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Review: ‘American Idiot’ marks the ‘time of your life’

Combining stagecraft and a rock concert is hardly a new idea. But “American Idiot” gives the concept fresh life, not to mention a fresh audience.

Penn State Centre Stage’s rendition of this rock musical, under the direction of Erin Farrell Speer, brings together the elements one might conjure, with the help of the inspired songwriting and musicianship of Green Day and tightly wound lyrics by frontman Billie Joe Armstrong.

Two shows will be staged today, at 2 and 7:30 p.m., at the Playhouse Theatre in University Park.

While the band’s iconic album “American Idiot” came out in 2004, in response to the post-9/11 “war on terror,” the emotions and implications are every bit as raw and salient today.

The disillusionment and rebellion of youth, ever a staple, gets a new face as broadcast and personal media invade personal thinking, and the world newly at war seems to hold ever more reasons for rejection of its trappings.

Three upstart young men who share a bond of friendship are soon traveling very different paths, leading to the blur of love and lust, the strangeness of sudden parenthood, drug addiction and depression, interspersed with charged images of a combat zone, a hospital ward and an injured soldier’s dreams.

Johnathan Teeling, Aidan Wharton and Jack LeBoeuf lead an unflinching and energized cast.

Decked with urban, graffiti-laced concrete walls, the music and stage play ranges from tenderness to full fury, from a single acoustic guitar and tenuous solo vocal to full cast harmonies and raging rock by the show’s six-piece rock orchestra (with arrangements and direction by Tom Kitt) in the background.

Choreographer Michele Dunleavy tucks smart turns, jumps, jerks and smooth transitions into the many seams of this triumphant generational protest.

Skilled lighting by Zachary Straeffer gives a moment’s weight a murkiness, and more than once, full-on lights include the audience, welcoming the viewer into the disorientation and emotion of the players.

The language is raw, delivering a stark emotion and realism.

If the music imbues the viewer with angst, anger or sinking feelings, the finale buoys spirits: first one, then another, and finally 18 players and as many guitars take off on the acoustic epic “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).”

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