Green Day-Inspired ‘American Idiot’ Musical Roaring Across America

Eight years after its release, Green Day‘s acclaimed ‘American Idiot’ is still relevant and popular. The musical based on the album has been playing to enthusiastic audiences across North America and heads to Los Angeles next week.

The tour, which arrives at L.A.’s Ahmanson Theatre on Tuesday (March 13), has already passed through a number of cities, including Toronto, St. Louis, and Chicago. The musical follows the story of three young characters who try to overcome alienation and lack of direction in their lives.

“The feeling that comes back to me is grief. For addiction. For people who have lost someone or for the someone who was lost,” actor Joshua Kobak, who plays the lead role of St. Jimmy, tellsThe Los Angeles Times. “Somehow, the show brings that out.”

Actor Van Hughes points to a show in Detroit as one of the tour’s most memorable so far, as attendees stood during the entire encore. “In Toronto, it felt like we were yelling at Canadians about America. They got it, they liked it, they agreed with it, but there was a disconnect,” Hughes says. “Not in Detroit. If there are any people in America that understand disenchantment, it is the people of Detroit. In Detroit, they weren’t clapping. They were shouting.”

The current tour continues with a West Coast leg that runs through July 8 in San Francisco. Tickets are available on the tour’s website.

The theatrical version of ‘American Idiot’ began as a Broadway musical, which occasionally featured Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong and won two Tony Awards and a Grammy. The next frontier for the project could be the silver screen, as Universal has been planning an ‘American Idiot’ movie.