American Idiot

Ok, ok, before y'all wield pitchforks because I again promised that I'd write another entry the following day and haven't - I'm sorry. Life has gotten in the way of the blog. I feel like I shouldn't neglect it so much. So let's start over.

Hey guys, it's Joe. And this is my (self-indulgent, some say)blog.

As a reward for finishing the Marathon, I headed to NYC with Dev and Rachel to see American Idiot. Yes, it's a musical based on Green Day's album of the same name, along with some tracks from "21st Century Breakdown" and an original tune or two thrown in for good measure. Helmed by Michael Mayer (the guy who brought Spring Awakening to life), American Idiot had a regional run last September at the Berkeley Rep in California. Green Day had a pretty big say in creating the show, Billie Joe Armstrong is credited along with Mayer as the book writer, and have seen the show numerous times, including the night we went. I was looking forward to it, it received quite a few good notices in CA and I'd consider myself a casual Green Day fan ("Dookie" was one of the first cd's I owned. I'll admit I wasn't familiar with the entire album, but had heard, and enjoyed, most of it). It was also heralded as the show to beat come awards time. It opened to mixed to positive reviews, including an ever important rave from The New York Times. I had also been checking the website, following it on twitter, saw some pictures, and it looked pretty exciting.

Basic premise: 3 friends, Johnny, Will and Tunny, totally disenchanted with their lives in dead-end Jingletown make a pact to get out and achieve the American dream. Before they even leave, Will's girlfriend is pregnant, and thus stays behind. While they're on the road, Tunney sees a catchy ad for the Military and promises of being America's "Favorite Son" and joins up. Left alone, Johnny turns to drugs and pusher St. Jimmy. Sadness, political commentary and life lessons ensue. The opening number "American Idiot" left me a little skeptical, there was A LOT going on - strobe lights, projections on what seemed like 100 monitors - but it was none the less exhilarating. After the initial jolt of energy, the show settled in nicely and the 90 minutes pretty much flew by. Three things really stuck with me - first, the incredible performances of John Gallagher Jr as Johnny and Stark Sands as Tunny. Yeah, the plot was paper thin (if non-existent) but Gallagher and Sands made you feel for these characters, character development be damned, and actually care about what happened to them. There's a great sequence about half way in that takes place in a military hospital that's stunning, and the last 10 minutes of the show are nothing short of extraordinary. Initially, I hated how it ended, and the last song "Whatshername" seemed tacked on to just try and fit in another song. After thinking about it for a while and listening to the CD a couple more times, I realized that it was the perfect epilogue, and was one of the most thrilling endings to a show I've ever seen. The crowd gave an immediate standing ovation, to which I whole-heartedly agreed with.

The second thing that I was most taken with were the orchestrations and arrangements. Tom Kitt, who orchestrated my favorite show last season, Next to Normal, was responsible for fleshing out songs written for guitar, bass and drums into something suitable for a Broadway musical. The vocal arrangements are incredible too. Even if you have the studio album of American Idiot, I encourage you to pick up the cast recording too - it's sensational. I've been playing it for the past month. I think it's a crime that he was overlooked for a Tony nomination for his work, but that's another post for another day.

Finally, Michael Mayer's direction and vision. The attention to detail was out of this world, on everything from the set, video projections to the props. I was honestly expecting a revamp of Spring Awakening, and there were indeed shades of it, but this was completely new and engaging. The way the cast moved around the stage, and the amount of energy the had for the entire 90 minutes - it was exhausting just watching them. I can't possibly imagine doing that 8 times a week. Unfortunately he was egregiously overlooked for a Tony nomination as well, but at least he's in good company.

It's been interesting to see how polarizing the show is - it's either been a love it or hate it, not a whole lot of middle ground. Count me in the "love it" camp. Is it as groundbreaking as some want it to be? Sadly, no, but it's a major leap forward in the genre and introducing an entire new audience to Broadway.

I can count on one hand the number of times I've been speechless after leaving a show. Add American Idiot to that list.

photo courtesy of The Chicago Sun-Times

Happy Mother's Day!

Greetings bloggers! First, I need to send a very Happy Mother's Day to my mom who is the best mom anyone could ask for. I know, a lot of people say that, but it's true. My mom is better than yours - haha, just kidding - sort of...

Anyways, It's been an incredibly busy past month, the major event being the 2010 Boston Marathon. That's right friends, at approximately 4pm on Monday, April 19, 2010, I became a Marathoner (Yes, Marathoner is a proper noun - at least, I think it should be, and if it's not, it is now). The entire day was incredible - an absolutely amazing experience I'll never forget. I was a bundle of nerves the day before, both emotionally and physically. I tried to not do a whole lot on Sunday, but that was much easier said than done. I got a lot of phone calls with well-wishes, which were much appreciated. I carb-loaded for dinner (and threw some chicken and salad in there too), raised my bed like Coach Rick said, and tried to sleep.

Fast forward to 5:30am, I was awakened out of a surprisingly sound sleep by the sound of my alarm. I got up, took a shower and put on my "uniform" for the day. I tried to eat breakfast, but I was a little too nervous/excited to eat much. I was meeting the team at 6:55 at Park Street to take the buses out to Hopkinton. I was shocked (but I shouldn't have been) at the amount of people that were waiting to get a bus. I met the team and we stood in line to get on one of the parade of yellow school buses to take us to the Athlete's Village. At about 7:45, I was sitting next to my friend and training partner Mike Wasserman and we were on our way to start the biggest adventure of our lives.

It took about an hour to get out to Hopkinton, but it felt like a lot longer, especially thinking "holy crap, I have to RUN all this way back". Arrival in the Village was pretty cool, again an amazing sight, people everywhere, helicopters circling, music playing, and an almost party-like atmosphere. I met up with the rest of the team and everyone talked about how excited/nervous they were. At about 9:50, we started to make our way to the starting corrals (our start time was 10:30am) and along the entire .7 mile route to the corrals, people were cheering and clapping for us - it was just a small indication of the excitement that was to come. Once I was packed into corral 24 with about 500 other runners, the energy level was almost through the roof. There was a giant clock counting down the minutes remaining until it was time for us to start. At 10:30 on the dot, the gun sounded and there was a surge towards the starting line. There was a slow trot/jog up to the starting line and within minutes, I crossed the starting line and was on my way.

The first five miles of the course were down hill, and I was incredibly excited. I was swept up in all the excitement as well as the other runners, and was pretty much disregarding time. My friend Rae decided to run bandit, and she jumped in with me at mile 2. I was surprised at how fast the time (and miles) was going, and the people cheering us on kept me going. When we got into Framingham I saw some of the students I teach at Oakmont, which was really exciting, I was glad they came out. I was cruising along at a great pace up through mile 7, and then I stopped to pee. Mistake number 1. I lost Rae, but quickly found some other friends from the training runs so I ran with them through Wellesley and Wellesley College. The scream tunnel at Wellesley was everything I imagined it would be, and you could hear it from about a quarter of a mile away. The Wellesley girls even made me a sign! I jumped up and down with excitement when I saw it, and kissed the girl that made it. I was blazing through the course, and I crossed the halfway point at about 2:05. Mistake number 2. I saw some coworkers in Wellesley, and it was a welcome sight to see them because my quads had started to get a little sore. I made it through Wellesley and got into Newton, crossed over 128 and about a half mile before the Woodland Country Club (mile 17) I hit the wall. Usually I was able to overcome them, but not today.

I turned the corner onto Commonwealth Ave and the beginning of the three Newton hills, and my heart sank. I still had 8 miles to go. I ended up walking the up hills and jogging the downhills/flats through Newton. At the top of Heartbreak Hill (probably one of the most infamous hills in running lore), I saw two of my Pi Kapp bros, Diego and Justin, and they gave me a huge hug and said there was another group just about 100 yards up the road - and there was. It was so uplifting to see all of them, screaming and cheering for me - they gave me the energy to make it the last 5 miles. Meg and Emily had amazing signs and Beth, Anthony, Michael, Nick, Rusty, Miss Alison Hay, TJ, Czabaj, Kramer and Sloan were yelling and taking pictures - it was glorious. I stopped at a medical tent at about mile 21 to see if they had anything to help my quads (at this point, they were on fire). I took a short break and got some freeze-it and the medical people gave me some water. After a few minutes (the clock hadn't stopped, by the way - I had given up my goal of coming in under 5 hours, my goal now was just to finish in one piece), one of the nurses asked me if I was done. I said "lady, I've trained for 18 months, raised $6,000 and told way too many people about this - I'm getting to the finish line if I have to crawl." There was a state trooper from New Hampshire sitting next to me and was having the same calf problems, and we gave each other a fist bump and we ran the last five miles together. It was really awesome to make a new friend along the route and for both of us to finish.

Katie was waiting for me just after Coolidge Corner with her clappy-hands, and was jumping up and down when I came by - it was one last push to get me the last 2 miles. I ran up Mount Kenmore and got into Kenmore Square and saw the Citgo sign and the flag that said "1 Mile to Go" and Molly Hayes standing right after the sign with a smile and her camera. All I had to do was go under Mass Ave, turn onto Hereford Street, and make the final turn onto Boylston and I would be home free.

Coming back up under Mass Ave was a little more painful than I thought, and I made it up the short hill on Hereford onto Boylston. I turned the corner and could see the finish line - but it was still 300 yards away. My initial reaction was "fuck, it's still so far!", but I didn't listen to my head and picked up the pace a little bit and ran the last four blocks to the finish line. About 100 yards before the finish line I saw Jaj and Mike DiPietro and my Aunt and Uncle and cousins Molly and Melanie and my sister Jess - who I was expecting to be in the bleachers with my mom and dad and Aunt. I didn't really have too much time to think about it because by the time I looked up again I was at the bleachers and saw my mom and dad, Aunt Mary and Uncle Bill and my Gramps - I was totally surprised and wasn't expecting him to be there. I could tell that my mom was crying, dad and Gramps were smiling and waving and Aunt Mary and Uncle Bill were hooting and hollering.

I crossed the finish line with a time of 5:27.53 and couldn't believe I had done it. After all the hard work and training and fundraising and aches and pains were totally worth it when one of the B.A.A. volunteers put the finisher's medal around my neck. I took a second to look down and admire it - I had earned it. Yeah, I didn't finish in the time that I wanted, but I finished. I ran the Boston Marathon. I got some food to refuel and headed to the Westin where I was meeting everyone.





It was great to meet my family and see all my friends that had come out and get to chat with them for a while. It was great to see Coach Rick and to see how proud he was. After I changed and cleaned up, the fam and I headed to dinner in the North End, and by 10pm I was home and in bed - exhausted, but feeling incredibly accomplished.

Ok - that's enough for one entry, I'll be back tomorrow to blog about American Idiot, the best theatrical event of the year, and a borderline religious experience...