American Idiot

Tom delights at being in American Idiot show spotlight

Having grown up in West Yorkshire, Tom Milner has many happy memories of childhood trips to Blackpool to see the lights.

Now, he and his fellow cast members are set to illuminate the stage of the Opera House with American Idiot The Musical, which has seen early rave reviews on its current tour.

The production is adapted from the 2004 album of the same name by the American punk band Green Day originally written as a reaction to the policies of then US president George W Bush.

The songs, which range from roof-raising rockers to tender ballads, has taken on a new significance during the White House tenure of Donald Trump and the current tour celebrates 10 years since the musical was initially launched on Broadway.

Tom, 27, is delighted to have been cast as Johnny, one of three disaffected young men – Will and Tunny being the others – around whom the story centres. While Will stays at home with his pregnant girlfriend, Johnny and Tunny flee a stifling suburban lifestyle,

Tunny quickly gives up on life in the city, joins the military and is shipped off to war, while Johnny turns to drugs, finds a part of himself he grows to dislike, has a relationship and experiences lost love.

“I been a great fan of Green Day’s music for years so it’s an absolute pleasure to be singing their songs every night,” said Tom.

“The audience reaction on the tour so far has been brilliant and I am really looking forward to coming to Blackpool.

“I grew up not too far away and we used to come along to see the Illuminations.

“I’ve also performed on one of the piers, supporting Blue, so I have many happy memories of Blackpool and it will be great to play the Opera House.”

While Johnny’s fate is at the centre of the story, Tom is quick to stress the cast is very much an ensemble and is delighted to be part of the latest group brought together by director Racky Plews, who previously took the production on tour in 2016 after a long run at the Arts Theatre in London.

“We all get on really well,” said Tom. “Touring for so long is like being with family. I was really impressed with Racky’s work when she directed a production my girlfriend was in and was really keen to work with her.”

Tom has sung on TV’s The Voice as well as acting in the likes of Waterloo Road and Holby City and feels musical theatre provides the best of both worlds.

Alongside Tom, two former X Factor contestants Luke Friend and Sam Lavery play Johnny’s ‘alter ego’ St Jimmy and girlfriend Whatsername respectively.

American Idiot: The Musical is at the Opera House from March 5 to 9. Ticket details from www.wintergardensblackpool.co.uk or (01253) 625252

Broadway star rocking into Bowie realm with Orchestra Iowa pops concert

Getting inside David Bowie’s skin is “oddly comfortable” for Tony Vincent.

The Broadway star and recording artist will take the Bowie lead with a rock band and Orchestra Iowa in Saturday’s (2/23) pops concert at the Paramount Theatre in Cedar Rapids.

Titled “The Music of David Bowie,” the sight and sound extravaganza will blast through some of the most influential music of the 20th century from the ultimate chameleon who burst onto the pop, rock, stage and screen scenes.

“He influenced me so much as a songwriter and as a musician, that it’s incredibly refreshing,” Vincent, 45, said by phone from his home in New York City in January, right before he, his wife and their two young children moved to Nashville.

“What I love about this experience (is that) it’s allowed me to be kind of quirky and silly in the storytelling, and actually show who I am as an individual, as opposed to trying to put on a character in a play or musical, or something like that,” he said.

“When I was younger, even doing my own music, I always had this viewpoint of ‘I have to be a certain thing.’ I’ve got to seem like I’m educated, I have to seem sophisticated, I have to be eloquent, or I have to be cool, or I have to be whatever — fill in the blank. This experience has freed me from those issues and trappings that I think held me down as a performer,” said Vincent, who starred on Broadway in “Rent,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “American Idiot” and “Rocktopia.”

In London, he appeared as Simon Zealotes in the 2000 film remake of “Jesus Christ Superstar” and sang the lead role of Galileo Figaro in the Queen musical “We Will Rock You” from 2002 to 2003. To further his Queen connections, he performed “Bohemian Rhapsody” with Queen in the 2002 Party at the Palace, honoring the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, and a decade later, he auditioned for the second season of NBC’s “The Voice” with “We Are the Champions,” earning him a spot on CeeLo Green’s team — and lots of industry exposure.

An Albuquerque native, Vincent said he’s been an Anglophile since age 4, when he heard the opening chord of the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” on a record. He credits that moment with launching his musical odyssey and eventually developing what he called his “English-isms.”

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“It was like, ‘What is coming out of these speakers, because whatever it is, I want to be a part of it,” he said.

Being part of the Bowie concert is “incredibly freeing,” he said, “because it’s the material that I’m so used to and paints the landscape of my youth, but at the same time, it’s allowed me to be a better performer — and I had no idea that would be the result of this.”

He doesn’t strive to look like Bowie.

“I don’t’ try to do an impersonation at all,” he said. “What I try to do is present his music in the most authentic way possible. I think it would be a big misstep if I try to emulate what he did. It think it’s also a matter of respect. There was only one David Bowie. No one wants someone trying to replace him, so I just try to be as authentic as I can to the material and be the best possible performer I can.”

The concert will cover a wide swath of music from the rock icon who died of liver cancer on Jan. 10, 2016. Bowie left behind a deep and rich legacy of pop hits and personas beginning with his “Space Oddity” hitmaker in 1969 with its instantly recognizable intro, “Ground Control to Major Tom.” His other trailblazing phases include his androgynous glam-rock alter ego Ziggy Stardust in 1972, his “plastic soul” sound with the 1975 “Young Americans” album and its breakout hit, “Fame,” on through his pop stylings with “China Girl” in 1983 — and on and on.

As much as Vincent enjoys singing all of this music, he does have a couple of favorite moments in the show, which he has been performing since shortly after Bowie’s death.

“I connect with a song called ‘Ashes to Ashes’ more than any other, just because lyrically, I associate with that as an individual who has struggled in the past with addiction issues,” he said. “(And) it’s hard to not to enjoy what ‘Space Oddity’ is. It’s such an epic song in nature, and then when you put a symphony behind it, it becomes incredibly magical.”

Bowie’s music lends itself well to orchestral arrangements, he added, with lush strings and other acoustic instruments bringing their own sound swell to the fore.

“There’s some artists it really caters to more than others,” Vincent said of the symphonic treatment. “His music is so epic and sort of symphonic in general, the way he has arranged the material, that it really lends itself beautifully to having an orchestra back it.”

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Tim Hankewich, Orchestra Iowa’s musical director, agreed, noting that he’s still amazed that after doing rock/orchestral mashups for the 13 years he’s been in Cedar Rapids, people still seem astonished the genres can meld.

“It surprises me how often I have to tell people these are not just orchestra arrangements of popular melodies,” he said. “These are tribute bands coming in with full vocals, faithfully reproduced in the way that people grew up with, just with the added benefit of a symphony orchestra behind them, bolstering the sound.”

The acoustic/electronic instrumental crossover that was so popular in the ’70s and ’80s has largely been lost in today’s music, Hankewich said, “which is why a lot of these concerts that we do — classic rock with orchestra — work so well.”

It’s a sound he grew up with “by default,” thanks to his older sister’s fandom. “I had no choice but to listen to it all the time,” he said with a laugh.

He described the upcoming concert as “a good blast to the past.”

“Think about all that British Invasion stuff,” he said. “There was a time in ’70s where Britannia ruled the world. ...

“It’s fascinating how music really defines a person and their generation, so it’s no surprise to me that each generation is tied to a particular style of music,” Hankewich said. “Generally speaking, we try and do these things when the band is either no longer existing or touring anymore, or the artist is no longer with us.”

“Oddly enough people still have a hard time wrapping their heads around how a symphony orchestra and a rock concert can be compatible,” he said.

“For some reason, when the word ‘symphony’ is attached to the program, they think that the experience is going to be different than a rock concert, and as such, people stay away, and they’re missing out, because it’s not a symphony concert. It’s a rock concert. The symphony orchestra just happens to be on stage, making the band larger.”

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l Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com

GET OUT!

WHAT: Orchestra Iowa Pops: “The Music of David Bowie,” with guest vocalist Tony Vincent & rock band

WHERE: Paramount Theatre, 119 Third Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday (2/23)

TICKETS: $18 to $55, Paramount Ticket Office, (319) 366-8203 or Paramounttheatrecr.com/Events/Default.aspx

ARTIST’S WEBSITE: Tonyvincent.com

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Penn State Centre Stage set to present ‘Hands on a Hardbody’

Dan Teixeira, left, plays the role of Jesus Pena in the Penn State Centre Stage presentation of ‘Hand on a Hardbody’ opening Feb. 19 at the Playhouse Theatre on Penn State’s University Park campus. Teixeira’s recent credits at Penn State Centre Stage include Legally Blonde and American Idiot.

UNIVERSITY PARK — “Hands on a Hardbody” is a pretty catchy title.

Penn State Centre Stage hopes that theatergoers will catch this gritty musical, which opens tomorrow, with 7:30 p.m. performances on Feb. 22-23 and Feb. 26-27, with a 2 p.m. matinee on Feb. 23 at The Playhouse on the University Park campus.

Ten hard-luck young people desperately want a new lease on life. The surest answer is to win a shiny new truck. But the winner in a gimmicky contest will be the last one to keep their hands on that truck sitting day after day in the scorching Texas sun.

Armed with nothing but hope, humor, and burning ambition, they struggle to be the last one to put their “Hands On (that truck’s) Hardbody.”

Based upon a 1997 documentary of the same name, this stage version reportedly stays faithful to the film, and was nominated for three Tony Awards, and won a Drama Desk Award for “Best Sound Design of a Musical.”

The head of Penn State University’s Musical Theater Department, John Simpkins directs this PSCS production.

This uniquely American story focuses upon the plight of ‘every person’ fighting for the hope they once had. “Hands On a Hardbody explores the lives of regular people who, like many Americans, are struggling to make ends meet and continue the pursuit of the American dream,” Simpkins says.

They gather around a shining pickup truck, convinced if they win it, they will somehow get back on track, escape their limitations and make their lives better. But one by one, the mental and physical exhaustion overcomes them in the grueling three-day ordeal.

Each of these East Texas contestants have personal problems and are drowning in debt, which adds to their depression. But each character on the fringes is resolved, despite the odds of the marathon contest, clings to the hope of winning. They fight exhaustion and each other, while always being urged to “keep your paws on the prize.”

The Music Director and Choreographer acknowledge that its contemporary score has a strong pop-country and Gospel influence. They further note that this tale of hard luck in the heartland is basically an ensemble piece, with a country rock idiom.

With a variety of songs, the score, although occasionally sounding twangy, clearly soars near the end of Act I, with a rousing Gospel song “Joy of the Lord.”

This fast-paced musical has a running time of approximately 2.5 hours, with one intermission.

One of four Penn State Centre Stage productions in its 2018-19 season, “Hands On a Hardbody” is an exuberant musical which theatergoers may get their hands around by empathizing with the wounded dreamers holding on as long as they can.

For more information, call 814-863-0255 or visit www.theatre.psu.edu.

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