Martin VanBuren III / Castleton Spartan

             Perfect.

            “American Idiot” was perfect. From the set design to the costumes to the music. The cast lit up the stage in the little theater in Castleton, though it felt like it should have been on Broadway.

            This musical was a story of three boys who planned on leaving their town to go to the big city. All ended up on different paths, and this was a story of addiction, agony and loss, all told through the musical stylings of Green Day.

            Though it started as one story, it morphed into three, and then came back together in the end. There wasn’t much speaking, but it was very easy to follow.

Martin Van Buren III / Castleton Spartan

Now, for the music.

            Wow.

            A band composed of a set of drums, a guitar and a bass nearly took the attention away from the cast, but the perfect harmonies and the incredible choreography by Maya Kraus allowed for many things on stage to look at at all times.

            Though everyone on stage was phenomenal, there were a few stars who shined brighter than others.

            Nick Marshall was remarkable. His guitar playing was great, his singing was incredible and his acting was flawless.

            He sent chills through the audience when he was on the bed struggling with addiction, which took human form in Jess Poljacik. She acted as his addiction to heroin, and lurked in the background when Marshall’s character, Johnny, tried to go about his day.

            This really showed how much an addiction can take over a person’s life. When Johnny was arguing with Jordan Griffith’s character, Whatsername, he literally fell into his addiction’s arms.

            When nothing else in his life was going the way he planned, heroin was there to catch him every time.   

            Will, played by Matthew Eckler, was a surprise talent. His bellowing voice captured the audience and his emotional performance dealing with young parenthood and alcoholism held them captive for the entire hour and a half.

            Brittany Rathburn, playing Extraordinary Girl, and Justin Gardner, playing Tunny, beautifully used a sheet as a prop in a dance number about love and loss. Twists and turns all around allowed the audience to see something simple transformed into something great.

That’s what this play did. It took the lives of young boys, threw in a few major problems, and let us watch as they turned into men.  

            The costumes. The lights. The set. The voices. The acting. The choreography.

            It was all perfect.

            My only criticism? There are only five shows.

Martin VanBuren III / Castleton Spartan