The Who’s Tommy Returns to Broadway
How does the revival stack up against the musical’s 1993 run?
In 1991, roughly 22 years after The Who’s celebrated fourth studio album, Tommy, was released (on May 19, 1969), Pete Townshend broke his wrist in a cycling accident and was unable to play guitar.
Looking to keep busy, Townshend connected with Des McAnuff, director for the nonprofit La Jolla Playhouse at the University of California, San Diego. Together, they developed the musical version of Tommy, with Townshend adding one new song (“I Believe My Own Eyes”), but otherwise trying to stick to the album.
Audiences loved it, critics picked at it a bit, and (according to Elizabeth Wollman’s 2006 book, The Theater Will Rock: A History of the Rock Musical, from Hair to Hedwig), Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle thought the show was too passive.
The ticket-buying public gets the last word, though, and Broadway beckoned. Following a bit of rewrite by Townshend and McAnuff, the Broadway version of Tommy was produced by none other than Sir George Martin and began previews at the St. James Theatre on March 29, 1993, officially opening on April 22. It lasted 899 performances, closing more than two years later, on June 17, 1995.
The production received 11 Tony nominations and grabbed five awards: McAnuff won Best Director, Townshend won Best Original Score, Wayne Cilento won Best Choreography, John Arnone won Best Scenic Design, and Chris Parry won Best Lighting Design.
More than three decades later, Townshend, McAnuff and Tommy are back on Broadway, this time at the Nederlander Theatre. The show began previews on March 8 and officially opened on March 28. I saw the March 30 matinee performance and you’re undoubtedly wondering: Is it worth the price (ranging from $89.75 to $319.50) of a ticket?
Yes.
I recommend, though, that your ticket be as close as possible to front row center in the mezzanine – that way you’ll be able to fully take in the work of the two true stars of this production: David Korins (scenic design) and Peter Nigrini (projection design), who will be robbed if they don’t take home Tonys.
I never saw the 1990s version of Tommy, but I’ve seen plenty of Broadway shows over the years. I’ve twice seen Moulin Rouge, which won 10 Tonys. I saw King Kong on Broadway, which won the Drama Desk award for projection design and took home a special Tony for the technology that made Kong believably run toward the audience. I’ve seen scenic design Tony nominees Ain’t Too Proud and Some Like it Hot and winners The Book of Mormon and New York, New York.
I’ve never seen anything quite like this production of Tommy.
The opening minutes of the show are truly striking. Beginning with a projection onto a giant scrim that reads “In the Future,” the cast takes the stage and sets the groundwork for a story that begins eight decades in the past: Captain Walker of the British Army (played by Adam Jacobs, who brings a bit of a Mark Ruffalo vibe to the role) goes missing in the early days of World War II (the scene of soldiers parachuting out of their plane is a truly memorable piece of staging).
Meanwhile, back at home, his wife gives birth to Tommy. Captain Walker, presumed dead, returns home to find his wife with another man, killing him in front of young Tommy, who is traumatized and rendered deaf, dumb and blind. He’s sexually abused by his evil Uncle Ernie, bullied by his sadistic cousin Kevin and taken by his parents to a series of doctors to find a cure. Along the way he encounters the Acid Queen, who doses Tommy with LSD.
Tommy grows older, becomes the greatest pinball player imaginable, and is released from his trauma when his mother smashes the mirror in their home that Tommy has been staring into for long periods of time. He starts a religious movement, is rejected by his disenchanted followers, and gives up on his movement and embraces his family.
Even that broad outline of the story might not fully resonate with some audience members new to Tommy, but this is a production that is less about the story and more about the presentation of that story.
There was a bit of an audible gasp in the theater (many of whom, at least judging by the average age of the audience, were pretty familiar with the source material) when John Ambrosino as Uncle Ernie comes on stage to babysit Tommy; the ensuing “Fiddle About” scene is more suggestive than graphic. Christina Sajous’ Acid Queen received the first real heavy applause of the show, and “Pinball Wizard” is stunningly and appropriately excessive — and a phenomenal act one closer, thanks in large part to choreographer Loren Latarro, another favorite to win a Tony for this production.
One of the best stage devices here is the mirror that Tommy stares into. Adult Tommy is reflected in the mirror, but he also sees four-year-old Tommy reflected back. The “Smash the Mirror” scene where Mrs. Walker destroys the mirror in rage is appropriately dramatic and powerful; it’s a great moment for actress Alison Luff.
But after a bit more than two hours, what the show leaves the audience with isn’t production wizardry, lighting tricks or precision choreography (and there is truly an exhausting level of all three), it’s the cast lined up across the front of the stage powerfully delivering, over and over, with greater authority on each repetition, the final verse of “We’re Not Gonna Take It:”
“Listening to you, I get the music / Gazing at you, I get the heat / Following you, I climb the mountain / I get excitement at your feet.”
The Who’s iconic music and the cast’s thunderous chorus make for the best kind of goosebump-inducing Broadway moment … and a genuine desire to go back and see it again.
VIDEO: The Who’s Tommy on CBS Sunday Morning
- No Surrender: Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. Turns 40 - June 4, 2024
- Future Legend: David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs Turns 50 - May 24, 2024
- How Robert Hunter Stepped Out from the Shadows of The Grateful Dead - May 22, 2024
You May Also Like
-
March 16, 2022 -
-
June 2, 2023
