AMERICAN IDIOT Moves To Broadway; Opens at St. James Theatre April 20, 2010

Producers Tom Hulce and Ira Pittelman announced today that following the record-breaking and critically acclaimed engagement at Berkeley Rep, the production will begin previews on Wednesday, March 24, 2010 and open on Broadway Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at the ST. James Theatre (246 West 44 Street). The Broadway cast will be announced shortly.

Based on the Reprise Records Grammy® Award-winning album of the same name, AMERICAN IDIOT features the music of Green Day and the lyrics of its lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong. The show is directed by Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening), who also collaborated with Armstrong on the book, and choreographed by Olivier Award-winning Steven Hoggett (Blackwatch). The Tony-winning composer Tom Kitt (Next to Normal) is the music supervisor, orchestrator and music arranger. In addition, Kitt also provided string arrangements for Green Day's latest album 21st Century Breakdown.

"Experiencing American Idiot on stage in Berkeley was incredible," says Billie Joe Armstrong. "We have really enjoyed working with Michael, Steven, Tom and the cast. The energy and chemistry of the group is contagious. Michael Mayer was able to bring life to the characters of American Idiot and Tom Kitt's musical arrangements are breathtaking. We're so proud that the show is coming to Broadway!"

Michael Mayer comments, "Green Day's iconic album is one of the most brutally honest, eloquent, and poetically theatrical responses to the post 9/11 world that I have encountered. I hear in these amazing songs the frustration and anger and dreams of a lost generation of Americans. Collaborating with Billie Joe and the band has been a mind-blowing thrill from day one."

AMERICAN IDIOT follows working-class characters from the suburbs to the city to the Middle East, as they seek redemption in a world filled with frustration - an exhilarating journey borne along by Green Day's electrifying songs. This high-octane show includes every song from the album, as well as several new songs from 21st Century Breakdown. Green Day won two Grammys ®- Best Rock Album and Record of the Year - for its multi-platinum American Idiot, which sold more than 12 million copies worldwide. Now the band brings this explosive album to the stage with the director of Spring Awakening, which won eight Tony Awards in 2007.

The cast of AMERICAN IDIOT collaborated with Green Day to record a new version of the hit single "21 Guns." Produced by the band's singer and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, the track was released by Reprise Records on December 22, 2009 for purchase through all digital retailers. "21 Guns" is the second single from Green Day's gold album 21st Century Breakdown. The digital version of the track has gone platinum, selling more than one million downloads, earned 2010 Grammy® Nominations for "Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals" and "Best Rock Song", while the video won three 2009 MTV Video Music Awards in September, including "Best Rock Video."

The limited engagement of AMERICAN IDIOT at Berkeley Rep's Roda Theatre began previews on September 4, 2009, opened on September 16, 2009, extended twice and played its final performance on Sunday, November 15, 2009. AMERICAN IDIOT's record breaking run brought in the biggest advance sale in the Theatre's 41-year history, the biggest day at the box office, 17 of the top 20 days ever and due to ticket demand had to announce the first extension before it had played its first performance.

"American Idiot is that rare and tricky creature, a true rock opera," says Charles Isherwood of The New York Times. "Directed with polish and precision by Michael Mayer, American Idiot has its own voice: bitter and melancholy, attuned to an era more doubting than hopeful. Perhaps most strongly - and promisingly? - the show's story of young men on a confused search for themselves during a time of changing social mores and foreign wars recalls Hair, the musical about the make-love-not-war generation. (Both musicals also do most of their storytelling in song.) Mournful as it is about the prospects of 21st-century Americans, the show possesses a stimulating energy and a vision of wasted youth that holds us in its grip."

The show features scenic design by Tony-nominee Christine Jones (Spring Awakening), costume design by Baryshnikov fellow Andrea Lauer (The Butcher of Baraboo), lighting design by two-time Tony-winner Kevin Adams (Hair), Sound design by Obie Award-winner Brian Ronan (Cabaret), as well as video design by Darrel Maloney.

AMERICAN IDIOT will be produced on Broadway in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

Green Day (Music & Lyrics)- vocalist/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tré Cool - were loud, snotty, scrappy kids from working-class backgrounds who came of age in the underground punk scene in Berkeley. Even though they had released two records prior (1039 / Smooth Out Slappy Hours and Kerplunk), they announced their arrival with 1994's Dookie, a dynamic blast of exuberant three-chord punk-pop that spoke to bored teenagers everywhere. The album eventually sold 15 million copies, earned the band its first Grammy® Award, and inspired a raft of imitators. Over the years, Green Day continued to top the charts with their subsequent studio albums Insomniac, Nimrod, and Warning while entertaining millions of fans with their frenetic live shows. But it was their landmark 2004 album American Idiot that launched Green Day into the stratosphere. "Jesus of Suburbia" set the tone by telling a tale of the choice between self-destruction and redemption that resonated with listeners of all ages, nationalities, and political persuasions. American Idiot debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart. It spawned five hit singles, earned seven Grammy® nominations (winning two, including Rock Album of the Year), and raised the bar for modern rock and roll. This year, Green Day released its new album 21st Century Breakdown, to critical acclaim. The first single off of the album, "Know Your Enemy", was the first song ever to top the "Rock Songs", "Alternative Songs" and "Mainstream Rock Tracks" Billboard charts at the same time. The second single, "21 Guns", has gone platinum, selling more than one million downloads, earned Grammy® Nominations for "Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals" and "Best Rock Song", while the video won three 2009 MTV Video Music Awards in September, including "Best Rock Video". 21st Century Breakdown earned a third 2010 Grammy® Nomination for "Best Rock Album". For more information on Green Day, visit greenday.com.

Michael Mayer (Director and co-book writer) received the 2007 Tony Award, as well as the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards, for the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Spring Awakening, which he also directed in London, Vienna, Tokyo, and Seoul. His other Broadway credits include Side Man, Tony winner for Best Play; Thoroughly Modern Millie, Tony winner for Best Musical; A View From The Bridge, Tony winner for Best Revival; After the Fall; You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown; and Triumph of Love. In addition to Spring Awakening at Atlantic Theater Company, his off-Broadway credits include Everyday Rapture, Our House, 10 Million Miles, Antigone in New York, Baby Anger, The Credeaux Canvas, and Stupid Kids. Michael also directed the national tours of Spring Awakening, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Angels in America, winner of Jefferson and Carbonell Awards. His other regional work includes plays at La Jolla Playhouse, McCarter Theatre, Center Stage, and Yale Rep. Michael has received Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Ovation, Touring Broadway, and Drama League Awards. He directed the films A Home at the End of the World and Flicka.

Steven Hoggett (Choreographer) won the 2009 Olivier Award for his choreography of the National Theatre of Scotland's acclaimed Black Watch. He is co-founder and artistic director of Frantic Assembly, directing and/or performing in all of its shows. His recent Frantic work includes Othello, Stockholm, (pool) no water, Hymns, and Dirty Wonderland. In his native Britain, his credits as a choreographer and movement director include Dido Queen of Carthage, The Hothouse, and Market Boy for the National Theatre, as well as 365 and The Bacchae for the National Theatre of Scotland, Dalston Songs at the Royal Opera House's ROH2, Frankenstein for Royal and Derngate in Northampton, Improper for Bare Bones Dance Company, Mercury Fur and The Straits for Paines Plough Theatre Company, Villette for the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Waving for Oily Cart, and The Wolves in the Walls for the National Theatre of Scotland and Improbable. He has also provided choreography for Prada, Radio One, Selfridges, and the award-winning TV commercial "Harmonious Dance" for Orange.

Tom Kitt (Music supervisor / Arrangements / Orchestrations) is the composer and co-orchestrator of the Broadway musical Next to Normal, for which he received two Tony Awards for Best New Score (with Brian Yorkey), and Best Orchestrations (with Michael Starobin), as well as the 2009 Frederick Loewe Award for dramatic composition. The show first premiered at Second Stage, where it received the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best New Score and Tom received a Drama Desk nomination for Best Music, and then continued to Arena Stage in Washington DC where the show received 3 Helen Hayes awards including Best Non-Resident Musical. Tom is also the composer of High Fidelity (Broadway), From Up Here (MTC), and The Retributionists (Playwrights Horizons). As a musical director, conductor, arranger, and orchestrator for Broadway, Off Broadway, and beyond, credits include 13, Debbie Does Dallas, Everyday Rapture, Hair, Laugh Whore, and Urban Cowboy. In addition to his work on the stage adaptation of American Idiot, Tom provided string arrangements for Green Day's most recent album, 21st Century Breakdown. He is the proud leader of The Tom Kitt Band (www.tomkittband.com), whose songs have been featured in film and TV.

Christine Jones (Scenic Design) earned a Tony nomination for Spring Awakening, directed by Michael Mayer, and also designed the Broadway production of The Green Bird, directed by Julie Taymor. Her off-Broadway credits include Coraline, adapted from Neil Gamen's book with music by Stephin Merritt, Everyday Rapture starring Sherie Rene Scott, The Book of Longing at Lincoln Center Festival, based on the poems of Leonard Cohen with music by Philip Glass; Burn This at Signature Theatre Company, starring Ed Norton, Catherine Keener and Dallas Roberts; Much Ado About Nothing at The Public Theatre/New York Shakespeare Festival; and Nocturne at New York Theatre Workshop. For the A.R.T in Boston she co- created The Onion Cellar with director Marcus Stern and the Dresdon Dolls. She has designed scenery for regional theatres across America, and for operas, such as The Elephant Man at the Minnesota Opera, Giulio Cesare at Houston Grand Opera, and Lucia de Lammermoorat New York City Opera. She is the artistic director of Theatre for One, a space designed for one performer and one audience member, which can be seen at theatreforone.com.

Andrea Lauer (Costume Design) created costumes for OR, at the Women's Project, The Butcher of Baraboo at Second Stage Theatre, Elephant Dreams at The Joyce Theatre, and Status Entropus, a multimedia dance performance presented in New York City and Thessaloniki, Greece. She also designed New York University's productions of Hair and Our Lady of 121st Street, as well as numerous shows for the Alley Theatre including After the Fall, And Then There Were None, Black Comedy, The Crucible, Fully Committed, Glengarry GLen Ross, Proof, Steel Magnolias, The Thirteenth Chair, The Woman in Black, Wait Until Dark, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Lauer is currently designing a new ballet for the Trey McIntyre Project. She is a recipient of the Baryshnikov Fellowship, and her multimedia clothing collaboration has been published in Fashionable Technology by Sabine Seymour. She holds an MFA from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU.

Kevin Adams (Lighting Design) received Tony Awards for Spring Awakening and The 39 Steps and Tony nominations for Hair and Next to Normal. Current work includes Kander and Ebb's The Scottsboro Boys (Vineyard Theatre), Tony Kushner's The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide... (Guthrie Theatre), POP! (Yale Rep) and Everyday Rapture (Second Stage). For his work Off-Broadway, which includes the original production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch as well as new work by Edward Albee, Christopher Durang, Terrence McNally, Neil Simon and Paula Vogel, he has received two Lucille Lortel Awards and an Obie for Sustained Excellence.

Brian Ronan (Sound Design) has a long list of Broadway credits that includes 1776, All Shook Up, The Boys from Syracuse, Cabaret, Curtains, Fortune's Fool, Grease, Grey Gardens, Little Me, The Look of Love, Master Harold... and the Boys, Next to Normal, Pajama Game, The Rainmaker, Spring Awakening, State Fair, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, Triumph of Love, Twelve Angry Men, and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Off Broadway, he designed Saved and Bug, for which he won Obie and Lucille Lortel Awards.

Darrel Maloney (Video and Projections Design). As the creative director and founder of the 13th, Darrel has designed and produced motion graphics for broadcast, commercials, film, live events and theater. His work has been seen on most major broadcast & cable networks including ABC, CBS, NBC, HBO, Showtime, Discovery Channel, MTV, VH1, ESPN, Food Network, Comedy Central, and Universal Television. Darrel holds a BA and an MFA in Set & Lighting Design from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. His projection & video designs for theater include The Elephant Man at the Minnesota Opera and Everyday Rapture at Second Stage Theatre. He has also designed sets and/or lighting for numerous New York, European, and Regional theaters, including The Beggar's Opera off-Broadway NYC, Deliverance at the Institute for Contemporary Arts in London, Four Scenes in a Harsh Life at Los Angeles Theatre Center, and Richard III at Hartford Stage.

For more information, visit www.AmericanIdiotOnBroadway.com