Full casting announced for the 10th Anniversary tour of Green Day's AMERICAN IDIOT
by Best of Theatre Staff on Thursday 18 October 2018, 10:47 am in Cast Changes and Announcements
Full casting has been announced for the special 10th anniversary tour of American Idiot – the ground breaking Tony award-winning rock musical with music by punk-pop and multi Grammy award-winning band Green Day. Leading the cast is: Waterloo Road’s Tom Milner as Johnny; 2013’s X Factor third place runner-up Luke Friend as St Jimmy; and 2016 X Factor finalist Sam Lavery as Whatsername.
The cast is completed by: Glenn Adamson (Theo); Laura Marie Benson (Lesley); Jennifer Caldwell (Swing); Joshua Dowen (Tunny); Raquel Jones (Extraordinary Girl); Daniel Law (Swing); Rory Maguire (Gerard); Shekinah McFarlane (Alysha); Siobhan O’Driscoll (Heather); Samuel Pope (Will); Alexandra Robinson (Libby); and Christian Tyler-Wood (Declan).
The tour opens on 17 January in Dunstable, with press night in Southampton on 24 January, before visiting Cardiff, Edinburgh, Malvern, Leicester, Blackpool, Dublin, Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham, Brighton, Milton Keynes, Reading, Bridlington, Wimbledon, Eastbourne, Glasgow, Bradford and Aberdeen.
Winner of two Tony Awards and the 2010 Grammy Award winner for Best Musical Show Album, American Idiot is the story of three boyhood friends, each searching for meaning in a post 9/11 world. The show, which premiered in December 2009 at Berkeley Rep Theatre, features the music of Green Day with the lyrics of its lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong and book by Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer.
This story of youthful disillusion and mistrust of society and government has never been more current; particularly with the modern parallels in the USA where school children have mobilised to form an impressive campaign for gun law reform.
The musical’s hit songs include “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” “21 Guns,” “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” “Holiday” and the blockbuster title track “American Idiot” from Green Day’s 2004 Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum album. Also included are several songs from Green Day’s 2009 release “21st Century Breakdown,” and an unreleased love song, “When It’s Time.”
American Idiot The Musical is directed and choreographed by Racky Plews, with musical supervision by Richard Morris, design by Sara Perks, sound by Chris Whybrow and lighting by Tim Deiling. The production is produced by Selladoor Worldwide and presented by arrangement with Music Theatre International (Europe) Limited.