American Idiot: The Original Broadway Cast Recording Featuring Green Day [Cast Recording]

Green Day | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 20, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Cast Recording
• Label: Reprise
• ASIN: B003FS0SO2
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,064 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

American Idiot follows the exhilarating journey of a new generation of young Americans as they struggle to find meaning in a post-9/11 world, borne along by Green Day's electrifying score. This high-octane show includes every song from the acclaimed album American Idiot, as well as several songs from the band's Grammy-nominated new release, 21st Century Breakdown.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars FAB-U-LOUS April 20, 2010

By Whatsername1234

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

As a huge Green Day fan, I wasn't sure if I would like the cast recording album, as it's not Billie Joe singing on it, but I've just listened to the sample tracks, and think its absolutely fabulous. The female voices and multi-vocal harmonies give a totally different dimension to what was/is one of the best (IF NOT THE BEST) albums released in the last 30 years, and the additional tracks (ie Favorite Son/Too Much Too Soon + the 21 CB tracks etc) just add the icing to the cake. Now all I have to do, is see if I can buy it, as it's not out in the UK yet !!!!!!!!

****UPDATE - MY IMPORT COPY CAME TODAY IN THE POST (6th May), AND IT'S JUST AS GOOD AS I HAD HOPED, ESPECIALLY WITH THE TRACK 22 - When its Time, WHICH IS ACTUALLY GREEN DAY/Billie Joe SINGING A PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED SONG... [Not sure if the UK version due out next week is going to get this extra track, hence the reason for buying from the USA]
I really like the way they have mixed Last of the American Girls/She's A Rebel into a single song.

Would recommend this as a "must have item" to any Green Day collection.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved the show...Love the soundtrack April 21, 2010

By C. Burgess

Format:Audio CD

I saw the show in NYC the other night and was simply blown away. I have always been a pretty good (but not huge) Green Day fan, but this show gave me huge new respect for them. These songs rock. Yes, it's different to hear someone other than BJA sing them, especially the female voices, but the arrangements fill the songs out really well, and there is a major depth of emotion in them. This CD is going to stay on repeat for a long time in my player!

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Cast Ablum of the Year April 26, 2010

By T. J. Burzynski II

Format:Audio CD

Love the original album on which this show is based. I was very excited to hear the Cast Album was coming out so soon. I got it from iTunes that day it came out and it has been on repeat ever since. The vocal and orchestral arrangements are GORGEOUS! The vocal performers are all top notch! I can't find ANYTHING to complain about with this CD. The most beautiful song on the CD has got to be "21 Guns." The voices, the arrangements, the lyrics all wonderful. As a Green Day fan and a Broadway Fanatic, this is the perfect marriage of two very different genres. Plus the awesome review in the NY Times is nice too. This CD would be the perfect addition to ANY CD collection.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Bring on the Tonys! April 22, 2010

By Steven Valenti VINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

The inherent theatricality of Green Day's seminal modern rock opera "American Idiot" on disc meant it was only a matter of time until, like The Who's "Tommy," it wound up on stage. And here it is, represented by this brilliant cast recording--a thrilling listen that proves, like "Tommy, "that a mark of a great musical piece is that it holds up in various incarnations. Such is the power of the music that it does not falter a bit without Green Day lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong. John Gallagher Jr., Tony Vincent, Rebecca Naomi Jones, and the rest of the talented cast flesh out this story of disaffected youth, circa 2004, impressively (assisted by some added tracks from "21st Century Breakdown.") Congrats to Green Day and the creative team for holding to their vision and taking a risk with this show. This ranks immediately as one of the great rock musical cast recordings.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A new home for Green Day May 9, 2010

By L. Dando

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

At first, I was a bit hesitant to buy the cast recording of American Idiot. I am a huge Broadway fan (and a big John Gallagher Jr. fan as well), but I already love the original American Idiot album, and I couldn't see how I would enjoy listening to different people singing Green Day's original songs. How wrong I was!

The original Broadway cast of American Idiot bring something so unique and engaging to an already incredible album. The new voices (and Tom Kitt's arrangements) only enhance the album's story, and this recording brings an entirely new energy to the original songs. A familiar album takes on a whole new life with the cast recording, and I just can't wait to see this show on Broadway.

Green Day is one of the last bands whose work I would expect to see with an original Broadway cast recording, but they have certainly found a home in this new territory.

If you're a Green Day fan: BUY THIS ALBUM!
If you're a Broadway fan: BUY THIS ALBUM!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Green Day Make Their American Tommy December 25, 2010

By Tim Brough TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

The concept of the Rock and Roll Stage Musical is nothing new. "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Hair" made that world safe decades ago. "Grease" and "The Wiz" modernized them slightly, but it wasn't until "Tommy" that the revolution started. The Pete Townsend took his 1969 album to Broadway in 1993, he did something that had not been done before; took an entire album and based the play around it. "Beatlemania" may have been its closest cousin, but that was watching a live evolution of The Beatles had they remained a convert playing live entity. "Beatlemania" is better noted as the grandfather of all Jukebox Musicals, where an artist's catalog becomes fodder for a story either about the band ("Jersey Boys") or some random hodgepodge of a storyline having little or nothing to do with the music ("Mama Mia," "We Will Rock You" or even the snatching of songs from an era that is "Rock of Ages").

"American Idiot" jerks the lineage in a whole new direction. Like The Who's "Tommy," it is based on an album (or two, if you coun't the couple of songs from "21'st Century Breakdown") and the band had a hand in the story. But unlike these other rock musicals, the time from original album to stage was relatively short. Green Day's "American Idiot" was released in 2004, the first version of the play opened in Berkeley in 2009. The songs have changed very little, other than being sung by stage pros that Billie Joe's punky-yowlp. In several instances, this helps the songs.

The original "American Idiot" was such a rampant mix of styles as played by a single rock band, that it was easy to overlook just how melodic and well structured the songs sometimes are.... In particular, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and "21 Guns" pull ahead of their originals, and "Wake Me Up When September Ends" matches Green Days hit version. Strings and solo pianos add the kind of stagey emotional depth to several of the songs as well. Heck, Billie Joe has even taken the role of St Jimmy for several weeks of the show. You can bet Bono and The Edge aren't going to be onstage for their Spiderman show.

There will be two schools regarding "American Idiot" and the original cast. If the thought of big crunchy guitars of Broadway intrigues you, you'll cheer when the Glee-cast sounding version of the title track kicks in. If you are annoyed the 90's Punk Rock would cross to mainstream stages (whether from the elitist viewpoint of a Punk-Snob or Stage-Snob), this will sound like the second horseman of the apocalypse. Me? I'm all for it. I anxiously await an Alice Cooper musical, Styx's Paradise Theater or Kilroy was Here, and the mind that eventually will dream up The Tupac Vs Biggie show. Read more ›