Broadway Idiot is a documentary that follows the process of turning the iconic songs of Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong into a Broadway musical. Personally, I found the transformation of these well known songs into a musical fit for Broadway to be the most interesting part of developing a new theater work. Due to the band’s immense popularity, the audience was already familiar with the works of Green Day and the job of director Michael Mayer was largely just to do the songs justice. The documentary gave insight to the immense amount of work it takes to put together an entirely new show- from composing new arrangements of classic songs, to adapting those songs to fit the desired storyline, to designing the intricate set which included forty …show more content…
It is not an easy job to recreate classic Green Day songs such as American Idiot, Holiday, and Wake Me Up When September Ends- let alone to perform them in front of Billie Joe Armstrong himself. I admire both the creativity and the courage it took for Mayer to put together such an amazing show. In addition, I also enjoyed the interviews with Billie Joe Armstrong. The viewer was able to learn that he is a very private person and therefore struggled to let people in. Yet he learned to bond with the cast and crew, and let them in to his world in order to create a truly unique production that has characters everyone can relate to. Besides the fact that the audience was already familiar with the works of Green Day and the show had to live up to those expectations, the audience was also different than normal because it was mainly composed of young, open-minded people who related to the characters and themes of the show. American Idiot wasn't your typical Broadway show, it included the harsh realities of life and depicted drug abuse, sex, and even the hardships of the military. It really was a portrait of modern day America rather than a
I knew just a little about American music. This music documentary can be one of the best sources for me to learn more about American music and cultures. In addition, I did not know much about backup singers because they are not very visible, and they are used less and less today. However, after watching this movie, I started to know more about the backup singers and realize that they are important elements featured in a song. Moreover, I really enjoy the songs in the film, they are all full of spirit.
The risk taking and ingenuity Sondheim brought to the art of the musical gave others permission to experiment with non-traditional plot structures, more serious topics, the use of ambiguity, or anything else they could think of in musical format. One writer in particular, Jonathan Larson, was influenced by Sondheim. Larson was personally mentored by Sondheim, and Larson’s hit musical Rent, which featured a group of poor, AIDS stricken artists, may have never been possible if Sondheim had not brought similar, grave topics to the Broadway stage first. The same can be said for many more recent musicals, such as Wicked, Parade, and The Last Five Years (“The
Billie Joe Armstrong has been quoted in recent years saying that their hit album American Idiot was written partly in response the “the worst political times of my lifetime that I can remember.” (92Y, 2010) As a teenager listening to the song “American Idiot”, I didn’t fully appreciate the message the band was trying to deliver. I understood the general message of the song, which talks about how their fans should be more original and try not to follow what the general media preaches. It wasn’t until I was older that I started understanding how much influence the media has in our everyday lives. After that epiphany, I drastically cut down on the amount of television and radio that I...
Hamilton: An American Musical, the spellbinding play by Lin-Manuel Miranda, nominated for a record breaking sixteen Tony Awards and winning eleven. How have they gotten their success? It doesn't only consist of an amazing sore and script, actors can make or break a musical/play. What makes Hamilton: An American Musical revolutionary is not only the talent and experience of the cast its the background and races of the cast. Though all the characters are white, the main actors are all different races. The founding fathers and mothers of the United States are played by an assortment of African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, Pacific Islanders, Puerto Ricans, and Caucasians. 2016-17 has proved to be a very diverse year for Broadway, with revivals
Davis, J. G., R. M. Waskom, and T. A. Bauder. Managing Sodic Soils. Colorado State
“There once was a time in this business when I had the eyes of the whole world! But that wasn't good enough for them, oh no! They had to have the ears of the whole world too. So they opened their big mouths and out came talk. Talk! TALK!” (Sunset Boulevard). The film Sunset Boulevard directed by Billy Wilder focuses on a struggling screen writer who is hired to rewrite a silent film star’s script leading to a dysfunctional and fatal relationship. Sunset Boulevard is heavily influenced by the history of cinema starting from the 1930s to 1950 when the film was released.
In this paper, I’m going to analysis the acting, directing, lighting, sound, scenic, and costumes of the film Miracle on 34th Street. In addition talk about what I liked about the film, and what I didn’t like about the film. Giving you examples from the film to help you understand what I’m talking about. Overall before I go into detail about the film I really did enjoy it, and thought it was made very well in all areas.
The book then goes on to ask ‘How have Broadway musicals, typically considered too commercial and too mainstream, contributed to a feminist performance history?’ (Wolf. S. 2011. P. 4) ‘Changed for Good’ answers this question by exploring the difference in female characters, what the women who perform these characters actually do on the Broadway musical stage, how their musicals portray a women’s changing role in society since 1950, and how they break down the boundaries of the presentation of ‘the musical’ itself. Through Each Chapter Wolf explores a few shows in each decade in relation to gender issues and what each woman means in the narrative. ‘A Feminist History of the Broadway Musical’ is an argument as well as a story and there will continue to be history on musicals as long as they are created.
For this assignment we were asked to review a movie. I choose to analyze the movie Fried Green Tomatoes from 1991. This movie has many lessons hidden inside, but also has a story of a story. It starts off with a woman named Evelyn Couch going to visit her husband’s bitter aunt, and turns into the daily visits to another member of that house. This woman’s name is Ninny Threadgood, and she always has wonderful stories to tell Evelyn. At first, she seems unsure of this elderly woman’s presence, but opens up quickly. These two ladies have a connection, and Evelynn’s prospective of life soon changes. Ninny tells her stories all along, but in the end it reveals that Ninny was really talking about her life in the past. Evelyn was going through a rough patch in her life, and visiting this woman was all she needed to make some changes. She changed her diet, knocked out a wall in the house, stood up for herself, and changed her
“He’d look out from under his eyebrows, his cigarette a smoke screen between him and the rest of the world, and nobody knew what he was thinking” (Beddow xi). This is how Margery Beddow describes Bob Fosse in her book, Bob Fosse's Broadway. There is no question about whether or not Fosse was extremely innovative in the world of theatrical dance. His technique, style, personality, and achievements throughout his career speak for themselves. You may have seen him in movies such as Kiss Me Kate, My Sister Eileen, Damn Yankees, The Little Prince, and Thieves, however, he also helped direct and choreograph several of other films such as Sweet Charity, Lenny, All That Jazz, Star 80, and more. Although Fosse did contribute a lot to the film industry,
After the band green day released their album “dookie” in 1994 green day was near the top of their career. It was some time since their last album 10 years later they released their album American idiot to respond of their outlook of post 9/11 america political tension and threats of terrorism were at a all time high so they timed the release of their album at a perfect time when people were distrusting in the government. The main part of the album is the song “jesus of suburbia” where it tells a story of a person named jimmy the entire album is focused around this person getting caught up and bewildered from his suburban life which lead to him leaving his home. After leaving jimmy finds new joy in his life in the song “holiday” which is
12 ANGRY MEN, is basically a story play written for broadcast on CBS in 1954 by an American playwright Reginald Rose. In 1957, Rose finished the screenplay for the movie version, which was co-produced by him and Henry Fonda (Juror#8). The movie was directed by Sydney Lumet. This movie was nominated for many awards like Academy awards for Best Picture, Best Director and Best writing, Screenplay based on Material from another Medium, and an Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay from Mystery Writers of America.
Being a parent comes with different challenges. Some parents believe shieling a child to prevent mistakes he or she once made is good for the child. The film Because I Said So (2007) illustrates this. I chose this film because it models a common problem parents have with their children. These problems range from being too involved in a child’s personal life to lacking boundaries. Although, a parent means well, it may be damaging to the child which is the case in the film. The focus of this paper will be Daphne and Milly both who identify one another as the problem. Maggie and Mae are family members and will play important roles. Jason, Johnny, and Johnny’s father are not members of the family, but have influential roles in the
...r the opening guitar, I would've missed my part. As soon as I hit the first chord, an E minor, the spectators were gone. It was just the band, my guitar, and me. The sensation of nausea evaporated, and I had a blast. Introducing each song with cleaver prologues, the singers were great at interacting with the crowd. For me, the end came much too soon.
The Lion King musical is a well-known musical that has taken the stages of Broadway, West End and the rest of the world by storm (The Lion King, 1997). Regarding the process of the musical, Artistic Director Julie Taymor’s first thoughts for choosing the Lion King as the next big thing on stage, was classed as ‘impossible’ due to the film’s lack of theatrical material (The Lion King, 1997). Therefore, staging this particular work contained a great deal of uncertainty and the need for taking huge risks. Taymor (1997) suggests how ‘the Lion King was the worst idea possible to create a stage show.’ It has become evident that a number of significant barriers had to be overcome to secure the practicality of the production. In view of this controversy, this dissertation will critically analyse the success of the Lion King by exploring two significant aspects that have helped to make the musical a success. Firstly, the essential components that make up this theatrical production will be explored and secondly, the roles of each producer within the Lion King and their combined and individual influences they have had from the production will be evaluated. By analysing these two central themes, this paper will show how and why this musical has developed and achieved its phenomenal success.