Production Takes Green Day Musical out of the Box

Samantha Eve laughed when I told her that the only time I saw American Idiot, the Broadway musical version of Green Day’s iconic album, I hated it so much I wished I had left. Really loud. A story that was too hard to follow and a little dated, and so much incongruous activity I wasn’t sure two ibuprofen would erase the headache.

“I get it,” she said. “There’s so much top take in, and the way it’s been done, sometimes there’s just too much going on. I’ve seen a lot of versions where all they do is shout angry rock lyrics in your face, and that’s all there is to it…. You may very well hate our production too. I definitely don’t think everyone will like it.”

Well, then. ‘Nuff said? Not quite.

Because right after that, Eve – who created Out of the Box (OOB) Theater Company back in 2010 and has spearheaded a number of Santa Barbara debuts of edgy musicals at the Center Stage ever since – did offer a guarantee: “It’s the most different production of American Idiot that I have ever heard, a lot more relevant to today.”

Green Day’s 2004 album was a reaction what the band saw as hypocrisy of the Bush Administration’s response to the September 11 attacks coupled with the increasingly placid American public, a scorching disc that won a Grammy and sold in the millions. The 2010 musical delivered it all with aggressive punk-filled glory via a story of three lost and disconnected young men and their friends searching for meaning in their lives. But 14 or even eight years later, the world is a different place, Eve said.

“When we thought about the original time frame, issues of President Bush weren’t all that scary,” she explained. “From today’s perspective, he wasn’t that bad. So we’re updating it to take place in the present, with more of the current political situations – Trump, and women’s marches, and the other controversies and divisions happening in our country right now. And we’re incorporating technology and social media into the themes of addiction. Are you really interacting with people if you can’t put your phone down?”

Given that regional theater companies aren’t allowed to change scripts without prior approval, Eve and OOB had to accomplish the time shift through other means. “We wouldn’t censor or change anything, anyway,” she said. “So we’re using casting and costume and staging choices, plus video projects, which are making it much easier to understand time and place. Where people are and what’s going on are a lot clearer.”

So actors in certain scenes might wear pink hats associated with Pussy Riot, while others don red baseball caps, a la “Make America Great Again” headgear. “We’re trusting our audience to be intelligent enough to keep it together and recognize what we’re doing,” Eve said.

While Eve has directed nearly all of OOB’s previous productions, ranging from 2010’s Reefer Madness to the blood-soaked Carrie (2013) and Lizzie (2016) to last year’s ambitious Rocky Horror Picture Show,she’s handing the reins for Idiot off to a colleague, Joanna Syiek, who runs a similarly edgy company of her own in Los Angeles. “I was ready for a directing break and realized I’d rather be in the show,” she said. “Joanna and I think a lot alike, and our tastes our very similar – we’re both into contemporary musicals and weird stuff like Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, which we did around the same time. We had a meeting where we were finishing each other’s sentences and had the same vision for this show. So, I knew I could trust her.”

As for whether I’m ready to trust enough to see OOB’s American Idiot?

Since it’s still a punk rock musical, OOB’s show will still feature a full five-piece band – including a violinist/violist live on stage – “a big sound for a big show in a pretty small theater,” Eve said. And there still will be “actors flailing about and throwing their bodies around on stage.”

“I think we’ve fixed some of the problems we’ve seen elsewhere,” Eve said. “For one thing, it’s easier to tell a story in a smaller stage because you can connect with the actors and feel immersed. You may still hate it. I can’t guarantee that you won’t. But maybe you’ll find something to connect to.”

(Out of the Box Theatre Company’s American Idiot runs April 6-15 at Center Stage Theater in Paseo Nuevo Shopping Center. Call 963-0408 or visit www.CenterStageTheater.org.)

Lucidity at Live Oak, and Devout Deadheads in Ventura

The Lucidity Festival’s first offering of its new six-year cycle, “Rising Dawn”, (which we previewed in last week’s column) takes place this weekend up at Live Oak Camp. But you can also head the other direction for a couple of events that could be Lucidity’s cousins. 

Skull & Roses, which was established in 2017 to “explore unique interpretations of Grateful Dead music,” welcomes Deadheads from all around to the arena at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, where Jerry Garcia & Co. played many memorable shows in the 1980s. Twenty different bands will perform – including Melvin Seals & JGB, Moonalice, Jerry’s Middle Finger, and Grateful Bluegrass Boys – with no overlapping sets so there’s no FOMO (fear of missing out). Camping and vending have shifted to Parking Lot C, which is by the beach, as it was during the Dead’s historic concert in Ventura. The festival run Friday to Sunday at the fairgrounds at 10 W. Harbor Blvd., Ventura. Tickets cost $19.96 to $139.95. Details online at www.skullandroses.com.

Also, jam-band artist Matisyahu, who played a few years ago at Lucidity and just came off this year’s One Love Reggae Festival, is back on tour in support of his critically acclaimed sixth studio album, Undercurrent. He’ll headline one of the periodic seven-hour Backyard Bash events at Discovery Ventura on Saturday, April 7, where he’ll share the outdoor stage with Hirie, Leilani Wolfgramm, Dirty Rice, and others. The sprawling restaurant-bowling alley-concert venue is located at 1888 E. Thompson Blvd., Ventura. Tickets run $26.50 to $100. Call 856-2695 or visit www.discoveryventura.com.

Classical Corner

The Westmont College Choir and Orchestra Masterworks Concert tour of Handel’s Messiah starts downtown with a performance at First United Methodist Church (305 E. Anapamu St.) at 7 pm on Friday, April 6. They’ll be offering Parts 2 & 3 of the classic oratorio that is more often heard at Christmastime, before traveling to Los Angeles for a pair of Southland shows over the weekend. Admission is $10, students free. Call 565-6040.

The same venue also hosts the Santa Barbara Music Club free concert at 3 pm Saturday, featuring Israeli-Frenchy pianist Pascal Salomon – who just received his Doctorate in Music degree from UCSB in 2017 – performing Bach’s English Suite in G minor; Chopin’s Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9, No. 2, and Polonaise-Fantaisie, Op. 61; and Debussy’s L’isle joyeuse (The Joyful Island). Details at www.sbmusicclub.org.