Green Day Rocks Broadway

Next Tuesday, April 20th, Green Day is combining two of our favorite things on the planet — punk rock and theater — and we could not be more excited. The Broadway premiere of American Idiot (the stage adaptation of Green Days' 2004 album) is a greatly anticipated event on the Great White Way. Sadly we won't be going to New York anytime soon.

Lucky for us, VH1 is giving us a little taste with tonight's premiere of Green Day Rocks Broadway, a behind the scenes look at the band's new musical. The special won't reveal the entire show, but will present enough clips to give us a sense of being there and maybe even convince some skeptics that Green Day is not selling out.

The rock musical is not a new genre. It's been around for decades (Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Rent, Tommy), but Green Day is taking it one step further. This stage production is not a watered down version of pop songs like many shows of late (you know who you are Mama Mia and Billy Joel's Movin Out). This is the real deal and may finally be what Broadway needs to get younger audiences to go to the theater.

While we love Andrew Lloyd Webber and Stephen Sondheim, we're personally thrilled that they no longer own the stage and that new voices are emerging to usher the medium into a new era. Recent shows like Spring Awakenings and Passing Strange have paved the way for Green Day to introduce young rock fans to the thrills and chills of Broadway.

Still have your doubts? Watch this video released last month of Green Day and the cast from American Idiot recording 21 Guns and tell us you didn't get the pop shivers with all those resounding voices booming out in harmony. We dare you.

If you're lucky enough to get to the St. James Theater to see American Idiot be sure to let us know how it was.