"American Idiot" premieres at Pollard

Guthrie’s Pollard Theatre brings you the two-time Tony Award-winning hit musical Green Day's American Idiot. The show is based on the Grammy Award-winning multi-platinum album by the band Green Day and boldly takes the American musical where it's never gone before.

The show plays June 10 - July 2 at Pollard Theatre.

Green Day's powerhouse album comes to life in this electrifying rock musical of youthful disillusion. This high-octane show includes every song from Green Day's album, American Idiot, as well as several songs from its follow-up release, 21st Century Breakdown.

Johnny, Tunny and Will struggle to find meaning in a post-9/11 world. When the three disgruntled men flee the constraints of their hometown for the thrills of city life, their paths are quickly estranged when Tunny enters the armed forces, Will is called back home to attend to familial responsibilities, and Johnny's attention becomes divided by a seductive love interest and a hazardous new friendship.

According to reports, the band Green Day made the record an album-long conceptual piece that was a response to the realities of the post-9/11 era. The band took inspiration from the concept records by The Who, sources in the musical theater repertoire like The Rocky Horror Show and West Side Story, and the concept album-cum-stage musical Jesus Christ, Superstar. The band intended "that it would be staged or we'd create a film or something...we were thinking in terms that it kind of felt like scoring a movie.”

This energy-fueled rock opera features little dialogue and instead relies on the lyrics from Green Day's groundbreaking album to tell an unforgettable coming of age story.

Peter Travers from Rolling Stone wrote, “Though American Idiot carries echoes of such rock musicals as Tommy, Hair, Rent and Spring Awakening, it cuts its own path to the heart. You won’t know what hit you. American Idiot knows no limits – it’s a global knockout.”

American Idiot is a high-concept show with strong social messages.

Pollard will host 12 performances of American Idiot June 10 – July 2, with evening shows at 8 p.m., Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. Tickets are $30 and may be purchased by calling the Pollard box office at (405) 282-2800 or by visiting www.thepollard.org.

The Gayly – June 4, 2016 @ 1:40 p.m.