There are two types of individuals in this world: people who love bone-shaking, ear-splitting spectacles like fireworks and arena-sized heavy steel live shows, and those who need nothing more than to ignore these occasions for a night on the couch. with a book and a cup of hot chocolate.
One of these teenagers sat in the orchestra during a Broadway performance of “The Who’s Tommy” and said this out loud. “I do not like this!” the little one cried out during an unusual lull in the overwhelming movement. “Get me out of here!”
The boy’s upset was so understandable that the audience laughed for a long time. “Tommy” is pure sensory overload, with lights flashing, screens moving up and down, images rotating across the back wall and the chorus operating continuously, bouncing, goose-stepping and swinging each other around the stage. It’s like a machine: once it’s turned on, it simply keeps running, regardless of the spectator’s outbursts – there’s not a second of stillness or silence until the lights come on.
On top of all that, there’s Pete Townshend’s music, fantastically supervised by Ron Melrose and performed by Rick Fox, but sung here without the guts and soul that The Who brought to their album Tommy in 1975. But what’s the point? music lacks in feeling, it makes up for it in quantity. It’s the kind of noise that rings in your ears for days.
The plot of “Tommy” is unsuitable for anyone under three feet tall. 5-year-old Tommy (Cecila Ann Popp) becomes deaf, blind and unable to speak after witnessing the murder of his mother’s lover by his estranged father (Adam Jacobs), recently from Battle Battle II. So Tommy, now broken and susceptible, is poked and prodded by doctors, ridiculed by his alcoholic uncle (John Ambrosino), brutalized by his sadistic cousin (Bobby Conte), and left alone in an alley with a drug-addicted maniac who can’t get enough . I can’t wait to put my arms around him (the Acid Queen, played by Christina Sajous). Years later, when Tommy regains the ability to see and hear, he becomes a cult leader. But that doesn’t last long because even Tommy ultimately just wants to go home.
Don’t get me wrong: judging by the effectiveness I’ve seen, audiences love the show, featuring a story about Who guitarist Townshend and Des McAnuff (who also directs). But it was almost certainly not about the plot, which is pointless, or Lorin Latarro’s choreography, which is surprisingly uninspiring. Boomers can rock out in their seats and cheer as the cast bursts into past favorites like “It’s a Boy, Mrs. Walker” and “Pinball Wizard,” but it still sanitizes the performances. (Peter Nigrini’s projection design and Amanda Zieve’s lighting design would pair perfectly with a live Who performance, although it would induce psychosis if any spectator smoked a cigarette during the show.)
And there are outstanding performances. Mop-head Ali Louis Bourzgui, who plays Tommy as a young adult, has stage presence and good pipes, and Alison Luff, playing Tommy’s mother Mrs. Walker, brings a lot of spunk to her solo, “Smash the Mirror.” .
Maybe if you missed the ’70s, when The Who’s signature album stirred children’s hearts by making enough noise to change the world, you wouldn’t mind that this production of “Tommy” is mostly for old folks, not for a new era.
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