CurtainUp
CurtainUp
The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features, Annotated Listings
HOME PAGE

SITE GUIDE

SEARCH


REVIEWS

REVIEW ARCHIVES

ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP

FEATURES

NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings


LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway

NYC Restaurants

BOOKS and CDs

OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Philadelphia
Elsewhere

QUOTES

TKTS

PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS

LETTERS TO EDITOR

FILM

LINKS

MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
A CurtainUp Review
The Who's Tommy


{Violence} was much more a symptom of the kids who go to rock and roll concerts---being young, getting drunk, doing whatever drugs are available. It can happen at a football game or high school reunion--and it does. But that doesn't mean you don't feel guilty, not that it happened, but that it was a symbolic moment and we could have handled it right, but we didn't --- Pete Townshend

I'm free. . . 
I'm free. . . 
And I'm waiting for you to follow me!
---The adult Tommy, freed by his pinball wizardry to not only see, feel and sing, but to become an icon.
This is certainly the most ambitious musical the Berkshire Theatre Festival has ever mounted on its Unicorn stage. It's large in terms of the scale of this little theater having to accommodate a cast of nineteen as well as a six-piece band. It's loud though a few decibles below the deafening loud of a rock concert. The cast and music fill the intimate stage, utilizing the aisles as well as the theater's upper tiers.

Thanks to the vision of director-adapter Jared Coseglia, this Tommy is a fresh and distinctive revival. Without attempting to match the technical pyrotechnics of the multiple award winning Broadway musical, the staging is visually dynamic. The story line departs quite dramatically from the 1993 version -- giving Tommy's story a more up-to-date, more operatic and darker edge (what could be more operatic than a beginning and end gun shot?).

The mirror which is the overriding metaphor for how six-year-old Tommy's life is shattered and remains less than shatter proof even after the "miraculous" recovery of his senses is now the invisible "fourth wall" -- a two-way mirror into which Tommy stares wordlessly and vacantly, with the audience watching from the other side. This approach might get lost in a large house but is well suited to this venue.

The rock opera by the British group Who has been an integral part of pop culture since 1969. It began as a concert, was adapted for film as well as a ballet, and eventually became a hit musical. The story line follows a young boy, Tommy, born after his father, Captain Walker, enlists in the war (the war in the current production is no longer World War II but more suggestive of Vietnam). After being presumed dead, the father returns and young Tommy is witness to a fight that ends with his father shooting his mother's lover. The child is so traumatized that he becomes deaf, blind and mute. All efforts to find a cure are dead-ended -- until Tommy's uncanny ability as a pinball player reactivates his senses and results in guru-like notoriety from which those who added to his misery try to profit.

The sung-through show is propelled by many pulsating rock and roll numbers. It's a longer song list than usual for a musical, and includes such favorites as "Pinball Wizard" and " See Me, Feel Me." Unfortunately, while the band is neatly tucked out of sight on the theater's upper level, the instruments nevertheless often drown out the lyrics, especially during the first act. This despite Mr. Coseglia's doubling as co-sound designer. However, thanks to his adaptation's clarifying changes and the overall originality and visual comprehensibility of the production, there's not a moment's confusion about what's going on.

Captain Walker and Mrs. Walker, as well as Uncle Ernie and Cousin Kevin, are now actually much more convincing as the sort of parents and relatives from Hell who unfortunately fill our social networks' case books about dysfunctional families -- their behavior is often not just unloving but criminal. Thus Captain Walker exacerbates his crime of passion by framing his innocent child, replacing the child's box camera with the just fired gun.

To add to the sexual tensions, there's an uncle who's a pepdophile, Mrs. Walker's lover is now a woman, the grown Tommy's persona is strongly reminiscent of Michael Jackson (not exactly a poster child for a normal childhood), and the flamboyant Acid Queen (one of the many potential "cure" providers) is a transvestite. With relatives and helping "professionals" like this, Coseglia's operatic finale is a lot more convincing than a happy ending would be.

Ultimately, what really gives any production its theatrical legs is the cast. While not everyone here is up to the triple challenge of acting, singing and dancing, all are charged with energy and fully committed.

Alexander Hill as the young child doesn't have much to do but you have only to compare his on-stage stance as the catatonic child in his bizarre glittery suit to the program's picture of the young actor in his oh so normal Little League uniform to take in the horrible effects of violence and bad parenting on a young life.

Julian Alexander Barnett gives the teen Tommy an eerie other-worldly quality. He is also the best dancer -- and no wonder, since he is also the show's choreographer.

The adult Tommy, Cory Grant, is actually visible throughout as a Michael Jackson-like figure gyrating,and sing-narrating on an upstage platform. As Captain Walker, James Barry, by now a Unicorn Theatre regular, shows that he can sing as well as act. Dalane Mason is particularly impressive as the exploitative Uncle Ernie. Strong impressions are also made by Stephanie Girard as a woman who is too easily persuaded to do the wrong thing,and Thay Floyd as the Acid Queen. There's also nasty Cousin Kevin, well played by Christopher Mowod, though his singing is spotty.

Yoshinori Tanokura's costumes are fun and Paul Hudson's scenic design serves the story well -- and, yes, it includes a pinball machine that bursts into blazing lights. It's not a big Broadway show pinball machine -- but then the machinery that's front and center in this Tommy is the social machinery that fails innocent children like Tommy -- even when they have moments that call for songs like " I'm free."

The Who's TOMMY
Music & Lyrics by Peter Townshend
Book: Peter Townshend & Des McAnuff
Additional music & Lyrics by John Entwhistle & Keith Moon
Directed by Jared Coseglia
Musical Director Ken Clark
Choreography by Julian Alexander Barnett
Cast: Michael Baker (Minister/Specialist), Julian Alexander Barnett (teen Tommy), James Barry (Captain Walker), Stephan Basti (Kevin's crew/ensemble), Thay Floyd (Sergeant/Acid Queen), Elizabeth Fye (Lover/Reporter), Stephanie Girard (Mrs. Walker), Cory Grant (adult Tommy), Jessica Healy (Kevin's crew/soda pop girl/ensemble), Alexander Hill (the Child Tommy), Aric Martin (Kevin's crew/butler, ensemble), Dalane Mason (Uncle Ernie), Christopher Mowod (Cousin Kevin), Stacey Sund (Nurse, Kevin's crew, soda pop girl/ensemble), Jennifer Wren (Sally Simpson). Ensemble: Rebecca Leigh Coffey,Maggie Colburn, Lindsey Larkin,and Sarabeth Wager
Scenic Design: Paul Hudson
Costumes: Yoshinori Tanokura
Lighting Design: Brian Patrick Byrne
Sound Design: Jared Coseglia & Nick Borisjuk
Band: Ken Clark/keyboard; Joe Jung & Joseph Therrien/guitars; Joshua Tussin/drums; Jim Bruenn/bass; Benjamin M. Rosenblatt/trumpet Running time: 2 hours, plus one 15-
Berkshire Theatre Festival's Unicorn Theatre, Route 7, Stockbridge, 413-298-5576
July 16 to August 2, 2002.
Monday through Saturday at 8 PM. Special matinee on July 19 at 2 PM.
All tickets general admission $35.
Reviewed by Elyse Sommer
Musical Numbers
Act One
  • Overture/Orchestra
  • Captain Walker/Ensemble
  • It/s A Boy/Nurses, Mrs. Walker, Uncle Ernie
  • Twenty-One/rs. Walker, Lover, Captain Walker
  • Amazing Journey/Tommy (adult)
  • Courtroom/Ochestra
  • Sparks/Orchestra
  • Amazing Journey (Reprize)/Tommy (adult)
  • Christmas/Ensemble, Captain Walker, Minister, Uncle Ernie, Tommy (adult), Mrs. Walker
  • Do You Think It's Alright?/Mrs. Walker, Captain Walker
  • Fiddle About/Uncle Ernie, Ensemble Men
  • See Me, Feel Me/Tommy (adult)
  • Do You Think It's Alright? Part 2/ Captain Walker, Mrs. Walker
  • Couain Kevin/Cousin Kevin, Kevin's Crew
  • Eyesight Bridge/Orchestra
  • Eyesight To The Blind/Uncle Ernie, Captain Walker, Ensemble
  • Acid Queen/Acid Queen
  • Sparks (Reprise)/Orchestra
  • Intro to "Sensation"/Orchestra
  • Senaaion/Tommy (adult), Cousin Kevin, Kevin's Crew
  • Pinball Wizard/Captain Walker, Cousin Kevin, Uncle Ernie, Company
Act Two
  • Underture/Orchestra
  • Afterture/Mrs. Walker
  • There's A Doctor I've Found/Captain Walker, Mrs. Walker
  • Go To the Mirror, Boy/Specialist, Assistant, Tommy (adult), Mrs. Walker, Captain Walker
  • Tommy, Can You Hear Me?/Kevin's Crew, Tommy (teen), Tommy (adult)
  • I Believe My Own Eyes/Captain Walker, Mrs. Walker
  • Smash The Mirror/Mrs. Walker
  • I'm Free/Tommy (adult)
  • Miracle Cure/Cousin Kevin, Reporter, Tommy (adult)
  • Sensation (Reprise)/Tommy (adult), Ensemble
  • I'm Free/Pinball Wizard (Reprise)/Tommy (adult), Soda Pop Girls, Butler, Ensemble
  • How Can We Follow?/Soda Pop Girls, Butler
  • Tommy's Holiday Camp/Uncle Ernie
  • Sally Simpson/Minister, Sally Simpson, Ensemble, Uncle Ernie, Cousin Kevin, Tommy (adult)
  • Welcome (Come to This House)/Tommy (adult), Ensemble, Cousin Kevin, Kevin's Crew
  • Sally's Question/Sally Simpson
  • We're Not Gonna Take It/Tommy (adult), Captain Walker,Cousin Kevin, Kevin's Crew, Reporter, Ensemble, Mrs. Walker
  • Finale/Tommy (adult), Sally Simpson, Company
Information from this site may not be reproduced in print or online without specific permission from esommer@curtainup.com