Green Day’s American Idiot is set to embark on a UK tour in 2016.
The upcoming tour was announced on Twitter last night, along with the news that Amelia Lily will reprise her role in the musical. Following its West End run, the show will launch its UK tour at the Curve Theatre, Leicester on 19th March 2016 and continue on to play at the Palace Theatre, Manchester (5th-9th April), New Theatre, Cardiff (19th-23rd April), Kings Theatre, Portsmouth (26th-30th April), New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham (10th-14th May), Exeter Northcott Theatre (18th-22nd May), Sunderland Empire (24th-28th May) and King’s Theatre, Glasgow (31st May – 4th June). Further dates will be announced soon.
Amelia Lily will reprise her role as Whatshername in the show from 5th April 2016, playing her first performance at the Palace Theatre when the tour arrives in Manchester. The former X Factor finalist previously played the Narrator in the UK tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and made her West End debut in American Idiot at the Arts Theatre.
American Idiot is the award-winning Broadway musical that features the music of American punk rock band Greenday, along with lyrics by Billy Joe Armstrong, and a book by Armstrong and Michael Mayer. It tells the story of three boyhood friends, each searching for meaning in a post 9-11 world, and features all the songs from the band’s rock opera of the same name and more, including ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’, ’21 Guns’, ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’, ‘Holiday’, and of course, ‘American Idiot’.
The musical opened on Broadway in 2010 after a short run at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2009, winning two Tony Awards and a nomination for Best Musical.
It made its West End premiere at the Arts Theatre in Leicester Square on 17th July 2015, starring Amelia Lily as Whatshername and Aaron Sidwell as Johnny. The critically-acclaimed production’s run was recently extended due to popular demand and will now continue to play there until 22nd November 2015.
American Idiot is produced by David Hutchinson and Phillip Rowntree for Sell a Door Theatre Company and Stephen McGill Productions, and presented by arrangement with Josef Weinberger Limited on behalf of Music Theatre International of New York. It is directed and choreographed in the West End by Racky Plews, and also features musical supervision by Richard Morris.
Full casting for the UK tour is still to be announced.
American Idiot at the Arts Theatre
6-7 Great Newport Street, London, WC2H 7JB
Running Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
Age Restrictions: No age restrictions but the performance does contain some adult themes and strong language.
Show Opened: 23rd July 2015
Booking Until: 22nd November 2015