Melissa Etheridge is set to make her Broadway debut in American Idiot from February 1 to 6 playing the role of St. Jimmy. Her role is currently played by Green Day frontman and visionary of the show, Billie Joe Armstrong. The week-long stint will not be the last of her Broadway career, as she and her girlfriend Linda Wallem, creator of Nurse Jackie, have a musical in the works.
"Its something I've wanted to do for a long, long time," Etheridge told The Hollywood Reporter. "Its been on the back burner, but it's moved to the front burner this year." Already an Oscar-winner, Etheridge said that she did not want to reveal too much information just yet, but did say that, "it's sort of [about] my love of Broadway. I wanted to write a musical about the heart of musicals."
After touring over the summer, and before her musical gets underway, she will have a taste of the Broadway life requiring eight shows in just a week. “I definitely have to be in shape because it's a lot of young folks running around on that stage,” she said with a laugh. “Young, pretty and skinny, so I'm going to be a bit more voluptuous than the previous Jimmys ... But yoga always gets me through everything.”
St. Jimmy, described as "seductive, thrilling and dangerous" by Michael Mayer, the director, is one of the more grim characters in the story about sex, drugs and rock and roll. The character is depicted as a predator, drug dealer and the devil himself. However, Etheridge says she is not familiar with that darker side of the industry. “Being a rock star, I never lived that rock star life,” she says. “I never got in trouble with drugs, I was smart enough to know that was a dead end. So anytime someone like that would come around, I would be, like, ‘Yeah, not interested.’ "
Yet, not being involved in the rock star lifestyle is far from the biggest difference between Etheridge and St. Jimmy. The character is male, and has been played that way until now. Still, Etheridge sees St. Jimmy as more "androgynous."
“The role is representative of the dark side of the city and of drug abuse, and I don't think that's a male or female thing,” she posits. “It can be both. Other than the name, it's not like it's identified as either.”
Her work on the show so far has helped Etheridge appreciate all the work that goes into a major Broadway production, but adds, “It's about the songs and the story. You can make the biggest set in the world with the biggest effects, but if you don't have the songs or the story, anything else you put on it is a house of cards.”
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