Last night at the St. James Theater, I saw the relatively new Broadway musical “American Idiot,” developed from the 2004 album of the same name by the punk band Green Day. (Just recently it won a Grammy award for “Best Musical Show Album.”) The lead singer of Green Day, Billie Joe Armstrong, who wrote the book for the show, played “St. Jimmy,” and there seemed to be a strong showing of Green Day fans in the audience. This was one of the most youthful Broadway audiences I’ve ever seen, and this was the first Broadway musical I’ve attended where some audience members were singing along with several of the songs (although a bit quietly), which I found both sweet and distracting. One of the few punk gestures of noncomformity to be found.

Here is a short introduction to the musical, with the opening number and some commentary from the director Michael Mayer and from Armstrong.

I don’t want to give away too much of the details of the plot for those who might yet see it (although if you want a barebones overview, check out the show’s Wiki page here). But this show confirmed for me that the overlay of rock and theology is far from dead in popular culture; this rock musical was replete with religious imagery, gesture, and

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Last night, I saw American Idiot, the new Broadway musical inspired by punk-pop band Green Day. Review coming soon.