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21CB: The Musical


Davey Elmer

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Hi, all. After falling in love with the American Idiot musical, I decided to try and apply my creative writing skills to adapting 21st Century Breakdown into a musical, and although I'm still very much in the early stages, I thought I'd share my thoughts and the process with other GD fans.

The first thing I thought of when trying to craft a more concrete narrative for the album was to center the story around social rebellion and unrest, with Christian and Gloria (and some new characters) getting caught up in a semi-apocalyptic collapse of society, which led me to come up with the following 'set-list' (it's still very raw and isn't in any set order yet, so comments and suggestions would be welcomed):

Song of the Century

Warning

99 Revolutions

21st Century Breakdown

Viva la Gloria

Before the Lobotomy (minus the parts that were used in AI)

Christian's Inferno

East Jesus Nowhere

Peacemaker

Murder City

Little Girl

Restless Heart Syndrome

Horseshoes and Handgrenades

The Static Age

American Eulogy

See the Light

A Quick One, While He's Away

That's All Right

Like a Rolling Stone

Another State of Mind

Hearts Collide

Lights Out

Minority

Olivia

Drama Queen

Nice Guys Finish Last

She

I'm not sure all of the songs will end up in the final product, but I thought they fit the idea of societal collapse, unrest, and turmoil and the development of a romance set against that backdrop.

I'm still very much working on the specifics of the story, so, as with the set-list, comments and suggestions would be welcomed.

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Just a thought but why the bonus tracks? if you do indeed want a more concrete storyline as you suggested I can't see how their covers make any sense.

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Sounds like an interesting idea, I'd love to see where it goes. Just don't make it all too pazzaz and showy.

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I think Breakdown would actually make a better musical than American Idiot. The songs lend themselves more to musical-style re-arrangements.

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I can see the bonus tracks Fitting in, and I really like the rest of the setlist, but I donnt see how the bonus tracks would fit in that order. But I'd love to see a few of them included

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I can see the bonus tracks Fitting in, and I really like the rest of the setlist, but I donnt see how the bonus tracks would fit in that order. But I'd love to see a few of them included

They said it isn't in any order yet

The first thing I thought of when trying to craft a more concrete narrative for the album was to center the story around social rebellion and unrest, with Christian and Gloria (and some new characters) getting caught up in a semi-apocalyptic collapse of society, which led me to come up with the following 'set-list' (it's still very raw and isn't in any set order yet, so comments and suggestions would be welcomed):

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I just wish the American Idiot Musical would have open auditions for the parts so Green Day fans can participate. I mean who would represent better a character and a song of the album better than a fan? And we are some pretty talented fans, you know?

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I'm starting to get a better picture of the story and what songs I want to use:

The story starts in a city, with both Christian and Gloria arriving there from other places . At a rally decrying the current state of society, they meet and fall in love, reject the messages they're hearing, and go off on their own, but get caught up in the chaos and turmoil of a terrorist attack and are separated, ending up in different places. Christian falls in with the people who committed the terror attack while Gloria - who was injured and can't remember much of what happened - is rescued by a street preacher and his followers and starts to be sucked in by their rhetoric. Eventually, though, the two find their way back to each other and head off to start a new life together.

List of characters and songs:

Characters

Christian

Gloria

BJ

Olivia

The Nowhere Man

Jason Andrew

Songs (in rough story order)

Song of the Century

21st Century Breakdown

Viva la Gloria

Warning/99 Revolutions mashup

Brain Stew/Before the Lobotomy Chorus mashup

Hearts Collide

Lights Out/Christian's Inferno mashup

East Jesus Nowhere/Peacemaker/Little Girl mashup

Murder City

Drama Queen/Olivia mashup

Like a Rolling Stone

Another State of Mind

Horseshoes and Handgrenades

Minority

The Static Age

Restless Heart Syndrome/She mashup

See the Light

American Eulogy

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I just wish the American Idiot Musical would have open auditions for the parts so Green Day fans can participate. I mean who would represent better a character and a song of the album better than a fan? And we are some pretty talented fans, you know?

Who's to say the cast so far hasn't been made up entirely of Green Day fans?

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Who's to say the cast so far hasn't been made up entirely of Green Day fans?

I agree, most of them really did seem to be fans. Just because they're not card carrying GDC members doesn't mean they're not worthy. And sure, there are talented GDC members, but most of us would suck so I'm glad the parts went to aspiring actors. :lol: Actually, I'd rather it not be performed by fans, because it's cooler to indoctrinate new people.

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I agree, most of them really did seem to be fans. Just because they're not card carrying GDC members doesn't mean they're not worthy. And sure, there are talented GDC members, but most of us would suck so I'm glad the parts went to aspiring actors. :lol: Actually, I'd rather it not be performed by fans, because it's cooler to indoctrinate new people.

On the flip side, it might be enough to put them off for life :P

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I didn't mind the AI musical and I enjoyed it when I saw it, the soundtrack fucking sucked though!

But no not another musical! Never!

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I just wish the American Idiot Musical would have open auditions for the parts so Green Day fans can participate. I mean who would represent better a character and a song of the album better than a fan? And we are some pretty talented fans, you know?

there were open auditions in a few cities (Toronto being one of them) when they were looking for the original touring cast.
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Brain Stew/Before the Lobotomy Chorus mashup

Do you have an arrangement for this or is it a concept at the moment?

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I would love to be in charge of this because I think my interpretation of Breakdown's story is pretty neat. I would also say that the album is pretty much already in musical form, so no need to add in extra songs. The only song I could think of that would actually mash up well would be Restless Heart Syndrome and Little Girl. They both share a "run away" lyric so it could go something like this:

(Starting in with Restless Heart Syndrome. Gloria is pleading with Christian about something.)

Lord knows I'd try to find a way

To run away

*record scratch*

RUN AWAY!

From the rivers to the street...

And telling her to run away is Christian telling her to get out of his life.

I've thought about this before.

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First of all, any 21CB theater show would have to take place in a cathedral, it would have to be a massive specticle like the album, with huge extravagant sets and big immersive instrumentation. Also, it shouldn't have any covers at all, maybe not trilogy songs either.

Edit: Or another albums, just 21CB straight through, its already and hour and ten minutes, there's no point in extending it or altering it.

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Don't use the cover songs. They were written by someone else with a meaning and I think using them like this would be twisting them.

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Don't use the cover songs. They were written by someone else with a meaning and I think using them like this would be twisting them.

Wake Me Up and Novacaine got the fuck twisted out of em in the AI Musical.

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Do you have an arrangement for this or is it a concept at the moment?

I have no musical talent whatsoever, so this is just a libretto/rough outline of how I think a 21CB musical adaptation could play out.

I would love to be in charge of this because I think my interpretation of Breakdown's story is pretty neat. I would also say that the album is pretty much already in musical form, so no need to add in extra songs. The only song I could think of that would actually mash up well would be Restless Heart Syndrome and Little Girl. They both share a "run away" lyric so it could go something like this:

(Starting in with Restless Heart Syndrome. Gloria is pleading with Christian about something.)

Lord knows I'd try to find a way

To run away

*record scratch*

RUN AWAY!

From the rivers to the street...

And telling her to run away is Christian telling her to get out of his life.

I've thought about this before.

I'd very much like to see your version of the story if at all possible.

First of all, any 21CB theater show would have to take place in a cathedral, it would have to be a massive specticle like the album, with huge extravagant sets and big immersive instrumentation. Also, it shouldn't have any covers at all, maybe not trilogy songs either.

If you don't include at least some of the cover songs and/or material from other albums, you don't have enough material for a full score due to the fact that 5 of 21CB's songs were already used either in whole or in part for the American Idiot musical.

BTW, I decided to refine my song list from earlier a little bit in order to re-arrange a few songs, so here's the new song order, along with the expected performers of each:

Song of the Century - Company

21st Century Breakdown - Christian

Viva la Gloria - Gloria

99 Revolutions - Company

Brain Stew (a mashup of Brain Stew and the Before the Lobotomy Chorus) - Gloria

Christian's Inferno - Christian

Hearts Collide - Christian and Gloria

Lights Out - Company

East Jesus Nowhere/Peacemaker/Little Girl - The Nowhere Man, Jason Andrew, and Gloria

Murder City - Christian and Company

Warning/Minority - BJ, Olivia, and Christian

Another State of Mind - The Nowhere Man, Jason Andrew, and Gloria

Drama Queen - Christian, BJ, and Olivia

Like a Rolling Stone - Christian

Restless Heart Syndrome - Jason Andrew, the Nowhere Man, and Gloria

Horseshoes and Handgrenades - Company

She - Christian

The Static Age - Company

See the Light - Christian and Gloria (closes the show)

American Eulogy - Company (serves as the 'curtain call'/encore)

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This would be awesome!!!!

But sadly I can't see it happening...I think 21CB was intended for something of this sort, I think it would do better as a movie :P

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I'm currently working on using the commercial versions of these songs to put together a proof-of-concept recording for the show musically, and hope to find some way to make it available once it's finished, so stay tuned.

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