I walk alone

Magnet #964 - American Idiot

I keep all my Playbills and tickets for all the shows I've been to. Last week, when I transferred them into a shiny new box, I found that I've been to about 70 performances during the course of the last several years here in town.

Most of those performances were with discounted tickets from Playbill.com, my secret weapon when it comes to enjoying Broadway. They send out great email offers all the time, which is how I ended up at American Idiot last night, with mixed feelings about it today.

First and foremost, I should admit that I'm not a big Green Day fan, but I hate being left out of things, and it always seems that American Idiot is one of those shows that everyone wants to see. I'm wondering if you should be a Green Day fan in order to enjoy the show. I mean, sure, I knew several of the songs, but not all of the songs.

And, to give the show a benefit of a doubt, I missed the first 20 minutes of the show. I apologize to all the performers last night, but yes. Classic rookie mistake - for some reason, all day long, I had an 8pm start time in my head. It's not like I was busy, I stopped myself from getting ready early, so that I wouldn't be down in Times Square too early. So at about 6:53 last night, I was like, hmmm, la-la-la, I guess I'll get ready to go. La-la-la. And I decided to pull up my confirmation.

My confirmation that said, St. James Theatre, 7pm.

7pm!!!

I flew out of my apartment, and I swear the train conductor knew I was on board, because we careened down the 2/3 train track. Braving the withering looks of about four ushers, I entered the strobe-lit theatre mid-song, and was seated in the nearest empty end seat, about 20 rows better than what I bought.

From there, I couldn't settle down. Maybe it's because I missed those 20 minutes that I couldn't quite catch up with the story that I wasn't bowled over by it?

The set design and production overall was fantastic, although they scared me a few times with all the moving scaffolding and cirque du soleil stuff (and sometimes the strobes). The performances were terrific, the guitar playing was awesome.

But, from what I could tell, the AI story is really just Hair, but for our generation. And we all know how I didn't love Hair. It had the same young slacker generation frantically raging against political and military machine issues that frustrated the heck out of me in Hair.

Huh. Looks like the square I would have been in the 60s and 70s, translates to the square I am in the 2000s. Eh, I'll own it.

Oh! I will say that the one benefit of being late to the show? Walking almost alone through Times Square and the side streets, because everyone else got to their shows on time. It was nice.

eta:
Double oh! Or, maybe it was because I got distracted by the silly teenager in front of me who kept messing with her stupid hair, sticking her elbows out both sides four times to redo her hair back into her headband/side ponytail combo. Dude. It's dark. They won't see you!

Age of Aquariwhat?

Magnet #804 - HAIR

Of course, I had to buy this magnet - I'm glad the Broadway shows are starting to see the importance of good merchandise. Heh.

A friend of mine was kind enough to comp me tickets to see HAIR (thank you, thank you!), so another friend and I went to go see it. Which is why I feel a little tempered in my not-really-a review magnetpost.

Here's the thing. As a production? Freakin' awesome. The stage direction and the art direction and the costumes were amazing. The performances were superb. And the running out in the crowds (which lost some of its magic, the more times they did it) was so much fun - though I'm glad I was in a middle seat, so no flower child got into my hair - literally. The finale was superb, with the crowds being invited on stage. Freakin' amazing.

The show itself, however - soooo not my cuppa. I think my problem is that actual story itself - or, lack thereof. It just took too long to actually gel into a real storyline. And then, I didn't really give a hoot about the characters. I didn't even cry when one of the major characters bit it.

My story problems were probably exacerbated by the fact that I didn't agree with any of the politics of the show. I full on admit it, if I lived back in the 60s and 70s (or, ok, been of high school and young adult age), I totally have been a square. I'm totally a square now, and it's 2010 - so it's no wonder why this show pulled on every one of my conservative heartstrings and pet peeves.

Yet again, I'm on the fence for some of it - because I didn't give a hoot about the crazy flower child songs, or the pseudo-copulation, or the full frontal nudity. That part was actually kinda fun. But, when it started in with its political statements on war and drugs and protesting, I just couldn't hang.

Seriously, I wanted to grab every American flag they were prancing around with, and fold it properly. I wanted to grab every draft card they were burning, and send them off to war. Or sure, Canada, as long as they were out of my sight. I wanted to grab every joint in their hands, and give them to Nancy Reagan.

I know it's cool to be anti-war and anti-American and pro-drugs and free love, but c'mon, enough's enough already.

Good gravy, I'm a 90-year-old biddy, in a mid-30s body. Oiy.

eta:
Oh! The other thing that's a little sad - I don't watch American Idol, so I haven't a clue who that lead guy is on the magnet. But, from what I understand, I should have been OMG, OMG, OMG, over this guy in front of us?