...Epstein is known to television audiences for his role as Craig in Degrassi: The Next Generation and to theatre-goers for a number of productions, most recently the musical Billy Elliot. However, it was his role as Melchior in the North American tour of Spring Awakening, which had the same production team as American Idiot, that got him his current role.

“American Idiot tells the story of three friends, Will, Johnny [Van Hughes] and Tunny [Scott J. Campbell], who want to get out of suburbia and make something of their lives. So, they all make plans to move to the city,” says Epstein. “My character, Will, is a slacker, who is into hard-core punk music.

“Will finds out that his girlfriend, Heather [Leslie McDonel], is pregnant, so he is left behind. He is stuck in suburbia, and spends most of the play on a couch. I don’t leave the stage for the whole show. It is probably the strangest part I’ve ever played in my life.”

The musical includes the hit Boulevard of Broken Dreams and the title track American Idiot. In 2010, the show garnered a Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.

Ironically, even though Epstein spends a lot of his performance on the couch, he says he finds it to be a demanding show. “It is a really physical show. It’s really in your body. We have to do a ton of core and body conditioning before every rehearsal. I am really excited. It’s like nothing I have ever done before.”

Epstein saw the original production of American Idiot in Berkeley, Calif., in 2009 during a workshop. He caught the multiple Tony Award-winning Broadway production during its March 2010 to April 2011 run at the St. James Theatre in New York.

In addition to touring with American Idiot for nine months, Epstein will be seen next season in an episode of the Murdoch Mysteries on CBC-TV and in an indie film called Blood Pressure.

Read more at The Canadian Jewish News here.

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