News

Rebecca Naomi Jones is clocking many hours on Broadway in her underwear. In “American Idiot,” the new rock musical inspired by the multi-platinum Green Day album of the same name, a skimpy costume is one of Jones’s onstage challenges—reinterpreting songs from the all-male punk-pop band is another.

The 29-year-old native of New York City, last on Broadway with the 2008 musical “Passing Strange,” is back with the intense 90-minute rock opera now in previews at the St. James Theatre. As “Whatsername,” a role she originated when “American Idiot” played at California’s Berkeley Repertory Theatre last year, she sings hard-charging songs that include “21 Guns,” originally sung by Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong on the band’s 2009 album “21st Century Breakdown.”

The child of a white Jewish mother and a black father, she worked through Passover and her birthday this week while getting ready for the show’s April 20 opening. She spoke with the Wall Street Journal on Friday afternoon while grabbing a wheatgrass shot to soothe her aching throat.
[Read the full interview at Wall Street Journal]

Lollapalooza organizers have added another letter to their Wheel of Fortune-style lineup puzzle: R. The new clue has helped reveal a new host of potential acts, including Green Day, Arcade Fire, Social Distortion, Grizzly Bear and Wolfmother. As Rolling Stone reported yesterday, the Chicago fest, taking place at Grant Park August 6-8th, officially announces its lineup on April 6th, but until then its organizers are toying with fans by revealing the roster one letter at a time. Soundgarden, Phoenix and the Strokes were revealed as headliners thanks to some strategically placed Os, and Hot Chip, Chromeo and Spoon also seem to be on the bill.
[Full article at Rolling Stone]