Staff photo / Andy Gray
Harmon Andrews, left, is St. Jimmy and Demitri McMinn plays Johnny in the musical “American Idiot,” built around the music of Green Day.
CHAMPION — Give credit to director Shiloh Hart for putting her own stamp on “American Idiot.”
The musical built around the music of Green Day opened Thursday for the first of eight performances at Kent State University at Trumbull, and this production is filled with creative ideas and approaches to the material and boundless energy.
The original staging relied heavily on television monitors and technology to tell the story of three suburban friends and the personal demons they battle — two of them when they venture to the big city and one when he stays behind after getting his girlfriend pregnant.
I saw the national tour a decade ago during its brief run in Cleveland. Despite loving the album that provides the musical its title and most of its songs, it doesn’t really work as a theater piece, and removing the sensory overload of the video screens exposes even more how indebted it is to another rock musical. But by comparison, “American Idiot” definitely is low “Rent.”
Hart’s approach puts more focus on the performers than the spectacle and makes its Jingletown USA setting feel as if it could be a Mahoning Valley suburb. Costume designer Carolyn Colley’s choice to put many of the actors in T-shirts for area bands and improv troupes adds to that effect.
The band is the driving engine of Kent-Trumbull’s production. Music director Rosie Bresson (on keyboards) along with DJ DePanicis and Jason Vuksanovich, guitars; Dave Wolbert, bass; and Jesse DeLorenzo, drums, give the music the rock / punk edge it needs and propel the action.
At times the band might have had too much horsepower. Even in the intimate theater, headset microphones were a must for the actors. Some lyrics still were hard to understand, complicated by static / connection issues that marred some of the early songs.
Hart and choreographer Makenna Liller Dahman also keep the show in constant motion, and those dance moves feel more intricate than community theater productions often attempt, and not just by those primarily cast as dancers. Nearly all of the cast members appear as if they feel comfortable executing their moves, which is another rarity.
That made the numbers that featured most or all of the cast — Demitri McMinn, Keith Stepanic, Paul Dahman, Harmon Andrews, McKenna Lago, Jojo Garcia, Bethany Yamaner, Carly DelliQuadri, Trudi Herrholz, Dakota Smith, Nate Chapline, Cadence Treich, Emma Woodyard, Steve Brown, Erica Hays, Kailey Meehan and Katie Kurdziel — among the show’s strongest, such as the title number that opens the musical, “Holiday,” and the support provided to Stepanic’s stellar lead vocals on “We Are the Waiting.”
“St. Jimmy,” led by McMinn and Andrews was another standout.
Green Day songs aren’t easy to sing, especially for musical theater voices. There were some rough notes on opening night, with arguably the show’s best known song, “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” being the one that missed the mark the most.
But the enthusiasm of the cast and the inventiveness of the creative team go a long way toward overcoming those flaws.
If you go …
WHAT: “American Idiot”
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday through July 28
WHERE: Kent State University at Trumbull Theatre, 4314 Mahoning Ave. NW, Champion
HOW MUCH: Tickets are $20 for adults, $17 for students and senior citizens and $15 for children ages 12 and younger and are available online at www.kent.edu/trumbull/theatre and by calling 330-675-8887.