Revisiting The Who's Tommy

Listening to the Broadway cast album of The Who's Tommy after not having heard it for quite some time, and am reminded how it totally blows the lid off the joint. I saw the tour when it came through Chicago, and despite awful sound, being booked in a barn of a theater (the Auditorium), and having terrible seats, to this day I can remember how stunningly the whole thing was staged. Anyone else see the original production and what are your thoughts on it and the recording?

Love Tommy! It was the first show I saw on Broadway.

"How???? By the time it opened, "rock" had been on Broadway for over 30 years."



Guess it depends on your definition of "rock". "Tommy" is much more "rock" than something like "Hair" IMO. Shows like "American Idiot" and "Spring Awakening" are more in the "Tommy" mode of music than "Hair".

Updated On: 6/27/16 at 10:26 AM

yankeefan7 said: "Saw the show on Broadway and loved it, led the way into having "rock" on Broadway. This was also much better than the movie IMO.



"

The movie was rubbish.

IdinaBellFoster said: "I adore this show and would love to see it revived. Alice Ripley must play Mrs. Walker!

I think I did see Alice Ripley as Mrs. Walker. She was an understudy in the original production.

How I'm dying for a revival of this... I think it would be awesome to see Cerveris as Uncle Ernie.



I feel like, if anything, they had to almost stifle the edgier rock sound when the show came out. Now, they could honestly make it sound like a full-fledged rock concert ala Rent or American Idiot or Next to Normal.

I'd love to see a version with the rock aspect really embraced. I know that Pete Townsend really wanted to tone it down for Broadway.

A Deaf West production would be amazing holy ****.

I was just watching the movie a few weeks ago and thinking about the show. I think I read once that Townshend wasn't happy wth the alterations made for it, is that why they weren't used in the stage show (even where alterations were made compared to the album)?

I honestly can't listen to the OBC album because to me it sounds very lifeless. Toned down sounds exactly right. The movie may have toned it up a bit TOO much but its better than blandifying it.

A local college is doing it here in Pittsburgh soon and that will be my first encounter seeing the show.

Has there been any rumbling about a new tour? I am a subscriber to the Broadway in Atlanta series and ever year the powers that be send out a subscriber survey. It asks that you rate interest in a list of shows. Most of the shows listed are current Broadway productions, but there are also several other shows that sound to be "in the works." This past survey included Tommy. I would love to see a new production, considering how much the technical toolbox for designers has changed in the intervening years.

Maybe I'm the odd man out, but I've always loved Ken Russell's surreal weirdness. That movie was a magnificent head trip, although I will add that, having purchased a Xerox of the screenplay on eBay, I understand the film a lot better reading it than an initial viewing would have done.

I have a massive fondness for the film's orchestrations as well. Maybe not the over-use of synth, but the expansion of Townshend's vision from what was possible for The Who in the studio. I lament to this day, for example, that the full jam of "Acid Queen" is not on the official movie soundtrack; repetitive though it may prove when listening to the audio sans image, I just love the sound of the band playing like their lives are on the line.

g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "Maybe I'm the odd man out, but I've always loved Ken Russell's surreal weirdness. That movie was a magnificent head trip, although I will add that, having purchased a Xerox of the screenplay on eBay, I understand the film a lot better reading it than an initial viewing would have done.

I have a massive fondness for the film's orchestrations as well. Maybe not the over-use of synth, but the expansion of Townshend's vision from what was possible for The Who in the studio. I lament to this day, for example, that the full jam of "Acid Queen" is not on the official movie soundtrack; repetitive though it may prove when listening to the audio sans image, I just love the sound of the band playing like their lives are on the line.

I found an article a good while back that was talking about great rock movies. The two that they mentioned were Tommy and the film version of Pink Floyd's The Wall. The writer of the article stated that The Wall is best watched either stoned or at least with the volume turned up (preferably both.) But, with Tommy, considering that the imagery in the film is pretty damn trippy to say the least, if watching it while stoned it would cause for a bad trip. I can agree with that statement.

I think that Tommy is a work of genius. Not only was it the first rock opera ever, it was one that was applauded by well knowns in various musical fields. For what it's worth, Leonard Bernstein was the music director of the NY Philharmonic when the album came, out and sang it's praise on high. But, with all that, I feel that Townshend did way to much mucking about with it for the stage. He gave the green light to move around songs saying that "they are in no sacred order." As well as completely altering the ending of the work from how it originally ended on the album.

There was a documentary released in 1993 alongside the opening of the Broadway production that traced the history of Tommy from album, to staged concert, to film, to Broadway. It had a lot of footage from the Broadway production in it, but as far as I know it has never been released to DVD (I used to own a copy on VHS).



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126729/