Broadway Idiot - American Idiot Show Documentary

[MaraGreenDay]

Omg that is so cute

[Schlappy]

i like his 5 o'clock shadow

[Tubbie Head]

Billie's wearing those pants with the hole

hahah

[Guest letterbombb]

alecandstuff
‏@Rockingalec

Director hopes movie comes to DVD, encourages fans to let him know we want it! #broadwayidiot

[Tubbie Head]

alecandstuff

‏@Rockingalec

Director hopes movie comes to DVD, encourages fans to let him know we want it! #broadwayidiot

WE WANT IT!

Should we start tweeting?

[Guest letterbombb]

http://broadwayidiot.com/2013/02/01/when-can-i-see-this/

We’ve had a lot of questions coming in along the lines of

“When is the DVD coming out?” We’re as excited about sharing the film

with you as you are about seeing it.

Broadway Idiot is an independent production. We’ve only

just finished the film, so we’re now beginning to explore distribution.

As soon as it’s in theaters, or available on bluray, DVD or digital

download, you’ll be the first to know. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter

to keep up-to-date, and share the trailer to spread the word. In the

meantime, we hope you can make it to Austin in March for SXSW!

[Guest letterbombb]

Broadway Idiot: SXSW Review

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/broadway-idiot-sxsw-documentary-review-429046#

Doug Hamilton's efficient documentary provides an all-access
backstage pass to the rock musical "American Idiot," inspired by the
Grammy-winning 2004 Green Day album of the same name.

Not since Pete Townshend took an active hand in shaping The Who’s Tommy in 1993 has a rock musician infiltrated the ranks of Broadway with such exhilarating results as American Idiot. Based on Green Day’s epochal 2004 concept album of the same name, the 2010 pop-punk opera, co-written by Billie Joe Armstrong with director Michael Mayer, is tracked from development through to opening night and beyond in Broadway Idiot.

Efficiently directed by Doug Hamilton, a TV veteran who has worked on series such as Nova, American Masters and Frontline,
the documentary premieres in SXSW’s music sidebar 24 Beats Per Second.
It should find an audience on DVD and VOD among both Green Day fans and
Broadway junkies wishing to relive the visceral excitement of the
groundbreaking musical. And it’s a natural for tour merchandise stands.

Making clever use of the iconic album cover graphics as animation and
onscreen text, the film captures the unique charge of the show, a
hard-driving story of the tough lessons of youthful nihilism, set
against a backdrop of political and social disenfranchisement.

Lively excerpts are included from workshop stagings, rehearsals, the
2009 tryout run at Berkeley Rep, and the Broadway production at the St.
James Theatre. In one of the best sequences, editor Rob Tinworth
intercuts Green Day and the cast performing “21 Guns” together at the
Grammy Awards with the number as it’s staged in the show. (That song,
from the album 21st Century Breakdown, is one of a small number of Green Day compositions from other sources featured in the musical.)

For theater geeks, a key interest will be getting rare access to
witness how a complex production comes together. This includes Mayer
coaxing out a story and characters that expand on the narrative bones of
the album; choreographer Steven Hoggett developing an expressive, thematically appropriate physical language; and scenic designer Christine Jones
creating an environment for chaos out of 40-foot walls plastered with
flyers, posters and graffiti, and punctuated with windows and TV
screens. Lighting and video projection tests also convey the thrill of
watching an elaborate theater piece take shape.

Perhaps the most illuminating insight comes from arranger-orchestrator Tom Kitt’s
work on the score, rebuilding Green Day’s tunes for multiple voices and
themes. Armstrong’s floored response upon hearing Kitt’s gorgeous
wall-of-sound harmonies on “Last Night on Earth” for the first time is
one of many warm indications of the mutual rewards of the collaboration.

The film also provides a potted history of Green Day, focusing on Armstrong’s soul-searching investment in the American Idiot songs.
That aspect ultimately is reflected in his fractured recognition of
himself in the show’s three male lead characters, as well as its angel
of self-destruction, St. Jimmy. Extensive live clips of the band’s
concerts include a 1996 Prague show and a massive 2005 London arena
performance, with Tinworth effectively shuffling Green Day’s original
versions of the songs with their incarnations in the musical.

A weakness of the doc is its failure to engage Armstrong’s bandmates Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool,
whose input is largely limited to the occasional nod of approval.
However, there’s plenty of Armstrong, whose appreciation for theater
craft and his embrace of the sense of community that blossoms within a
Broadway company is one of the principal threads. Considering his freely
voiced fears at the start that the show might have been “absurd and not
relatable and corny,” his unqualified endorsement of the material from
its earliest stages pegs him as a complete convert.

Hardcore Green Day fans will likely be both aghast and tickled by
hilarious footage of a cherubic Armstrong at age 11 in 1983, singing
show tunes (“Send in the Clowns” from A Little Night Music, and “Kids” from Bye Bye Birdie),
schooled by his vocal coach at the time. Mayer and Kitt posit that
those ingrained musical theater seeds are evident in his Green Day
melodies.

The film’s personal element generally lacks heft, however. While
Armstrong speaks at length about forging the kind of close friendships
in his brief theater experience that have somehow eluded him in his
post-fame rock career, Hamilton could have dug deeper to show more
visual evidence of that bonding. The doc is slickly packaged, but it
suffers from the pat reality-TV feel of manicured sound bites where
greater candor and fly-on-the-wall observation might have been welcome.

Perhaps the most eloquent statement of Armstrong’s connection to the experience is watching him step into the role of St. Jimmy during the Broadway run, which is covered in the film’s final section. Sharing the stage with his principal alter ego in the show (played by John Gallagher Jr. of HBO’s The Newsroom), Armstrong’s adrenaline rush seems on par with that of the wildly cheering audience

http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_22800985/sxsw-2013-broadway-idiot-gets-world-premiere-austin

Green Day's "American Idiot" made the transition from Grammy-winning concept album to Tony-winning Broadway musical.

Now,
Billie Joe Armstrong's brainchild has spawned a film, "Broadway Idiot,"
a highly polished documentary that recounts the creation of the musical
from its conception to its debut at Berkeley Repertory Theatre to,
eventually, a hit run on Broadway.

The film -- which got its
world premiere Friday at the South by Southwest Film Festival, with
Green Day in attendance -- is a moderately enjoyable ride that could
appeal to both the band's legions of fans as well as Broadway buffs.

Armstrong is the star of the film, filling nearly every scene he is in with loads of charisma.

But
where are the other band members? It would have been nice to find out
what Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool thought of this whole process -- it is,
after all, Green Day's "American Idiot," not just Billie Joe
Armstrong's. Yet the two other band members make only cameo appearances
in film.

[Annie, get your gun]

Of course we want it!!! You shouldn't even ask

Billie's pic is so adorable And they look wonderful :') I missed you, boys!!

[Todd]

"Extensive live clips of the band’s

concerts include a 1996 Prague show"

That's one of my favorite audio shows! With Armatage Shanks, Walking Contradiction, 86! I'd love to finally see video of it!

[pdx2ord]

Broadway Idiot: SXSW Review

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/broadway-idiot-sxsw-documentary-review-429046#

http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_22800985/sxsw-2013-broadway-idiot-gets-world-premiere-austin

But

where are the other band members? It would have been nice to find out

what Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool thought of this whole process -- it is,

after all, Green Day's "American Idiot," not just Billie Joe

Armstrong's. Yet the two other band members make only cameo appearances

in film.

Too bad. I really wanted to see how Tre and Mike felt during the process. Always got the sense in the interviews that Billie and Tre were more keen on and supportive of it than Mike.

[whatsername]

Oh that sucks about less Tre and Mike footage.

[MaraGreenDay]

Adrienne is in there

Photo: Destiny

[Vrock09]

Not sure if this would go in here but..Libby Winters, just tweeted this a few minutes ago..

"Me and @mnnasotagirl at Tim Riggins house!!!"

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BFb29C-CcAEGXbS.jpg:large

I believe it was from a little earlier..

[MaraGreenDay]

Not sure if this would go in here but..Libby Winters, just tweeted this a few minutes ago..

"Me and @mnnasotagirl at Tim Riggins house!!!"

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BFb29C-CcAEGXbS.jpg:large

I believe it was from a little earlier..

OMG 80 looks so sooo beautiful!!!!!

[Yaz.]

How good is it to see photo's of the 3 of them standing together once again, damn.

Also, a moment for Billie's badge.

[Forever Now]

[Guest letterbombb]

ashli0

I'm shaking right now. She said Billie has the same phone case as me and I gave her the letter I wrote him. She's amazing. #greenday #adriennearmstrong

sophiabooboos

Me with Adrienne, Billie Joe's wife! she is so sweet

[Todd]

Oh my god. Raise your hand if you'd rather meet Adie than Billie. She seems much easier to approach, cause she's not a fucking superstar, y'know?

[Overjoyyed]

love the high res. pictures of the band.. lol tre with his duck face and pipe. and billies "baby billie" pin

[Guest letterbombb]

Perhaps the biggest standing ovation given by Paramount Theater
audiences all week at SXSW was when Green Day took the stage Friday
alongside director Doug Hamilton to present the world premiere of the
documentary Broadway Idiot. Bassist Mike Dirnt did the talking
for the group, thanking the audience for coming to the show. “Welcome to
our nightmare,” he said happily, before handing off the microphone to
lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong. The crowd held their breath for a half
second, waiting to hear him speak, but instead he tossed the mic to a
festival director and the band made themselves scarce.



Broadway Idiot is a snappy, big-hearted portrait, four years in the making, of transforming the guts and tunes of Green Day’s seminal album American Idiot
into the Broadway musical that ran from April 20, 2010 through April
24, 2011. “This album is my baby,” says Armstrong in the film, “I want
to make sure no one f—- it up.” In the early planning stages the band
brings a visible anxiety to conversations with Broadway director Michael
Mayer, unsure what world they’ve gotten themselves into and ready to
bolt. Armstrong’s fears of Broadway are all jazz hands and high kicks.
“Everyone’s singin’ and dancin’ and life is swell,” he says. “Like the
Rockettes and stuff.” But their sense of hesitation soon blooms into
intrigue and then passion, as Armstrong decides to join the production
as one of the main characters. “I can’t act, I can’t dance,” he worries.
“Compared to a lot of these people I can’t even sing.”

Broadway Idiot kicked off a double feature of Green Day docs, followed by Cuatro!, about the making of their recent music trilogy Green Day ¡Uno! Green Day ¡Dos! Green Day ¡Tré!. Green Day performs tonight at ACL Live.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/03/15/sxsw-green-day-presents-world-premiere-of-doc-broadway-idiot/

[Yaz.]

Seems like the only time Billie wants to speak at the moment is when it's performing

[Annie, get your gun]

I realised it will be a documentary mostly about Billie after seeing so many pictures of him as a child and St. Jimmy It sucks that they already say there's too little from Tré and Mike but after all, this is about Billie Joe's experience as a broadway actor...

[stories and songs]

I love that quote about Billie saying how he cant even sing compared to most of the Broadway performers. He certainly can sing just as well as they can, he was AMAZING in that show!!! His humility and respect for Broadway performers is so cool, though. I how even though he felt that way, he still wanted to do it anyway.

[Ritz]

They are looking so so so so good omg

[Guest letterbombb]

Jordan Delatte
‏@Jordan_ROXX00

@broadwayidiot When will the people that didn't get to see it today be able to?

Broadway Idiot
‏@broadwayidiot
@Jordan_ROXX00 TBAnnounced soon! Pls stay tuned. Thanks!