Resyinc by Richard Ari Bona work with HDTV
Why hello there.
How're you doing?
I said heeeey-o!
There's people that like to do things the safe way.
And that's just never been part of my vocabulary.
♪ As time ticks by ♪
♪ Still I try ♪
♪ No rest for crosstops in my mind ♪
♪ On my own, here we go ♪
I don't know, I just, I like to make my own path.
But I never thought I'd end up, you know, doing Broadway.
♪ I walk this empty street on the boulevard of broken dreams ♪
♪ Where the city sleeps ♪
♪ And I'm the only one and I walk alone ♪
♪ I walk alone, I walk alone ♪
Billie Joe's a punk rocker from the East Bay,
working class kid.
- Tickets. - It's just me.
I'm from Rockville, Maryland,
upper middle class family and theatre geek.
We have nothing in common.
There's absolutely no reason why this should work.
Again, you can be as cocky as you want to be.
Broadway is such a foreign thing to me,
Stairway to your right, please.
This is crazy.
Tonight Billie Joe Armstrong
will be making his professional theatre debut,
and his Broadway debut at one time.
Fucktime!
The role of Saint Jimmy, usually played by Tony Vincent,
will be played by Billie Joe Armstrong.
I can't act, I can't dance.
Compared to a lot of these people, I can't even sing.
Come on!
I was thinking to myself,
"What the fuck are you doing here?"
♪ Don't wanna be an American idiot ♪
♪ Don't want a nation under the new media ♪
American Idiot, the album, exploded on the scene
in those really hideous post 9/11 years.
♪ The subliminal mindfuck America ♪
It was a fierce stance about the state of America.
♪ Everything isn't meant to be okay ♪
As a band we really wanted to make
some kind of concept record.
Drawing from like Tommy to Sergeant Pepper.
England!
Mike Dirnt kind of started it off,
and then we all just sort of joined in,
and we were all like, "this could be really great."
♪ Well maybe I'm the faggot America ♪
To me, bringing American Idiot to Broadway
seemed like a really great idea.
♪ Don't wanna be an American Idiot ♪
♪ One nation controlled by the media ♪
I'm open to big crazy ideas.
But, you know, I mean this album's, it's my baby.
So I wanna make sure nobody fucks it up.
♪ Calling out to idiot America ♪
♪ Welcome to a new kind of tension ♪
♪ All across the alien nation ♪
♪ Where everything isn't meant to be okay ♪
♪ Television dreams of tomorrow ♪
♪ We are not the ones meant to follow ♪
♪ For that's enough to argue ♪
I never put so much emotion into any record
like I have into every song that's on American Idiot.
♪ Summer has come and passed ♪
There are times where I feel like I get choked up
and I feel like it's hard to sing the next line
because everything comes from some emotional place
that i've experienced in my life
and it resurfaces every time that I play those songs.
♪ Like my fathers come to pass ♪
♪ Seven years has gone so fast ♪
♪ Wake me up when September ends ♪
It was the first time
I ever wrote about like my father dying.
So when I moved out I was 17,
you know, I started living in warehouses.
My dad died when I was 10, so I said seven years
- as if it was seven years later. - Right.
And then you go to, um, at the end, at the last verse,
- it says 20 years. - Right.
So it's an adult reminiscing about being a young adult.
♪ As my memory rests ♪
♪ But never forgets what I lost ♪
♪ Wake me up when September ends ♪
And it just happened to be September?
Is that when it was?
Yeah, well he passed away in September,
and it's like the whole thing is kind of like that,
it's like the worst month of the year, you know.
I mean for some weird reason, some strange like coincidence,
I mean whether it's like my parent dying or...
To me it was all-it was a 9/11 kind of thing.
That's what resonated for me.
Here's the deal...
When we started really kicking around this idea,
we did not know if Green Day would give us permission
to do the production.
My heart was in my throat a little bit because I thought,
"what if this doesn't work for them?"
When people think of Broadway,
they think of everyone's singing and dancing and life is swell,
and you know, the Rockettes or something like that.
What we're gonna try and do today is map out the harder stuff.
My fear was that it was just gonna be sort of absurd,
and not relatable and corny.
♪ I'm the son of rage and love ♪
♪ The Jesus of suburbia ♪
♪ The Bible of none of the above ♪
♪ On a steady diet of... ♪
At the start of the show
I lead my friends into this catharsis of
"there's gotta be something else out there.
This can't be all there is-
this town that's just sucking us dry."
Note to self...
get me the fuck out of turd town.
Let's start a war shall we?
American Idiot...
I would say 90 percent is sort of based on my life.
I just wanted to get the hell out of my town.
I wanted to leave with reckless abandon.
I didn't car where I ended up,
as long as I saw as much as humanly possible.
And it had nothing to do with where I came from.
That's what I was looking for.
♪ I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies ♪
♪ This is the dawning of the rest of our lives ♪
♪ On holiday ♪
And then break, and we'll just figure out who calls that,
and who makes the break.
In terms of the way that we plan to tell our story
in American Idiot, the closest thing would be opera.
In opera, you're telling your story
through the physical actions and character behavior
that accompanies the singing.
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives.
You're in the city now, so it's like this massive exultation
that you've finally arrived here.
So sing the sh-out of it
and then your bodies should just be like wild and mad.
♪ Sieg heil to the president gasman ♪
♪ Bombs away is your punishment ♪
♪ Pulverize the Eiffel Towers ♪
♪ Who criticize your government ♪
We put the stuff together.
And you never really knew if Green Day
would dig what we're going to do with their material.
It was terrifying and incredibly important
to get Billie Joe's okay on it.
But we didn't see him again for quite a while
because they were touring in Europe.
♪ Starry nights, city lights coming down over me ♪
We started Green Day when I was about 15 years old.
Coming from Berkeley we were always exposed to different politics
where people were really confrontational.
So around 2003,
because of what was happening in the administration
what was going on in the war in Iraq,
we started to take more of a personal stance.
I remember going on this walk and then thinking,
"I'm the son of rage and love, the Jesus of Suburbia".
Those two lines right there for me were,
"Oh my God, here we go".
Those two lines came out and they excited me
and scared the living piss out of me at the same time.
♪ Rage and love, the story of my life ♪
♪ The Jesus of Suburbia is a lie ♪
♪ And screaming Are we we are ♪
I remember cranking that record as loud as it would go,
and really just feeling understood.
For me, coming of age in post 9/11 United States,
there was this sense of sadness and disillusionment.
♪ Everyone's so full of shit ♪
♪ Born and raised by hypocrites ♪
♪ Hearts recycled but never saved ♪
♪ From the cradle to the grave ♪
♪ We are the kids of war and peace ♪
♪ From Anaheim to the Middle East ♪
♪ We are the stories and disciples of ♪
♪ The Jesus of Suburbia ♪
If you really take the time to sit with the lyrics,
they are wonderfully poetic.
I am the king of fuckdom!
Billie is writing about the world of suburbia
and convenience stores, and those things that you grew up with
that you hate so much.
I've never seen a cast connect to their characters
in such a profound way.
These characters are sort of us, extensions of us.
I've gone through those periods of time
where I've just felt this desperate longing
to get out into a bigger world than this.
You just feel like, you know,
you're just sinking in to quicksand.
♪ To fall in love and fall in debt ♪
♪ To alcohol and cigarettes ♪
♪ And Mary Jane to keep me insane ♪
♪ Doing someone else's cocaine ♪
♪ And there's nothing wrong with me ♪
♪ This is how I'm supposed to be ♪
♪ In a a land-♪ Everybody!
♪ That don't believe in me ♪
Whether it has to do with romance or politics,
I'm just trying to figure things out.
A theme of mine, is just, you know, sort of just being...
you know, lost in chaos.
When I came on board,
the question was how do we take this iconic album,
that primarily is sung by one person,
and create characters and stories
for a number of different people.
So after the...
♪ With every breath that I am worth here on Earth... ♪
I love your falsetto.
Me and Barry Gibb.
For example the song "Last Night on Earth"
is going to be this moment
where Johnny and Whatsername
are shooting up on drugs in a very romantic way.
So, already the image of romantically getting high...
was in my head, and I thought, "Well how can we make this...
...how can we make this a trippy love ballad?"
And I was on the train one day and I started thinking about it,
and then I just thought...
...how about a wall of sound, beautiful vocal arrangement,
kind of in the style of the Beach Boys,
these beautiful falsetto harmonies,
just raining down on them.
♪ I text a postcard sent to you ♪
And I remember saying to Michael, I said,
"This is kind of crazy and it's going to take a while for them to learn,
but I promise you, if it sounds anything like my head, it's going to be worth it".
You take turns singing, right?
We put the stuff together and today we have to show Green Day.
Baritones, you guys can really ease up on the volume there.
♪ I walked for miles 'til I found you ♪
With "Last Night on Earth"
they won't know what song it is when we start.
It doesn't have any of the signature chords
or instrumentation.
So when Declan starts singing,
♪ I text a postcard sent to you, did it go through ♪
I think they are going to be like, "Oh my god, that's the song".
Hey, Michael?
We have to get the go-ahead from Green Day
or the show is over.
They're one of the biggest rock bands on the planet.
They're not gonna sign a piece of paper that says,
"Oh yeah, you know,
you seem like a good guy and I liked your play.
So here, go do whatever you want."
They need to make sure
it's something they can really get behind.
Whoo!
This one, um, this is a...
you'll know this song when you hear it.
Okay.
♪ I text a postcard sent to you, did it go through ♪
♪ Sending all my love to you ♪
♪ You are the moonlight of my life, every night ♪
♪ Giving all my love to you ♪
♪ My beating heart belongs to you ♪
♪ I walked for miles 'til I found you ♪
♪ I'm here to honor you ♪
♪ And if I lose everything in the fire ♪
♪ How can I ever make... ♪
♪ it through? ♪
Oh my God!
That's so...
...oh my god that was-that was fucking sick.
That was so good.
That was incredible, that was so good.
I was sitting next to Billie Joe and I was so nervous.
And at the end of it he just grabbed my leg and squeezed,
and told me how beautiful he thought it was, so...
I was happy on two fronts. We're telling our story,
and as importantly, the band is happy.
Man, I mean that's like...
you know I was just-I was floored.
As soon as I was able to hear it that way,
I was completely into it.
I could visualize it. I was like, "Oh, this can work".
I didn't wanna, like, do it without-
Yeah, play with it and then, you know-
I kind of do it like how I did on the record,
which has nothing to do with
the way you guys are gonna do it whatsoever,
but, I mean, that'd be cool.
The band not only gave us permission to do the show,
they've encouraged us with great enthusiasm,
and with a kind of appetite
to hear their songs in a really different way.
Say! Hey!
♪ Hear the sound of the falling rain ♪
♪ Coming down like an armageddon flame ♪
♪ The shame, the ones who died without a name ♪
♪ Here the dogs howling out of key ♪
♪ To a hymn called Faith and Misery ♪
♪ And bleed, the company lost the war today ♪
♪ I bed to dream and differ from the hollow lies ♪
♪ This is the dawning of the rest of our lives ♪
♪ on holiday ♪
The representative from Jingletown has the floor.
♪ Sieg heil to the president gasman ♪
♪ Bombs away is your punishment ♪
♪ Pulverize the Eiffel Towers ♪
♪ Who criticize your government ♪
♪ Bang bang goes the broken glass and ♪
♪ kill all the fags who don't agree ♪
♪ Trials by fire, setting fire ♪
♪ Is not a way that's meant for me ♪
♪ Just 'cause ♪
♪ Just 'cause, because we're outlaws, yeah ♪
♪ This is our lives on holiday ♪
You're just trying to create a vessel for this...
this event to happen inside of.
And to create as much potential for all kinds of action to happen,
whether it's the video action or physical action.
So I made a very large room,
which ultimately became a room of 40 foot walls.
The scene shop has layered in
all the things that we printed digitally,
And now that we're here in the space,
what I want to try to do is make it feel like a real place.
And I always like to say, like giving it its soul.
This one is like Will's room so this is going to get like full of CDs...
What I'm starting to do
is to put things in the nooks and crannies
where the actors will kind of see them as they're living here.
Things that the audience will never see,
but the actors will kind of discover
as they're here and working.
Alright so, um, now why don't we move this square...
We have a team of designers who are all after the same vision.
- They look too clean? - Yeah, just a little clean.
The challenge is to create an image of chaos on stage.
It's like writing a simple song.
You know, "Eleanor Rigby" is a simple song...
but it doesn't mean that you can fucking do it. You know.
There's... you know,
and what Christine Jones does with the set
is almost the same thing.
It's able to go-take you to all these different places,
but what you're looking at is a warehouse full of flyers.
We'll do this one for time from the same place.
♪ I walk this empty street ♪
♪ on the boulevard of broken dreams ♪
♪ Where the city sleeps ♪
♪ And i'm the only one and I walk alone ♪
American Idiot is based on my life
and old friendships.
The story's all about the character, Jesus of Suburbia,
wanting to figure things out and step up and-and-
you know, stand for something he believes in.
It's about learning the hard lessons.
♪ Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me ♪
♪ 'Til then I walk alone ♪
If you study musicals, they talk to you about "I want" songs.
That song at the top of the show
where a character expresses their wants for the evening.
So in terms of this,
I wanted to think about, well, where is that moment?
♪ I want adventure in the great wide somewhere ♪
♪ I want it more than I can say ♪
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is kind of Johnny's "I want" song
we get into his character.
♪ I'm walking down the line ♪
♪ that divides me somewhere in my mind ♪
♪ On the borderline ♪
♪ of the edge and where I walk alone ♪
Your face should be out for the "I" but it could be right on it.
I, you know, okay cool.
i play a character called Whatsername.
And um...
Whatsername is a woman who Johnny meets when he's in the city.
They have an immediate, exciting and sparky energy
with each other.
Okay, hold.
That's good, isn't it?
Johnny primarily sings "Boulevard of Broken Dreams",
but we found a way to bring Whatsername into that song
so we establish the romance at that point.
Awesome, thank you.
♪ I walk alone I walk alone ♪
There's this beautiful melodic line
that the guitars play in the turn around
between chorus and verse.
It's the da nun da nun da nun daaa nun
which I find so evocative,
and I actually took that and I put it in the strings
at the beginning of the song,
because I wanted to really set up that motif
because later on she sings it in the last chorus.
♪ Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me ♪
So we feel their worlds intertwine a little bit.
♪ I walk alone ♪
♪ Ah ah, ah ah, ah ah, ahh ah ♪
♪ My shadow's the only one that walks beside me ♪
♪ My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating ♪
♪ Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me ♪
♪ 'Til then I walk alone ♪
Did it feel a hair too fast just now?
Carmel, are you clicked on that?
Yes.
We can bring the tempo back if you want, a little bit.
Maybe like 2?
What are you clocked at?
159.
Ca we try 157?
♪ She's a rebel, she's a saint ♪
♪ She's the salt of the earth and she's dangerous ♪
♪ She's a rebel, vigilante ♪
So this is what it's supposed to be, and I think it's really good.
♪ From Chicago, to Toronto ♪
♪ She's the one that they call ol' Whatsername ♪
♪ She's a symbol of resistance ♪
♪ And she's holding on my heart like a hand grenade ♪
I always wanted like some form of community.
So if we could just do that each time.
To have that in the rock world is rare.
Same power strokes but just doing all downstrokes?
Oh, okay, yeah, play all the downstrokes just on that
♪ da da da daa da da da da da da bum ♪
- Do you have Facebook? - Yeah.
I've just kind of seen that world for the first time.
It's terrifying. It is weird, man.
Billie Joe is so famous and he is so careful
to protect his family from so many people
who want a piece of him...
I'm lucky to have a cellphone right now.
...that he's really carved out a very private life
for himself and his family.
And you can't have that and be involved in a show.
The minute you're in a show,
you are part of that extended family,
for good or bad. For both, right?
- Billie, is that right? - He's right.
Bon appetite.
I haven't experienced that sort of camaraderie with-you know-
with people and making friends like that in a long time.
Everyone was on the same level.
Like, there was one night,
people started picking things up and jamming,
and then all of a sudden we started playing.
And then Adrienne had the photo booth also.
And so there was bonding going on...
pretty wild bonding going on in that booth.
I think it just grew from there.
♪ She's an extraordinary girl ♪
♪ in an ordinary world ♪
♪ And she can't seem to get away ♪
Any audience normally observe only a quarter of the playing space,
and there's three quarters from their heads
that go up to the top.
I wanted to make sure that was part of our playing space
and not to kind of rule that area out.
Pop back is on the two of that fourth bar.
♪ She's all alone again ♪
♪ wiping the tears from her eyes ♪
I thought it was going to be easier.
I was like, "Oh, I can do this. This is easy, this is nothing."
But... I don't know.
♪ From the one called Whatsername ♪
♪ She's all alone again ♪
It's difficult because not only am I flying,
but i'm also singing.
♪ Some days he feels like dying ♪
But it's my job to show comfort so we can deliver the story.
Because it's not about the flying, it's about the story.
♪ She's an extraordinary girl ♪
Because all of the material has already been written
and is being sung,
we can't really change what they're saying.
Johnny's walking through New York...
So we had to figure out how to plot out a real story
and make them three dimensional characters.
Johnny is the vulnerable one that gets...
never had a family.
Michael Mayer saw something in what I do
that no one has ever really been able to make sense of.
Not in the rock world.
Whatsername... I always wish Whatsername had a name.
And so I just trusted him.
I knew what he was doing was-was cool.
5, 6, 7, go, 1...
We kept working to make the story clear
through the choreography.
Soft.
Steven had an idea
that the chorus in "When September Ends"
would do a kind of ballistic searching for slumber
almost under the stage floor,
and it was thrilling to watch.
♪ 20 years has gone so fast ♪
But when we put it all together
it became very clear that it was almost too much.
And it was taking away from the simplicity of the story
of these three guys.
Yeah, I think I wanted to put all the whistles and bells on it,
and actually when we watched the whole thing
there's literally a moment that described everything.
And as long as we held on to that moment,
right in front of us, the nugget of the sequence,
everything else was able to fall away.
We've ended up with a version
that's got more stillness than anything else,
which is the last thing I thought it would have.
But working on it over the-over the weeks
and then looking at the whole show...
it's one of the pieces that I'm most excited about.
♪ She puts her makeup on ♪
♪ like graffiti on the walls of the heartland ♪
♪ She's got a little book of conspiracies right in her hand ♪
♪ She is paranoid ♪
♪ Endangered species heading into extinction ♪
♪ She is one of a kind ♪
♪ Well she's the last of the American girls ♪
♪ She's a rebel ♪
When you're doing a new show,
it's really important that you try it out somewhere
before you bring it to New York.
Who do you have coming tonight?
I got my mom, and my sister...
What you wanna do is give yourself an opportunity
to put a show on its feet with full production values
and learn what you can.
Put your damn top on!
You want to make sure it's the cast that you want.
You wanna work the kinks out.
Oh shit my nails aren't dry!
And you wanna try it out in front of an audience.
I usually am angry
when the audience comes for the first time.
I'm like, you know, I've been having a great time
here in rehearsal,
and now you're going to come with all your opinions...
so I'm like, "fuck, the audience is coming."
Sound bright! 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8...
But I don't feel that way at all.
I just can't wait to, like, just to get them there
and like, see what happens.
You know what? I have no idea what's going to happen
or what it's going to be like.
and so that's incredibly- that's incredibly thrilling.
So just like, bring it. Come on, fuckers. What?
♪ Don't wanna be an American idiot ♪
Go. Lights 10, go. Lights 11, go.
By opening night at the Berkeley Repertory Theater,
the story that we had was 3 guys in a shitty little suburb
decide that they're going to get out.
So i lead my friends into a farewell to our little town.
♪ Everyone's so full of shit ♪
♪ Born and raised by hypocrites ♪
♪ Hearts recycled but never saved ♪
♪ from the cradle to the grave ♪
♪ We are the kids of war and peace ♪
♪ From Anaheim to the Middle East ♪
♪ We are the stories and disciples of ♪
♪ The Jesus of Suburbia ♪
We're all getting ready to leave...
Will's girlfriend is pregnant...
I'm like "fuck".
She's like "oops, we have this problem".
♪ I don't feel any shame, I won't apologize ♪
♪ When there ain't nowhere you can go ♪
So I end up having to stay at home.
♪ When you've been victimized ♪
♪ Tales from nother broken... ♪
♪ Home! You're leaving, you're leaving ♪
Tunny gets to go,
but Will is trapped in his suburban wasteland.
♪ I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies ♪
♪ This is the dawning of the rest of our lives ♪
We turn the scaffolding into a bus and we tip it over
And head off to the big city.
♪ This is our lives on holiday ♪
Johnny takes to the city like a troubadour.
He meets up with Saint Jimmy.
12 34!
Saint Jimmy is basically
everything Johnny kind of wishes he was.
♪ My name is Jimmy and you'd better not wear it out ♪
♪ Suicide commando that your momma talked about ♪
♪ King of the 40 thieves I'm here to represent ♪
♪ The needle in the vein of the establishment ♪
He's this rush of adrenaline,
whether it's through drugs or sex.
When Johnny meets Whatsername,
their relationship is just wild and sexual.
♪ I text a postcard sent to you ♪
♪ did it go through ♪
♪ Sending all my love to you ♪
But then Saint Jimmy starts to ruin him through drugs.
Meanwhile, Tunny has gone down to Times Square
and enlisted.
♪ Ah, Novacaine ♪
He gets shipped off to the Middle East,
and he loses a leg in battle.
Michael really stuck to the heart of the album
and then he created new characters.
I find all of those characters very relatable.
Those people remind me of my friends
and they remind me of myself.
At the end of the show Johnny has gotten off drugs
and comes home clean and sober.
♪ Home, we're coming home again ♪
Tunny has come back without a leg
but with a loving girlfriend.
And Will finally tries to initiate a relationship
with his ex-girlfriend and their child.
♪ And in the darkest night ♪
♪ If my memory serves me right ♪
♪ I'll never turn back time ♪
♪ Forgetting you but not the time ♪
It's not Norman Rockwell.
This is a portrait of America today.
They knocked it out of the park as they say.
It was amazing.
We've had a month and a half of rehearsals for this,
so we were really ready for tonight.
Um, but having a crowd that was on board with us like that
is a phenomenal feeling.
It's always a little bit like, "Ohhh" you know,
"please, please like it" and part of me is like,
"you know what, we're making a piece of art.
We're putting it out there to the world,
If we love it, if we believe in it, that's what matters."
I'm hoping the future is Broadway,
which is something I've never touched.
I've never been on Broadway before,
so this would be huge.
I felt sort of validated as a song writer,
my melodies felt validated.
You know, people don't really talk about these things
like that in the rock world so much,
that, you know, it's either a good song or it's a bad song,
or it's-you know, does it rock?
Is there a riff? Where's the hook?
Where's the blah blah blah blah?
Here we go.
When Tom Kitt put his spin on it
we were able to sort of create sort of a dialogue
I think I've been waiting to have my entire life.
So after we yanked Billie Joe into our world,
he turns around and invites us...
into the world of Green Day.
Fuck.
The cast was in Berkeley doing the show every single day
and playing "21 Guns" every day.
We were on tour playing "21 guns" at the same time.
So we said, "Well, why don't we just do this thing together?
Like-like let's do a recording."
The challenge with "21 Guns"
is that it has so many different layers to it.
So we had to keep track of how they're supposed to fit
when we were recording one at a time.
♪ Do you know what's worth fighting for ♪
♪ When it's not worth dying for ♪
♪ Does it take your breath away ♪
♪ And you feel yourself suffocating ♪
♪ Does the pain weigh out the pride ♪
♪ And you look for a place to hide ♪
For me recording and producing is...
it's psychological.
♪ You're in ruins ♪
Cool. One more.
Alright, let's do one more, Rebecca.
♪ Did you try to live on your own? ♪
You have to wait for the person
to get in their comfort zone.
One more!
♪ When you burned down the house and home ♪
One more.
♪ Did you stand too close to the fire ♪
Yep, that's it. Do it again.
♪ Like a liar looking for forgiveness... ♪
And then all of a sudden, she's got a voice
that can bring you down to your knees.
♪ from a stone ♪
Yeah, nice.
Sorry, my heart is beating faster than...
Take a deep breath.
Awesome. Just relax.
♪ One, 21 guns ♪
♪ Lay down your arms ♪
♪ Give up the fight ♪
God damn. She sounds so good.
♪ 21 guns ♪
♪ throw up your arms into the sky ♪
♪ You and I ♪
Wow.
- Hey, Christina? - Yes?
Just simple, like, rhythmically, you and I,
you're sort of holding on the note a little bit.
- Okay. - Yeah, just go right into it.
Okay, great. Maybe I should stop clenching my fist.
I'm like holding on to every note.
- That might help, too. - That might help, yeah.
♪ From a stone ♪
♪ When it's time to live and let die ♪
♪ And you can't get another try ♪
♪ Something inside this heart has died ♪
♪ You're in ruins ♪
♪ Your in ruins ♪
♪ One, 21 guns ♪
Look at him!
♪ throw up your arms into the sky ♪
♪ You and I ♪
That was awesome.
Except can we do one without sunglasses?
I don't think we're there yet, Billie.
The new arrangement of "21 Guns"
made me sort of re- fall in love with the song.
you know, I think some of these versions are-
are better than what we recorded.
♪ She outs her makeup on ♪
♪ like graffiti on the walls of the heartland ♪
When the Grammys
asked Green Day to perform at the show,
Billie Joe immediately said, "well, I want to do it with my cast."
- Here they are. - Hey.
It's the Grammy party.
- Grammy party's up in the air. - Grammy party!
I thought your hair might be down, and sort of like that.
♪ She is one of a kind ♪
♪ She's the last of the American girls ♪
It's a little too much fabric, though.
Oh, yes!
You're a firebird.
Oh my god, this is the Grammy outfit!
When we opened at Berkeley,
there was a lot of interest in bringing the show to New York.
And so, we are at the Grammys
and we find out that we're definitely going to Broadway.
So not only do we get to perform with Green Day,
on the Grammy Awards,
we get to actually say that we're gonna be on Broadway.
- This is nuts. - Yeah, it's crazy.
Show 'em your talent, buddy. Show 'em your talent.
I don't know if you guys have done award show thing
or anything close to it, but it's like...
kinda basically playing to cameras
more than it is playing to the crowd,
'cause everybody's a fucking zombie.
Like they're all-everyone's nominated,
like white knuckling it the whole time,
you know, like.
So that's one thing we figured out a long time ago.
In the beginning, three punks created a rock masterpiece
called "American Idiot".
Their dreams live on,
and "American Idiot" has become a stage musical
about to hit Broadway in a big way this March.
Here to set off 21 guns together,
the cast of American Idiot and Green Day.
♪ do you know what's worth fighting for ♪
♪ When it's not worth dying for ♪
♪ Does it take your breath away ♪
♪ And you feel yourself suffocating ♪
♪ Does the pain weigh out the pride ♪
♪ And you look for a place to hide ♪
♪ Did someone break your heart inside ♪
♪ You're in ruins ♪
♪ One, 21 guns ♪
♪ Lay down your arms, give up the fight ♪
♪ One, 21 guns ♪
♪ Throw up your arms into the sky ♪
♪ You and I ♪
♪ When you're at the end of the road ♪
♪ and you've lost all sense of control ♪
♪ And your thoughts have taken their toll ♪
♪ When your mind breaks the spirit of your soul ♪
♪ Your faith walks on broken glass ♪
♪ And the hangover doesn't pass ♪
♪ Nothing's ever built to last ♪
♪ You're in ruins ♪
♪ One, 21 guns ♪
♪ Lay down your arms give up the fight ♪
♪ One, 21 guns ♪
♪ Throw up your arms into the sky ♪
♪ You and I ♪
♪ Did you ♪
♪ Did you try to live on your own ♪
♪ When you ♪
♪ When you burned down the house and home ♪
♪ Did you ♪
♪ Did you stand too close to the fire ♪
♪ Like a liar looking for forgiveness... ♪
♪ From a stone ♪
There's something about a Broadway musical
that is magical.
♪ And you can't get another try ♪
As jaded as we might get in this profession,
there's something about hearing the words,
"your show is going to Broadway"
that is just an undeniable thrill.
♪ One, 21 guns ♪
♪ Lay down your arms give up the fight ♪
♪ One, 21 guns ♪
♪ Throw up your arms into the sky ♪
♪ One, 21 guns ♪
♪ Throw up your arms into the sky ♪
♪ you and I ♪
♪ Nobody likes you, everyone left you ♪
♪ They're all out without you ♪
♪ Having fun ♪
We don't know what to call it.
It's not an opera really,
and it's definitely not your parents' Broadway musical.
So I don't know how-how it's gonna go down.
The thing I was worried about
is I wanted to make sure people had open minds.
When you're bringing your family to go see something,
on Broadway,
it's hard to kind of go,
"now, do I feel like being challenged right now?
Or do I want like, um...
a nice little fairy tale?"
American Idiot is like... it's a cold reality.
- Hi. - Yes, yes yes yes.
I skyped with Hoggett this morning.
He sends all his love,
he's "gutted" not to be here. He's just "gutted".
But I described to him basically
the adjustments that Lorin and I are making,
and he thinks that all sounds great.
So gear up.
What will be required
will be even more than what was required prior.
Here we go.
♪ I lost my faith to this ♪
As soon as the Grammys are over,
we are starting up right away.
Everything about this day is so fucked.
What else is fucked?
There's an incredible amount of stress.
It's Broadway,
and so you really are under the microscope.
What we found in Berkeley
was that we had a lot to do, still, to improve the story.
Saint Jimmy!
As well as the staging, and the choreography,
and the arrangements.
Casting is a gigantic part of it.
♪ Beating out of time ♪
Billie and I wanted someone
who had a kind of all-American nature,
even though the character of Tunny
has become very pissed off and aggressive and hostile.
Hey Stark! Stark and Johnny!
The most important thing for you, is that the subtext
is mother-fucking land of make be-motherfucking-lieve.
Do you know what I mean? Don't worry about the steps,
just plug in to what that energy is.
♪ We are the kids of war and peace ♪
♪ From Anaheim to the Middle East ♪
♪ We are the stories and disciples of ♪
♪ The Jesus of Suburbia ♪
♪ Land of make believe ♪
♪ And it don't believe in me ♪
♪ Land of make believe ♪
♪ And I don't believe ♪
♪ I don't care ♪
It's a trip to see your life experiences
being interpreted on stage.
Let's start a war, shall we!
So don't think about when you're here,
as you turn around here.
There's Tunny, in his naïve way.
So that first step is commitment.
♪ Drain the pressure from the swelling ♪
And then there's Will.
The guy who wasn't really quite ready to be a grown-up.
You know, I've learned that lesson the hard way.
♪ Give me a long kiss goodnight ♪
♪ And everything will be alright ♪
Can I give you some other things to think about?
Yes, absolutely.
And Johnny with all of his wanting to stand for something
that he believes in.
♪ Saint Jimmy's comin' down across the alleyway ♪
And then gets blindsided by himself.
♪ Comin' at you on the count of 1, 2 ♪
1, 2, 3, 4!
And Saint Jimmy's just-
he's just a bad motherfucker.
♪ My name is Jimmy and you'd better not wear it out ♪
♪ Suicide commando that your momma talked about ♪
Saint Jimmy is part of myself.
♪ The needle in the vein of the establishment ♪
You know, everyone's got their demons.
Like, we're all creatures of habit.
It's hard to shake that stuff off.
Yow!
Billie Joe, just like all of us, has his dark side...
Saint Jimmy!
...the side that's self destructive, manipulative,
charismatic but dangerous to himself and to others.
♪ My name is Saint Jimmy, I'm a son of a gun ♪
♪ I'm the one that's from the way outside now ♪
There's a parallel between, you know,
me going to New York for the show
and what happened in American Idiot.
♪ I really hate to say it but I told you so ♪
♪ So shut your mouth before I shoot you down 'ol boy ♪
But this time, it's almost like a second chance
to do it the right way.
Everybody!
♪ It's Saint Jimmy ♪
♪ And that's my name ♪
♪ Give my regards to Broadway ♪
♪ Remember me to...
Is that right?
♪ Ba ba ba ba ba ♪
♪... and tell them I'll be there 'ere long ♪
- Right? - I'll be there 'ere long?
I think that's what it is.
- We gotta look this up. - Yeah, look it up.
I love the Saint James theater.
It's got such a fantastic feeling when you walk in.
There's something grand about it.
Give my regards to ol' Broadway
and say that I'll be there 'ere long.
You have the gorgeous ornate architecture inside,
and the décor, and then there's American Idiot.
I love that juxtaposition.
We were watching TV on tour, and Mike goes,
"How do you know this shit?"
And I was like,
"I learned it when I was a little kid".
♪ Isn't it rich? ♪
♪ Aren't we a pair? ♪
♪ Me here at last on the ground ♪
♪ You in mid-air ♪
♪ Send in the clowns ♪
When I was a little kid,
from the ages of like 4 and a half, until I was about 14,
I took, like, vocal lessons.
But I never told any of my friends,
Like I-because it was-it was just something that I did.
And I was just learning music, and you know,
maybe it wasn't the most masculine thing, or whatever, in the world.
♪ Why can't they be like we were ♪
♪ Perfect in every way ♪
♪ What's the matter with kids today? ♪
My mom would take me around
and sing, like, at convalescent hospitals.
And I would sing anything from like Frank Sinatra,
Al Jolson, George M. Cohen.
It would just be like stuff this woman, Mrs. Favarone,
she would teach me, and I didn't...
I think it just kinds got ingrained in my head.
I wonder if that has had some impact,
it must have, in the way that you write songs...
You take a song like "Wake me Up When September Ends"
which is the... you know, one of the penultimate moment of the show,
one of the penultimate moments of the album,
you know, and this progression...
...which, you know, is so beautiful,
and feels to me like Chorus Line, "What I Did for Love".
Yeah. Wow, that's a good one.
And then you have this major to minor, which you know.
"Love is Here to Stay", too, does that major to minor.
So it's-it is, all I mean it's melodic and it's major to minor,
it's the-it's the-
it comes certainly from this whole tradition.
Well I think album making,
or the art of it for me, is like, that it takes you on a ride,
and the songs speak to each other.
Okay that's a stretch.
That's bad.
I don't know how to explain how Billie Joe and I,
who come from such different worlds,
manage to have such a fruitful collaboration.
To me what's so interesting
is it's that Tin Pan Alley stuff.
I think it's because both of us, at our hearts,
are entertainers.
- So it's not just about drugs. - Yeah.
'Cause here, it's such a metaphor,
that he became that kind of...
In my rock world,
things get so competitive, that sometimes it's a-
you get into a mode where people become discouraging.
This was just a different feeling.
It was almost-people were-
you know, I don't want to over-romanticize about it,
but it was-everybody was sort of encouraging each other,
and... you know, it's just-it's New York, it's not like-
it's not some bullshit Hollywood crap, you know.
The whole theatre thing is really seductive,
and it's just inspiring too.
♪ I left my blood like bullets over Broadway ♪
Every day I had this discipline ritual
where I would just write about anything.
It doesn't matter what it's about.
It doesn't have to even make sense.
♪ With broken legs and roses over New York ♪
I would just write something. It would be 30 seconds,
it would be 40 seconds, it would be two minutes.
I just had this momentum of just, like, writing songs.
And I would do that during the day,
and then I would end up going to the show at night.
♪ In my own private suicide ♪
I just felt like a sponge.
I just kind of sucked everything up.
So, what I'm gonna do
is look at swapping you guys out.
I just want to make sure it doesn't translate
as he's the father.
Today's our final rehearsal.
♪ Nobody's perfect and I stand accused ♪
We're going to do all of our last little picky notes
or try new things for the last time.
What would be better is if you were up here-ish.
- ...ballet thing. - Uh huh.
From "Jimmy died today".
I don't think it should be busy. No.
Will! Okay, hold.
So Carmel, we're gonna make a small adjustment.
So it'll be "Oh shit, this is my life." Bam bam-
as opposed to a question.
Oh shit, this is my life.
♪ I'm the son of rage and love ♪
Hold there.
Can we have the cast in the house please?
Full cast in the house, please.
The time has come. The show is now yours,
so fly with it.
It's in-we're in spectacular shape.
I couldn't be prouder of it.
It's such a weird feeling because since, you know,
since the beginning we've been working and working
and shifting things and finding it.
Um... but um...
we found it and it's fantastic.
♪ I got a rock and roll band ♪
♪ I got a rock and roll life ♪
♪ I got a rock and roll girlfriend ♪
♪ And another ex-wife ♪
♪ I got a kid in New York ♪
♪ I got a kid in the Bay ♪
♪ I haven't drank or smoked nothin' in over 22 days ♪
♪ So get off of my case ♪
♪ Off of my case ♪
I'm here to welcome you to the Gypsy robe ceremony
for the opening night on Broadway,
of American Idiot!
Everyone who's making their Broadway debut tonight
come here to the center of the stage.
The Gypsy robe tradition began in 1950
when a chorus dancer in "Gentlemen Prefer Blonds"
sent a dressing robe to the Imperial Theater
where "Call me Madam" was opening
with a note proclaiming the robe had been worn
by all the Ziegfeld beauties and would bless their show.
the Gypsy robe is awarded to a member of the chorus
who has the most Broadway musical chorus credits.
The honored gypsy puts on the robe,
circles the stage three times counter-clockwise,
and the show is blessed.
Yeah!!
It will be our pleasure
to see the Gypsy robe for American Idiot
presented to Andrew Call.
Congratulations!
I always looked at Broadway
as being some sort of impossible dream.
It is my goal, it is my dream,
and I'm living it right now.
It feels so good.
These actors, they put so much passion and heart
into what they're doing.
I heard Liza Minnelli is coming tonight.
Oh you punk kids were just terrific!
I loved what you were doing-all that stomping around on stage,
it was simply inspired.
I woke up today thinking, "Okay, it;s just another show,
it's just another show."
But it's not just another show.
It's American Idiot! On Broadway, you know?
It was really strange to see Donald Trump.
I was like, "what the fuck are you doing here? Really?"
In 3, 2, 1...
Green Day is used to the stage, but now they're coming to Broadway.
I am Ann Craig. Coming up, I'm taking you
inside their brand new musical American Idiot.
It's showtime.
Did you ever think you'd get here?
Uh...
I've been working for this for 30 years...
I hoped I would make it.
The application of eye shadow
is a very very delicate procedure.
We all believe in it so much...
But um...
I've never felt so lucky in my entire life.
You deserve it, man.
Thanks. Thanks.
Opening night, baby!
It's gunmetal grey. I had to.
I love boys, they're stupid!
I don't know what to expect.
It's kind of helpful to be like, "I can handle it".
I'm saying this now I'm thinking,
"Okay, you're definitely jinxing yourself right now."
And now we're at 15 minutes.
It's time to unleash this on New York.
Let's do it.
1, 2, 3, it's fucktime!
♪ Don't wan an be an American Idiot ♪
♪ Don't want a nation under the new media ♪
♪ Hey, can you hear the sound of hysteria ♪
♪ The subliminal mindfuck America ♪
The reaction was amazing.
One hard-core Green Day fan is like, "Oh my god."
I go, "It's not what you thought it was gonna be was it?"
He was like, "Not at all."
And then I heard someone say, "I guess this was inspired
by a rock band or something like that."
I mean they had no clue what Green Day was,
and that was really exciting,
because it was reaching a whole new audience.
Amazing performances,
incredible energy,
not like anything else on Broadway.
My next guests star in the acclaimed new Broadway musical
based on the Green Day album of the same name.
From the looks of things tonight, I can tell you
this show is going to attract a whole new crowd
right here on Broadway.
Okay, here's the deal, and this is the honest to god truth,
I don't read the reviews. I really don't.
American Idiot is getting
- phenomenal reviews. - Great reviews.
I know that we got some ecstatic notices.
Almost the best thing I've seen on Broadway.
And some notices that were carping about this or that.
But I will say the audience response was over the top.
It was crazy.
It was wild. Uh...
You know, I would just-all that electricity, that excitement,
and sort of everything felt like it was on fire.
Billie Joe went from being moderately interested,
to getting more intrigued...
to becoming passionate
about what the whole Broadway vibe was.
So by the time I suggested to him
that my secret dream
was that someday he would play Saint Jimmy...
he couldn't-I-I saw a little light...
behind his eyes, a flicker of excitement.
He said, "Oh really? You think so?"
I'm like, "Uh-huh."
And the next day he called and said,
"Oh my god, are you serious about this? I'm shitting."
♪ My name is Saint Jimmy I'm a son of a gun ♪
♪ I'm the one that's from the way outside now ♪
♪ A teenage assassin executing some fun ♪
♪ In the cult of the life of crime now ♪
The first day I rehearsed, Michael goes,
"Oh, there's something I forgot to tell you.
This is going to be really awkward at first."
And it was really awkward.
Don't look at the girls until the scream.
Okay.
Just be focused on him.
They don't even penetrate your consciousness.
I was really really nervous
about whether I could do it at all.
Here we go, ready?
He didn't want the press to come,
he didn't want people to talk about it.
It was absolutely hush hush.
Do you mind? Just for me to see it again.
So we'd sneak him into a theater
where we would rehearse.
See how cool that looks?
She does that all in one. You stop yourself.
She's a professional dancer.
Are you asleep?
I was nervous about acting in general,
you know, like, the silent moments,
the stillness in parts.
I'm not used to doing that at all.
It's dead silent and your brain's going brrrrr you know...
"stay still, don't say anything."
You know, that part was hard.
He was freaked out. He didn't know if he'd be any good.
Is life imitating me or is rage imitating life?
I feel like a civil war, like a knife in the heart!
I've got an axe to grind and it's splitting my head open!
No friends, no girls!
I need both!
♪ Saint Jimmy's com in' down across the alleyway ♪
♪ Up on the boulevard like a zip gun on parade ♪
♪ Light of a silhouette he's insubordinate ♪
♪ Comin' at you on the count of 1, 2 ♪
1, 2, 3, 4!
♪ My name is Jimmy and you better not wear it out ♪
♪ Suicide commando that your momma talked about ♪
♪ King of the 40 thieves I'm here to represent ♪
♪ The needle in the vein of the establishment ♪
♪ I'm the patron saint of the denial ♪
♪ With an angel face and a taste for suicidal ♪
Whoa!
♪ Cigarettes and ramen and a little bag of dope ♪
♪ I am the son of a bitch and Edgar Allan Poe ♪
♪ Raised in the city in the halo of lights ♪
♪ Product of war and fear that we've been victimized ♪
♪ I'm the patron saint of the denial ♪
♪ With an angel face and a taste for suicidal ♪
I'll give you something to cry about!
Saint Jimmy!
In the old days, coming from sort of an underground scene,
there was a lot of bands that you would watch
that were your friends' bands and things like that.
You know, everyone would sort of feed off each other,
and have fun, but at the same time be, you know, learning.
Once Green Day took off, we started losing that.
We were losing friends, which is fine,
you know, it's like, you only need a few.
But it's um... it's uh...
it gets, um... it just became difficult
to sort of find, um, kindred spirits in that way
♪ We are the world ♪
Which charity is this for?
Mine!
When the cast came along I started to feel it again
and Ive always wanted that.
I've always been, almost-almost naïve about it,
where I wanted to make those kinds of relationships...
Did we get it? Did we get it?
and it didn't happen in rock and roll music.
It happened in theatre.
That's the thing that sort of, uh, blindsided me.
♪ My name is Saint jimmy I'm a son of a gun ♪
♪ I'm the one that's from the way outside now ♪
♪ A teenage assassin executing some fun ♪
♪ In the cult of the life of crime now ♪
♪ I really hate to say it but I told you so ♪
♪ So shut your mouth before I shoot you down ol' boy ♪
♪ Welcome to the club and give me some blood ♪
♪ I'm the resident leader of the lost and found ♪
♪ It's comedy and tragedy ♪
♪ It's Saint Jimmy ♪
♪ And that's my name ♪
And don't wear it out!
Did I tell ya how many times I've been reprimanded for...
- That was the best. - For bad behavior.
I know.
One night I grabbed a bottle of whiskey and took a sip of it.
And then- and then um...
and I remember you going-you were like,
"You can't do that." - Right.
You know, it was like, "note", and it was like my notes was,
"Don't get bottle of whiskey and bring it one stage."
Then the naked cowboy happened,
and then everything was off to the races.
And then another time,
I ran out and grabbed a bunch of Twizzlers,
and I threw it at the whole crowd,
and they were like "yeah!"
I was like, "Oh, that was pretty cool."
And then...
and then all of a sudden,
here comes Tom Hulce walking back and he was like-
he goes, "Um... you... um...
there's this thing going on on the stage
and um... it's...
you can't run off of it because it's...
it's really disruptive to what's happening on stage."
And I go,
"So, you don't want me to throw Twizzlers at people anymore?"