Billie Joe Armstrong Will Be St. Jimmy in American Idiot in Early 2011

By Kenneth Jones
30 Nov 2010

Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong
Photo by Krissie Fullerton

Winter on Broadway just got hotter. The producers of the rock musical American Idiot announced that Green Day frontman and the musical's composer and co-author Billie Joe Armstrong will return to the role of St. Jimmy for 50 performances beginning on Jan. 1, 2011.

Armstrong made his Broadway debut in a one-week engagement Sept. 28-Oct. 3, 2010, and played to sold-out houses at the St. James Theatre, 246 West 44th Street, grossing $1,092,334 for the week. The week before that (Sept. 20-26), the gross was $480,566 and 52.6 percent of capacity. The show's weekly average gross has been $740,000 since opening on April 20.

The Armstrong 2011 performance schedule will be Jan. 1-9, Jan. 18-30 and Feb. 10-27.

Original Broadway cast member Tony Vincent will complete his run as St. Jimmy on Dec. 30.

The musical based on Green Day's punk album of the same name, and using the disc's B-side tracks and numbers from the album "21st Century Breakdown," is directed and co-written by Michael Mayer. A fresh, post 9/11 story has been attached to the songs. Three suburban buddies (John Gallagher Jr., Stark Sands, Michael Esper) take separate paths and encounter love, loss, violence, temptation and understanding along the way. St. Jimmy is a dark force that speaks to Johnny, aka Jesus of Suburbia, who travels to the big city for a new experience. Read Playbill.com's earlier interview with Mayer.

The Green Day songs have lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong. Musical supervision, arrangements and orchestrations are by Tom Kitt. Choreography is by Olivier Award winner Steven Hoggett. Christine Jones and Kevin Adams won Tony Awards for scenic design and lighting design, respectively.

The cast currently includes Tony Award winner Gallagher (Spring Awakening), Tony Award nominee Sands (Journey's End), Esper (A Man For All Seasons), Rebecca Naomi Jones (Passing Strange), Christina Sajous (The Wild Party), Mary Faber (Avenue Q) and Tony Vincent (Jesus Christ Superstar). The cast also features Declan Bennett, Andrew Call, Gerard Canonico, Miguel Cervantes, Sydney Harcourt, Van Hughes, Brian Charles Johnson, Joshua Kobak, Lorin Latarro, Omar Lopez-Cepero, Leslie McDonel, Chase Peacock, Corbin Reid, Wallace Smith, Theo Stockman, Ben Thompson, Alysha Umphress, Aspen Vincent and Libby Winters.

The show also features costume design by Andrea Lauer, sound design by Olivier and Obie Award-winner Brian Ronan, as well as video design by Darrel Maloney. The music director is Carmel Dean. Lorin Latarro is the associate choreographer.

The performance schedule for American Idiot is Tuesday at 7 PM, Wednesday at 8 PM, Thursday at 8 PM, Friday at 8 PM, Saturday at 2 PM & 8 PM and Sunday at 3 PM and 7:30 PM. A performance has been added at 2 PM on Wednesday Jan. 5. There will be no performance at 7:30 PM on Sunday Jan. 9.

Tickets range from $127-$49 and can be purchased at The St. James Box Office or via telecharge.com at (212) 239-6200. Visit www.AmericanIdiotonBroadway.com.