Umphress to take stage at Grammys, Broadway

Martinez will be skillfully represented at tonight’s live telecast of the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards when homegrown stage star Alysha Umphress performs with the famed rock band Green Day in Los Angeles.

Umphress, 27, is currently Broadway-bound as a cast member of the successful musical American Idiot, a rock opera created by the multi-Grammy-winning, three-member band Green Day and Tony-award winning director Michael Mayer.

Tom Hulce, the actor-turned-producer who once starred as Amadeus, signed on as a co-producer, and renowned British choreographer Steven Hoggett joined the collaboration to fashion the moves.

In late 2008, Umphress won a role in the production’s world-premier at the Berkeley Repertory Theater, and earlier this month was again chosen to star in the New York production. The show opens in previews on March 24 at the St. James Theater on W. 44th.

The three members of Green Day do not appear in the musical, but the production theatricalizes their hugely successful 2004 album of the same name. Lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong wrote the lyrics and book (with Mayer) for the musical. The story follows “working-class characters from the suburbs to the city to the Middle East, as they seek redemption in a world filled with frustration,” according to Terence Keane of the Berkeley Rep.

When the Broadway cast was announced this week, the Gazette tried to catch up with Umphress, but she was buried in 16-hour rehearsal days at LA.’s Staple Center practicing for Sunday’s event, which is expected to attract a worldwide viewing audience of 25 million plus.

Her mother, Lori Tassano, a resident of Martinez’ Elderwood Glen neighborhood, instead served as Umphress’ spokesperson and excitedly described the intoxicating whirlwind that is her daughter’s present life.

“It’s wasn’t a slam dunk [that Umphress would be chosen for the Broadway production], but it helped that when she got somewhere [it was working with successful artists],” said Tassano, adding that she and her husband already bought their plane tickets to New York and have four nights of American Idiot tickets lined up. “The producers liked her ‘rock voice’ and she nailed the audition.”

Tonight, Green Day and the American Idiot ensemble cast will perform the hit song “21 Guns” from the production.

“Mere days after our blockbuster production of American Idiot closed its extended run in the Roda Theatre [in Berkeley], our extraordinary cast joined Green Day in the band’s Jingletown Studio. Together, they recorded a new version of the hit song “21 Guns.” The new track, produced by Billie Joe Armstrong, features the band performing with the cast on an arrangement of “21 Guns” created by Tony Award-winning composer Tom Kitt for our show,” said Keane. The new version hit stores and iTunes in December.

“We wanted to record ‘21 Guns’ because it represents a pivotal moment in the show when the lead character, sung by John Gallagher, Jr., realizes he needs to get his stuff together,” said Armstrong in December. “After the show wrapped, we headed straight to Oakland with the cast to record, and they sung the hell out of it. I couldn’t be happier. It’s great to have something out there for people to hear who didn’t get to see the show.”

The song was picked for two Grammy nominations this year, for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, thanks in no small part to Umphress’ singing acumen. Green Day’s latest album, 21 Century Breakdown, was nominated for Best Rock Album.

The winners will be announced during tonight’s telecast.

For Umphress, joining the cast was a major coup in a career that has led her from Martinez to the School of the Arts High School in San Francisco, then to Boston, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theater in 2004 from the Boston Conservatory.

She is also a graduate of Stars 2000, the Diablo Theater Company’s teen theater group that effectively grooms and trains future stage stars. For those wishing to follow in Alysha’s footsteps, see www.dloc.org/youththeatre/stars2000.html for more information.

In the fall, Tassano reminisced about her daughter’s artistic expressions growing up.

“She was probably in the Gazette more than any other kid,” said Tassano. “She sang the National Anthem at almost every civic event, starting when she was six, and performed in Annie and several other musicals.”

“I went to Martinez schools growing up, and did a year and a half at Alhambra until I switched to the School of the Arts - I did a lot of community theater around the East Bay,” Umphress said in August. “The whole time I was in Boston, it was really jam packed and I didn’t see much of the city, I was always doing a show or in class. I got to know maybe six blocks of Boston.”

Upon graduation, she hit the Great White Way in New York City to join the crowded ranks of aspiring stage stars. She had a leg up on the competition though, since her graduation “showcase” at Boston Conservatory earned her a signing with a successful talent agent. Until hitting the big time with Green Day, she performed regularly in productions both in New York and at various East Coast regional theaters, and earned money as one of the “singing waitresses,” at the perennially popular Ellen’s Stardust Diner.

For the latter half of 2009, Umphress stayed with her mom in Martinez during the Berkeley run. Now that she’s performing on Broadway, she’s right at home, both in her own apartment and on the stage, fulfilling her marquee dreams.