Pittsburgh in the Round: It’s odd how a show that came out as recently as 2010 can feel like a ‘decades’ piece, but Comtra Theatre’s production of Green Day’s American Idiot feels like it was ripped straight out of the early ‘aughts. Laden with songs from the quintessential early 2000s pop-punk track, American Idiot promises high-speed guitar, killer rock vocals, and an anti-establishment message, and Comtra’s production delivers on all fronts.
3 comments:
Since, during my sophomore year of high school, my school put on American Idiot, I was curious about another production of it. Thus why I was first interested in Rachel Mae Fulliam’s Article on Pittsburgh in the round. I enjoyed Rachel Mae's description of the musical, how, even though recently released, “feel’s like a decades piece”. She used that point as a means to describe how Comtra’s production of Green Day’s musical was executed. According to Fulliam’s critique in the article, Comtra was extremely successful in immersing their audience into the period, they even played the appropriate music while their audience filled into their seats. I loved being apart of the production during my sophomore year, as did my peers, since they grew up listening to Green day, and related to the story. I enjoyed reading the description on how Comtra executed this nostalgia filled performance, I wish I could have seen it myself!
I absolutely love American Idiot and the energy that goes along with it. My high school put on this production during my sophomore year, and it was by far one of the best shows I’ve had the chance to work. We even had a rig installed so we could fly people! Seeing the article reminded me of some of the great feelings I had while running my show, and I had to read it. I think Rachelmae did a good job at describing the content within the musical and how Comtra portrayed the content within it. When she would go into descriptions about the songs and the vocals, I could practically hear the lyrics and songs playing, and the emotions tied to them. I also really enjoyed reading about how the ideas within American Idiot are still extremely relevant today, and that the cast connected it to present day problems with our current president. This show started its performances at the beginning of this month, and its last performance is coming up this Saturday. I wish my schedule had been more clear, and that I knew about it sooner, otherwise I would’ve tried to go and see it.
Ever since I saw American Idiot on Broadway a few years ago, I have always been in love with this show. A few years ago, I saw American Idiot and Rock of Ages on the same trip to New York. To say that this trip was "rock-filled" would be an understatement. Both of these shows were absolutely amazing in my opinion. I have always been a huge fan of music in general, especially rock music, and I think this is the biggest reason I loved the shows so much. On top of this, as a huge musical fan overall, the fact that they are both based all around music I enjoy made the musical just that much better. On top of the writing and directing of the show, the tech complimented the show beautifully. The created the city industrial look I think they were going for while also being able to have good interior scenes and the lighting and of course sound complimented it wonderfully.
Post a Comment