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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2011
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Jake Epstein is no American Idiot but he is a Green Day fan and now stars in the stage adaptation of the classic album.
Awakening to an idiot A stroke of luck found Jake Epstein in the Toronto production of Green Day’s American Idiot
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To say that Jake Epstein was in the right place at the right time is a massive understatement. The Toronto actor was performing in a touring production of Spring Awakening when the show’s director Michael Mayer announced his intention to create a stage version of Green Day’s
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2004 album, American Idiot. “He was telling us about it right from the very beginning,” says Epstein. “It just sounded crazy that it would work.” Mayer shopped the show in Berkley, Calif., and bussed the cast of Spring Awakening, including Epstein, up from San Jose to watch. “As a Green Day fan I was a bit skeptical,” he says. “Knowing the director, I knew he’d do something really interesting with it. It wouldn’t be a cheesy show — it would be a piece of art.” Mayer’s adaptation ex-
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pands on Green Day’s story of a young man who moves to the city and falls in love and into a world of drugs. Mayer’s has three characters trying to break out of suburbia — one joins the army, one falls into drugs and a third, Will, who Epstein plays, stays behind with his pregnant girlfriend. “It expanded the original idea on the album to a punk opera story.” After Spring Awakening, Epstein relocated to Los Angeles where he spent several months looking for work. “I was living on my own and spent a bunch of
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months waiting for a phone call to audition for something or go out and do anything,” he recalls. It was during this period that the audition for American Idiot’s touring cast came along and his mental anguish found a welcome home in the show. “I was definitely feeling on the brink of losing it and I needed an outlet,” he says. “I had this audition for this show that celebrated all of your rage.” Green Day’s American Idiot is running until Jan. 15 at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, (5040 Yonge St. $62-$180.)
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Green Day American Idiot, the album, almost never happened The story: In 2003, Green Day began work on what would become their seventh album with longtime producer Rob Cavallo. However, the master-tapes for the record, that was to be called Cigarettes and Valentines, were stolen and the band were forced to start from scratch. Thankfully the songs weren’t the best and they went back at it.
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It took Rooney Mara two and a half months and five screen tests to land the sought-after role of Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. She beat out Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, and Carey Mulligan, among others. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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