There has been a trend for jukebox musicals in recent years where they use existing songs by a band or from genre or era instead of writing new ones. American Idiot is of this type.
Image from http://ninjagurung.deviantart.com/art/Green-Day-American-Idiot-Logo-302233295
I saw it yesterday in London at the Arts Theatre in London's West End. I've not been there before. It's a fairly small theatre with a cafe out front. The place is slightly run down with very worn seats, but that suits the vibe of this show which uses a post-industrial set.
Image from https://www.flickr.com/photos/zbellink/5386981024 of the Broadway cast with Billy Joe Armstrong.
There is a plot to the show that you can read on Wikipedia. There is very little spoken dialogue, so it's not all totally clear, but the songs are chosen to reflect the story. It's almost like seeing a tribute act show except you have the mass singing and dancing.
They have a live band. The guitarist and bassist were visible most of the time on the upper level. The drummer was behind a screen up there and only lit up during drum solos. A violinist was visible on some songs. There was some other instrumentation, but I don't know if that was all live. The band certainly worked hard as the music is almost non-stop. There are a couple of songs that make neat use of video where the performers appear on a TV screen. In one case this is used so one can harmonise himself and it was very effective. Some of the singers play guitar, but some of that looked to be mimed.
I was excited to see that the lead was played by Newton Faulkner, but he wasn't there for our matinee performance. His understudy did a good job. The performances were generally effective. It's not the sort of classic singing you get in some musicals. This is rock and roll.
There is some graphic drug usage in the show that some people may not like, but most people should know what to expect from Green Day. My daughter is a big fan on them and really enjoyed this. I liked it too. It had plenty of energy and didn't drag at all. It's about one hour forty with no interval, but that seemed to go pretty quickly.
The show will be touring the UK, so catch it if you can.