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Book: Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer

Music: Green Day

Lyrics: Billie Joe Armstrong

Original Broadway cast: John Gallagher Jr. as Johnny, Michael Esper as Will, Mary Faber as Heather, Rebecca Naomi Jones as Whatsername, Christina Sajous as The Extraordinary Girl, Stark Sands as Tunny, Tony Vincent as St. Jimmy

Performance dates: April 20, 2010-April 24, 2011

What it's about: Johnny, Will, and Tunny are three disaffected youths living in Jingletown, USA. While Johnny and Tunny escape to the city, Will is forced to stay behind with his pregnant girlfriend Heather. The city offers new thrills, but Johnny falls into drug abuse and Tunny is recruited and enlists in the army.

Why it's essential: There were rock musicals before American Idiot, but few were as effective at capturing the raw energy that infuses the show. Although the music isn't original, it's transformed in its theatrical context. Like the album on which it's based, American Idiot feels like a time capsule of Bush-era rage and ennui.