With all the attention people have been giving to the Spider-man musical, the NASCAR of Broadway, and its endless police blotter of entertaining mishaps, people seem to have forgotten about the Green Day musical, American Idiot. But not to worry, the producers have a plan to make it relevant again. And that plan is Melissa Etheridge, perhaps the number one lesbian folk-pop artist of 1994.
Come to my window, Broadway.com. I’ll be home…
Grammy winner Melissa Etheridge will be the latest rocker to step into the shoes of American Idiot’s sinister drug dealer, St. Jimmy. Etheridge will take over the role for one week only from February 1 through February 6, while the show’s current St. Jimmy, Green Day front man and show composer Billie Joe Armstrong, briefly departs the production.
“Billie Joe and I always believed that it would be incredible to have a woman take on the role of St. Jimmy,” Idiot’s director Michael Mayer said in a statement. “This character is seductive, thrilling and dangerous. Melissa Etheridge is all that and so much more. She’s a rock icon and we couldn’t be more thrilled that she’s bringing her immense talent to American Idiot.”
So next time someone asks me if I want to go see the Green Day musical, I can be like, “Screw that, I’m not sitting through the rape of my childhood. I’m going to see that Spider-man play with music by U2.”