American Idiot will begin its run at Broadway’s St. James Theatre starting with preview performances on March 24th..... No ticket information has yet been announced, so sign up on the American Idiot on Broadway Website to be kept in the loop."

But before you buy your tickets, have a sample. If the free stream of the cast's "21 Guns" gives us any indication to the feel of the show, my first thoughts were correct. And it's a hard pill to swallow.

Go ahead. Hear it for yourself at www.greenday.com/mp3player/player.php

These people can sing, right? But it seems that American Idol has gotten hold of American Idiot. In short, this is Green Day's creativity on Prozac.

Seeing this on Broadway will be a pricey prescription, too. But if you are stubborn you should wait in line to get your tickets at the TKTS discount booths in Times Square. Or, better yet, spend nothing. There will be many, like me, who would rather listen to the original "soundtrack" at home.

I never did like show tunes anyway.

Grade for sample stream of "21 Guns," sung by the cast of "American Idiot, the Musical": D

Review by Pat Prince