American Idiot was the seventh studio album by the American rock band Green Day, released in 2004, and so celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

Tagged a “punk rock opera” even at the time, American Idiot followed the story of a working-class, American antihero and his mates.

It’s full of hard-hitting numbers, some of which (Boulevard of Broken Dreams) have since become standards, while others, such as Give Me Novocaine or Before the Lobotomy tell their own story of disillusionment.

Give its rock-opera status, it’s not surprising that a musical based on the concept album premiered on Broadway in 2010, expanding on the story which is set in the post-9/11 era, with comments on the Iraq War and at least one character signing up for active service.

Now the musical is coming to the region for the first time in a production by Queanbeyan Players, whose music director, Jen Hinton jumped at the opportunity to play such unconventional and often wild music.

When I dropped in on a rehearsal at Gowrie Primary School on a recent weekend, I found Hinton belting out the drums with a local live band of keyboard, strings, percussion and guitar, which will perform onstage, while director Bradley McDowell was putting the large, lively cast through its paces.

He’s been a Green Day fan for many years and is busy instructing the cast on how to make the song City of The Damned sound less Australian.

He has acted in School of Rock and Jersey Boys and a stint last year as production manager on West Side Story, but this is his first-time directorial role. Stepping into the director’s role, he says has been a pleasure.

“I have loved it because this is my favourite music,” he adds.

In 2019 he pitched it to another unnamed local company but they weren’t interested, so he took it to Queanbeyan Players and, keen to revitalise the troupe, they jumped at it.

McDowell thinks of it is being “punk rock with an added layer of music” and adds, “Green Day’s music carries messages that are always a bit deeper, looking at the state of the individual”.

On the sidelines of rehearsal, I caught up with John Whinfield, a seasoned musical theatre character actor who plays Johnny, the central character.

“Johnny is a disgruntled displaced young man, trying to find meaning in the world and excited by new places, faces and voices,” he says.

Along with his mates Will and Tunny, he is in his early to mid 20s and is blinded by the adrenalin rush as he jumps into different experiences – he’s very much at the centre from beginning to end, with the show chronicling his journey.

Johnny, Will (Zachary Izzard) and Tunny (Darcy Kinsella) are hellbent on getting out of their hometown Jingletown, USA, to explore different aspects of American society, but Will’s girlfriend gets pregnant and Tunny enlists.

The show pokes at the military American military jingoism, also canvassing the effects of drugs, culminating in the heroin-infused number, Last Night on Earth.

All along, there is the spectral figure of Saint Jimmy (Declan Pigram), Johnny’s dangerous, imaginary friend. He has to go.

In Whinfield’s opinion, the music should get the audience going because it’s “beefed-up, heavy, loud but deceptive, because it’s thoughtful music”.

Whinfield, who works as a character and voice actor by day, has been doing theatre since 2019.

He recently played a quieter role in Queanbeyan Players’ production of the musical Next to Normal, but considers this part of Johnny a natural progression, as it tackles important, meaningful questions.

The scariest thing is that he has to actually play the guitar on stage and he has no background in guitar.

“It’s all coming up quite well,” he reports, “due to the support of the Queanbeyan Players family,” among whom he numbers Hinton, choreographer Brigid Cummins and guitar teacher James Macpherson.

As well, Shelby Holland, who plays his girlfriend Whatsername and who has a background in country music, has been sitting by his side.

As for whether he’s the American idiot of the title, Whinfield says “he just happens to be the loudest idiot”.

American Idiot, at The Q, Queanbeyan, June 20-29.