Pop Hiss had a case of New York-envy this week, when Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong, a California boy, no less, had a brief stay on Broadway. Armstrong, filling in for star Tony Vincent, took over this week the role of drug-pushing evil-doer St. Jimmy in "American Idiot," the theatrical production inspired by the 2004 Green Day album of the same name. Times staffer Pamela Wilson, however, made the cross-country trip, and filed this guest post for Pop Hiss on her reactions to Armstrong's jump to Broadway.
Billie Joe Armstrong is not a large man, but he knows how to fill up a stage.
Birthed in punk, the Green Day frontman has become a fine rock 'n' roll showman. Still, he's no doubt an artist more used to holding an audience of 20,000 in the palm of his hand than interacting with a cast of professional actors. But on Wednesday night on the stage of the St. James Theatre in New York, he seemed more than comfortable on Broadway, coming off like a pocket-pistol Ethel Merman.
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