Tommy on Broadway

[Wes Biggs <wbiggs@chaph.usc.edu>]

Not to beat a dead horse, but I have to gush about seeing Tommy on
Broadway (got sent to Times Square for a journalism convention, so it
worked out pretty well, even if tix are still ridiculously overpriced
at 50% off).

I have to compliment Pete and Des McAnuff -- or whoever was in charge
of working the story out -- for turning what I've always seen as a
somewhat surreal, not entirely consistent plot into something that
could be done as a two-hour Broadway musical.  I always wondered how
Tommy could have been a pinball wizard when he was a wee tot in 1921.
The musical solves that by making "Twenty-one" by Tommy's mum's 21st
birthday and setting the whole story to start in WWII, not WWI.

So, my only complaints were (a) it wasn't really the Who (some of the
style of B-way singing was a bit hard to stomach, especially "Acid
Queen"), (b) they toned it down too much in parts (cut the rape lyrics
to "We're Not Gonna Take It"; made Uncle Ernie's "Fiddle About" seem
more plaintive than actual, etc.), and (c) the finale was rather weak.

As for the show's strong point, I would have to say that "21/You
Didn't Hear It" came off much better than the original version, if
only because you can tell who is saying what and see the drama with
Tommy's returning father who finds his wife with her lover.  It was,
for some reason, very moving in a terrible way to watch them scream at
young Thomas "You won't say nothing to no one, never in your life."

My random comments.  I'm not sure how many of you in list land have
seen the show, whether in NYC or on tour, but my criticisms are open
for debate.

Wes