The national tour of the explosive Broadway hit AMERICAN IDIOT, called “wonderfully raucous” and
“emotionally charged” by The New York Times, will make its St. Louis premiere March 2 – 4, 2012 at Peabody
Opera House. Ticket information will be announced soon.
AMERICAN IDIOT, a 2010 Tony Award® -nominated Best Musical and 2010 Grammy Award winner for Best
Musical Show Album, features the music of Green Day with the lyrics of its lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong.
The book is by Armstrong and Michael Mayer and direction is by Tony Award®-winner Mayer (“Spring
Awakening”).
The acclaimed creative team also includes choreography by Olivier Award-winner Steven Hoggett (“Black
Watch”), and music supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Pulitzer Prize-winner Tom Kitt (“Next to
Normal”). The Tony Award®-winning scenic design by Christine Jones and the Tony Award®-winning lighting
design by Kevin Adams will also be featured in the tour.
Nominated for three Tony Awards®, AMERICAN IDIOT is the story of three boyhood friends, each searching for
meaning in a post 9-11 world. Through incredible spectacle, thrilling performances and with the hope embodied
by a new generation, AMERICAN IDIOT has given Broadway audiences the time of their lives night after night
since the musical began performances at the St. James Theatre in March 2010.
“Since its inception, audiences have been surprised by the emotional journey the show takes them on, told
almost exclusively through Green Day’s songs, including many they are already familiar with and love,” said Tom
Hulce, producer. “This is such a potent time for our country and the search of our characters for what to believe
in is gorgeously celebrated through Billie Joe and Green Day’s wonderfully lush score,” he added.
"We're thrilled to be welcoming American Idiot to St Louis as one of the highlights of the opening season of the
newly restored Peabody Opera House,” said John Urban, Executive Vice President of Events and New Business for Peabody Opera House. “The Opera House has a wonderful legacy of both great rock music and exciting theater, and the debut of this groundbreaking production promises to deliver plenty of both -- all in an environment that will put fans right in the midst of the sights, sounds and spectacle."
The musical features the hits “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, multiplatinum album. Also included in the score are several songs from Green Day’s 2009 release “21st
Century Breakdown,” and an unreleased love song, “When It’s Time.”
AMERICAN IDIOT premiered at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in September 2009 and played through November
of that year. In April 2010, the musical opened on Broadway where reviews were unanimously positive with
Charles Isherwood of the New York Times calling the show “the most adventurous musical to brave Broadway in
the past decade” and the Toronto Star naming it “the first great musical of the 21st century!”