The Playgoer: Who IS Tommy???

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Thursday, May 21, 2009

Who IS Tommy???

My review of Tommy--I mean The Who's Tommy, but not by The Who but by Des McAnuff, and not with The Who, but the Gallery Players of Park Slope--is now online at VillageVoice.com.

Pace my editor's tag line, let's just say the only "magic journey" involved was getting there on the 'F' train on a Sunday.

While this may not be a definitive production, it did get me thinking that, under other circumstances, this might be a viable piece of musical theatre that maybe should be done more often. (I didn't see the original McAnuff production with Michael Cerveris back in '93.) A really creative director could do something with this.

Meanwhile, speaking of rock bands going all B'way: you do know about the Michael Mayer-Green Day musical going up at Berkeley Rep, don't you?

4 comments:

Rocco said...

You know I love you playgoer, but I think you're the last person in North America to realize that TOMMY might be a viable piece of musical theatre. The fantastic McAnuff production was Broadway to the hilt. And it practically gave birth to Michael Cerveris, Alice Ripley, Christian Hoff and Sherie Rene Scott.

Playgoer said...

Yeah, I know. I mean, it's almost as if I'd been, oh, bind deaf & dumb the last 15 years, right?

David Cote said...

Also, I think your editor might be conflating The Who's early hit, "Magic Bus" with "Amazing Journey," a song from the concept album & musical Tommy. I don't recall there being a "magic journey" in Tommy. Of course, it may only be a headline. Yes. I am a Who geek.

Abigail Katz said...

And let's not forget the upcoming stage version of QUADROPHENIA in the UK...