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Photo Coverage: Melissa Etheridge Joins the Cast of AMERICAN IDIOT

OSCAR® and GRAMMY® Award winning rock star Melissa Etheridge will play the role of "St. Jimmy" for a one-week engagement in AMERICAN IDIOT, February 1 - 6, 2011. BroadwayWorld.com was there to capture her debut curtain call.

Ms. Etheridge is one of the most iconic recording artists in the music industry. For the rest of the month, Green Day frontman and the musical's composer and co-author Billie Joe Armstrong will return to the role of "St. Jimmy" and complete his 50 performance, limited engagement from February 10-27, 2011 at the St. James Theatre, 246 West 44 Street.

ST. JIMMY 2011 Performance Schedule:
Melissa Etheridge: February 1 - 6
Billie Joe Armstrong: February 10 - 27

"Billie Joe and I always believed that it would be incredible to have a woman take on the role of St. Jimmy. 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," says Michael Mayer.

The performance schedule for AMERICAN IDIOT is Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday 8pm, Thursday at 8pm, Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm & 8pm and Sunday at 3pm and 7:30pm.

Based on Green Day's groundbreaking rock opera American Idiot, Billie Joe Armstrong and the band collaborate with one of the theatre's most acclaimed creative teams, led by the Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer, Pulitzer Prize and two-time Tony Award-winning composer and orchestrator Tom Kitt, and Olivier Award-winning choreographer Steven Hoggett, to bring this explosive, iconic album to the stage.

In addition to either Armstrong or Etheridge, AMERICAN IDIOT stars Tony Award winner John Gallagher Jr. (Spring Awakening), Tony Award Nominee Stark Sands (Journey's End), Michael Esper (A Man For All Seasons), Rebecca Naomi Jones (Passing Strange), Christina Sajous (The Wild Party), and Jeanna de Waal (We Will Rock You - West End). The cast also features Declan Bennett, Jennifer Bowles, Andrew Call, Gerard Canonico, Miguel Cervantes, Van Hughes, Brian Char Les Johnson, Lorin Latarro, Omar Lopez-Cepero, Leslie McDonel, Chase Peacock, Wallace Smith, Theo Stockman, Ben Thompson, Alysha Umphress, Aspen Vincent, Mikey Winslow andLibby Winters.

The show features Tony Award winning scenic design by Christine Jones (Spring Awakening), costume design by Baryshnikov fellow Andrea Lauer (The Butcher of Baraboo), Tony Award winning lighting design by Kevin Adams (Hair), Sound design by Olivier and Obie Award-winnerBrian Ronan (Cabaret), as well as video design by Darrel Maloney. The Music Director is Carmel Dean and Lorin Latarro is the Associate Choreographer.

Melissa Etheridge has been a core Island Records artist since the release of her critically-acclaimed eponymous RIAA double-platinum debut album. For several years, Etheridge's popularity built around such memorable songs as "Bring Me Some Water" (from her debut), "No Souvenirs" (from Brave And Crazy) and "Ain't It Heavy" (from Never Enough), for which she won her first Grammy® for Best Female Rock Vocal. Etheridge hit her commercial and artistic stride with her fourth album, Yes I Am, featuring the massive hits "I'm the Only One" and "Come to My Window," a searing song of longing that brought her second Best Female Rock Grammy. The album went six times platinum and spent more than two and a half years on the album chart. Her highest charting album, Your Little Secret (#6 on the Billboard Top 200), included the hit single, "I Want to Come Over." Her astounding success led Etheridge to receive a Juno award for International Entertainer of the Year in 1990, the Songwriter of the Year honor at the ASCAP Pop Awards in 1996, and the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2007. Following her appearance as St. Jimmy in AMERICAN IDIOT, Etheridge will embark on a Canadian Tour in February in support of her latest album, "Fearless Love". For more aboutMelissa Etheridge, visit www.melissaetheridge.com.

Photos by Walter McBride / Retna Ltd. / WM Photos

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As a 14 year old youth, Walter was transfixed by his first Broadway Show, the original production of 'GREASE'. His Journey to celebrity photojournalism began that fateful night. Meeting, photographing and getting to know the cast inspired him to spend his professional life doing what he loved. Walter moved to Manhattan and for a leading role as a Photographer & Photo Researcher. Currently headlining in New Jersey with his partner Richard and family members Dali (Jack Russell) & Gala (Schnoodle). Recently he made his Broadway debut sharing the stage with Hugh Jackman in 'Hugh Jackman on Broadway' as well as receiving the Actors' Equity Association Gypsy Spirit Award. Walter McBride Photography is syndicated worldwide by Corbis/AP.

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