I liked the leads, for the most part, better the current tour than the first national tour with the exception of the actor who plays St. Jimmy. The ensemble is equal with the exception of Carson Higgins who does Representative of Jingletown/Too Much Too Soon; he is far better than Matt DeAngelis was. Honestly, you wouldn't even guess that the current tour was non-equity.
When did it go non-equity? Weren't they just in the UK for a bit?
Personally, I think shows like this and Rent lend themselves a bit better to the non-equity talent pool because you get a lot of super talented, fresh faced kids just out of college and they're usually phenomenal. I thought the last non-equity tour of Rent was actually better than the equity tour that went out a few years later with Adam and Anthony.
The non-eq American Idiot that is currently touring the US is the same tour that was in the UK a few months back.
The current tour cast is pretty spectacular. When this leg of the tour ends early summer, the show is going to Asia for a month or so then returning to the US to continue touring. To my understanding, much of the cast will be new after the Asia leg. American Idiot is an extremely taxing show to tour non-eq; the demands of the show combined with the one-nighters, split weeks, and constant travel are apparently taking their toll on this cast.
If it's the same cast and set etc that came to the UK they it's fantastic, i was totally blown away, one of the best musical experiences i have had in the UK in some time, so much so we went back 3 times.
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
It is the same cast that went to the UK, which is non-equity (as the others here have been saying).
I have seen the OBC (twice), 1st National Tour (twice), and the current Non-Equity tour (once back in September in Buffalo - very early in the run). Can you tell that I love this show? I was a bit worried about seeing Non-Equity after seeing the other 2 (very impressive) casts but like others have been saying, the current cast is pretty fantastic and I never would have guessed that they are less experienced actors than the other casts. I have to agree with sorano916 in saying that St. Jimmy was the weakest link in the cast - he could sing just fine but his St. Jimmy was kind of boring. Tony Vincent and Joshua Kobak both played St. Jimmy as very creepy and kind of villainous but the current actor was just kind of playful and smiley...