Wallace Smith Will Enlist in Broadway's American Idiot July 20

By Adam Hetrick
19 Jul 2010

Wallace Smith
Wallace Smith

Wallace Smith will succeed Joshua Henry as the "Favorite Son" in the Tony Award-nominated Green Day musical American Idiot, beginning July 20 at the St. James Theatre.

Smith, who has appeared on Broadway in the Tony-winning revival of Hair, as well as in the 2009 revival of Ragtime and The Lion King, joins the ensemble of the rock musical that has a book by Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong and director Michael Mayer, and features punk tunes culled from the Green Day catalogue and their Grammy-winning album "American Idiot."

Smith succeeds Henry, who created the role of the military hero depicted in American Idiot and is departing the production to star in the Guthrie Theatre and subsequent Broadway production of Kander and Ebb's Scottsboro Boys.

American Idiot also features Tony Award winner John Gallagher, Jr. (Spring Awakening) as Johnny, Michael Esper (subUrbia) as Will, Tony nominee Stark Sands (Twelfth Night) as Tunny, Rebecca Naomi Jones (Passing Strange) as Whatshername, Christina Sajous (The Wild Party) as The Extraordinary Girl, Mary Faber (Avenue Q) as Heather and Tony Vincent (Jesus Christ Superstar) as St. Jimmy, with Declan Bennett (Rent), Andrew Call (Cry-Baby), Gerard Canonico (Spring Awakening), Miguel Cervantes (Spelling Bee), Van Hughes (Hairspray), Brian Charles Johnson (Spring Awakening), Joshua Kobak (Rent), Lorin Latarro (Movin' Out), Omar Lopez-Cepero (North American tour of Evita), Leslie McDonel (Hairspray), Chase Peacock (High School Musical), Theo Stockman (Hair), Ben Thompson (Cyrano with Placido Domingo), Alysha Umphress (bare), Aspen Vincent (Dirty Dancing), Libby Winters (White Noise), Corbin Reid and Sydney Harcourt.

The production has scenic design by Tony Award winner Christine Jones (Spring Awakening), costume design by Andrea Lauer (The Butcher of Baraboo), lighting design by three-time Tony winner Kevin Adams (Hair), sound design by Obie Award winner Brian Ronan (Cabaret), as well as video design by Darrel Maloney. The music director is Carmel Dean. Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning Next to Normal composer Tom Kitt serves as musical supervisor. He also orchestrated and arranged the score.

Visit AmericanIdiotonBroadway.com