Green Day Musical Coming

Green Day's 2004 American Idiot album is going to become a stage musical.

The New York Times newspaper reports that the musical, which shares its title with the album, will have its first run at the Berkeley Repertory Theater in Berkeley, Calif. from Sept. 4 to Oct. 11. It features music from the record and is being directed by Tony Award-winning stage director Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening).

"It’s not the most linear story in the world,” Mayer told the newspaper. “If you read it a certain way, you can pull out a multiplicity of voices.”

Mayer says he first heard the album when writing Spring Awakening, and it resonated with him. He and producer Tom Hulce (Amadeus) first approached Green Day about adapting American Idiot for the theatre in 2008.

"It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but that’s what I love about it," Green Day singer/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong told the Times about the musical. "When people see it, it’s going to be my wildest dream.”

The musical will reportedly feature characters like Jesus Of Suburbia, St. Jimmy and Whatshername, who are featured in the songs on American Idiot. A total of 19 performers will be involved, but no one has yet been cast for the production.

Green Day's eighth studio album, 21st Century Breakdown, is due on May 15 through Reprise Records.