5 facts about 'American Idiot'

February 22, 2012 at 3:41AM
Billie Joe Armstrong as St. Jimmy in "American Idiot" on Broadway. He is not in the touring version.
Billie Joe Armstrong as St. Jimmy in "American Idiot" on Broadway. He is not in the touring version. (Margaret Andrews — New York Times/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

1: When director/co-writer Michael Mayer was putting together the musical, Green Day composer/frontman Billie Joe Armstrong let him listen to some songs for 2009's "21st Century Breakdown." The show wound up including six songs from that album, along with two "Idiot" bonus tracks and an outtake from 1992's "Kerplunk" -- plus the 1997 hit "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" as an encore.

2: The dialogue came from diary entries and other Armstrong statements in a booklet with the deluxe version of the "American Idiot" CD.

3: Armstrong and Melissa Etheridge played the character St. Jimmy on Broadway for limited runs.

4: Armstrong wrote a few songs for "Idiot" while walking around the track at Macalester College in St. Paul. His wife, Adrienne, is from the Twin Cities, and they have a home here.

5: The giant apartment-building backdrop used on Broadway has been scaled down for the touring version -- from 45 feet high to 25 feet.

about the writer

about the writer

Jon Bream

Critic / Reporter

Jon Bream has been a music critic at the Star Tribune since 1975, making him the longest tenured pop critic at a U.S. daily newspaper. He has attended more than 8,000 concerts and written four books (on Prince, Led Zeppelin, Neil Diamond and Bob Dylan). Thus far, he has ignored readers’ suggestions that he take a music-appreciation class.

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