The music is by Green Day. The set features 36 televisions, “crazy moving lights” and scenery that sometimes become other things, actress Kennedy Caughell says, plus aerial artists on the song “Extraordinary Girl.” And the tour of “American Idiot” stops at the Walton Arts Center for four shows this weekend.
Nominated for the 2010 Tony Award for Best Musical, “American Idiot” is based around music from Green Day’s album of the same name.
Caughell, who plays the role of Heather in the touring production, says Green Day originally envisioned a storyline with the album and was approached about making a musical.
The group was involved in all the processes that would suit their artistic visions for the concept album, she adds.
The show is told through the viewpoint of a character named Johnny (Alex Nee) and is focused on him and his friends Tunny (Thomas Hettrick) and Will (Casey O’Farrell). They are stuck in a town and not really going anywhere until Johnny obtains three bus tickets to New York, Caughell says.
They all decide to go, but Will then chooses to stay after discovering that he got his girlfriend pregnant. After arriving in New York, Tunny gets involved in the U.S. Army and goes off to war, and Johnny gets involved in drugs and meets a girl called Whatsername, who becomes the love of his life, she says. Tunny is injured in the war and ends up falling in love with his nurse. Meanwhile, Heather and Will have their own problems when the baby comes, she adds.
They all eventually come back to their hometown and see each other for the first time in years. After being thrown around by life, they realize “at least I had an adventure,” she says.
Caughell, 23, says her character Heather is like “the hometown punk rock princess.” She lives a sheltered life until she discovers she is pregnant andthen has to grow up fast.
“She decides to keep the baby, and she gives up her future plans.”
Heather is a young mother who had her sexual awakening and then “had life come crashing down around her,” Caughell says. The actress, who is originally from Bartlesville, Okla., says she tries to bring her own stubbornness and strength to the character because that’s what helps Heather get through the hard times.
She goes off to find herself, her inner strength and how to depend on herself, she adds.
The show features all the songs from the “American Idiot” album. Some of these are the title track, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” “Letterbomb,” and “Wake Me Up When September Ends.” There are also other Green Day songs in the show such as “When It’s Time,” “21 Guns,” and “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).”
Caughell performs “Letterbomb,” “Last Night on Earth” and “Favorite Son.” She says “Letterbomb” is “a female empowerment rage number” and is really fun. She adds that this song and “Favorite Son” are “jampacked full of energy.”
Caughell was age 6 or 7 when she decided to get involved in musical theater after seeing “Annie” on Broadway.
“I was just kind of bit by the bug,” she says.
She loves the power of musical theater to either change the world or let people escape from it.
Whats Up, Pages 16 on 04/26/2013