Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...The Hypocrites' "American Idiot" is a true original, a fine time, and a significant achievement. The show tries too much to please and welcome, and worries too much about self-actualization and mutual support. But the passion for the material never lets up for a moment. And, let us all stipulate, there is more than enough idiocy just a short stroll away."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Under Steven Wilson’s galvanic direction — with hypnotic choreography by Katie Spelman that channels the best of such masters as Steven Hoggett (“Blackwatch”) and Bill T. Jones (“Spring Awakening”), and fearsome musical direction by Andra Velis Simon that suggests the whole thing is unspooling at CBGB’s — there is such a sense of alienation and honesty at work here that you can feel the growing pains of the show’s early twentysomething characters in all their feverish intensity."
Chicago Reader - Recommended
"...As staged by director Steven Wilson and choreographer Katie Spelman, the production more closely resembles a circus than a traditional theatrical work. But that's true to the Dionysian spirit of Green Day's music, as well as to the young company's own MO. The book (written by Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer) is slight—three young men try to find their way in post-9/11 America. This show’s carried by the songs (musical direction by Andra Velis Simon) and Spelman’s inventive, constantly evolving choreography."
Gapers Block - Highly Recommended
"...The narrative itself is deeply woven into the lyrics, arrangements, set pieces and choreography. Much like the other Hypocrites' show I reviewed (Burning Bluebeard, 2013), each choice by the director, musical director, costume and set designer served to reinforce the story. No detail was extraneous or superfluous. It all came together seamlessly to create a breathless and seamless whole that transports the audience to its created world."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Wilson makes his directing debut with a project that’s a bit unusual for the Hypocrites, in that it’s the first professional production by a Chicago-based theater of a recent Broadway property. The Green Day musical American Idiot is the kind of show you might expect to show up at a number of other Chicago companies. (Indeed, it almost did, as licensing agency MTI initially gave simultaneous Chicago rights to both the Hypocrites and Griffin Theatre, as well as BoHo Theatre later in the season, unbeknownst to the three companies.)"
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...It really sucks to be a rebel with a sense of self-awareness. That's the impression I get from Steven Wilson's re-imagining of American Idiot, the 2010 musical adapted from Green Day's 2004 album, now being produced by The Hypocrites. Having dispensed with the anti-Bush politics of the original in favor of a focus on the lives of young people in punk culture, Wilson's character-driven show is much stronger emotionally, and more introspective. Best of all, Andra Velis Simon's music direction and Rick Sims' sound design are carefully adjusted for The Den Theatre's downstairs space, allowing Green Days' music with new orchestrations and choral backups to be appreciated fully."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...Pull out your vintage rock t-shirts and Doc Martens and head over to see The Hypocrites’ American Idiot now in concert at The Den Theatre’s Heath Main Stage. The album that put 90’s punk band Green Day back in the spotlight for in the new millennium, American Idiot was meant to be a jukebox musical, with its first-person voice, thematically- and (to a lesser degree) narratively-connected songs and its blend of teen angst, disaffection, inchoate social critique and hard rock anthems mixed with world-weary ballads."
Chicago Theatre Review - Somewhat Recommended
"...This production of American Idiot brings a youthful exuberance to its stage. But with a little more thoughtful and deliberate execution all audiences could feel more connected and empathetic."
