American Idiot, Southampton Mayflower, review A rock musical can never be quite as thrilling as a rock gig. The constraints of theatrical production will compromise the raw, visceral immediacy of a great live performance: simply, you can't script spontaneity. And this applies particularly when the music is by a band as head-bangingly nuts as US punk-pop pranksters Green Day. But American Idiot, based on the band's 2004 album of the same name, works because it's such a terrific show, bursting with vitality and lit with flashes of visual invention (the appearance in mid-air of what seems to be a burka-clad angel is jaw-dropping). Though the central characters are never fleshed out and the plot's a bit thin, you're swept along by waves of mayhem and energy - and some great tunes. After more than 400 performances on Broadway (where it won two Tony awards), the show kicked off a UK tour in Southampton. The story (by Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong and the director Michael Mayer) is set at the height of the presidency of George W Bush: faraway conflicts rage as the media obsess over the minutiae of Angelina Jolie's existence. In a small-town suburb somewhere, Johnny, Will and Tunny, a trio of angry, disaffected teenagers, decide they ain't gonna take it no more, even if they're not quite sure what "it" is. Each embarks on a different escape route. Johnny (Alex Nee) jumps on a bus and heads for the big city, where he falls in love with the vivacious Whatsername (Alyssa Dipalma); but he falls, too, under the spell of St Jimmy (Trent Saunders), a sinister, mysterious character who seems to be a mixture of alter ego and the devil on Johnny's shoulder; either way, he turns Johnny into a junkie. Meanwhile, Tunny (Thomas Hettrick) joins the army and is plunged into the horrors of war in the Middle East; and Will (Casey O'Farrell), after getting his girlfriend pregnant, becomes marooned on the island of his front-room sofa, drinking beer, watching TV and sinking into despair. The 20-strong company, young, well-drilled and impressively limber, fill the stage with relentless exuberance, while the onstage band reproduce the rattle and hum of Green Day with precision and panache. And, in the end, it's the musical numbers, from 21st-century protest songs to anthems for doomed youth, that are the stars of this rollicking, thunderous but frequently moving show. Tour details: americanidiotthemusical.co.uk