The Brass Mug was more crowded than anyone could remember. The USF-area Tampa bar usually presented local alternative, metal or punk acts. On this evening in early 1993, the Mug featured some out-of-towners — a spiky punk trio from the other Bay area that was building a buzz for its short, fast and hook-filled tunes.
The buzz proved prescient. A little more than a year later the band was all over radio and MTV. The spiky little trio named Green Day was a mainstream sensation. Where would they go from here? Arenas? Stadiums? Private islands? Rehab?
How about Broadway?
Spring Awakening director Michael Mayer wanted to turn the band’s 2004 punk-rock opera, American Idiot, into a musical. He did just that, co-writing the book with Green Day frontman-lyricist Billie Joe Armstrong. American Idiot ran for more than 400 performances in the St. James Theatre and won a pair of Tony Awards®.
From Berkeley to the Brass Mug to Broadway. There’s a road less travelled for you.
Jobsite is presenting American Idiot July 15-Aug. 9 in Jaeb Theater.
Written in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, American Idiot follows three friends navigating an irrevocably changed world. More than two decades later, American Idiot still feels relevant.
“It’s easy to associate American Idiot with one particular moment in history, but everything the show is lashing out at — endless war, the corporatization of everything, media manipulation, disillusionment — is worse now,” said David Jenkins, producing artistic director of Jobsite.
Referencing the album/show’s ballad, “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” Jenkins added that “the September they sing about wanting to sleep through isn’t September 2001 but this whole post-9/11 malaise/mindset.”
Much has changed since the album’s release. That same year saw the premiere of now-President Donald Trump’s reality series, The Apprentice. There were no iPhones, and Netflix was that company that rented DVDs through the mail.
However, events seem to have conspired to keep American Idiot from being an early aughts time capsule. Few pop albums have captured the zeitgeist so well.
Also, we suspect few Zeitgeist catchers began careers as bratty troublemakers releasing albums with titles such as Kerplunk and Dookie; or used an appearance at Woodstock 1994 to stage what may be the largest and is certainly the most well-documented audience-band mud fight in history.
The little band that could? As Bruce Springsteen put it: “From small things, mama, big things one day come.”
For tickets or more information, visit our website or call 813-229-7827.