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Re: TOMMY Road show in Chicago
On Mon, 31 Oct 1994, Kyle Ewing wrote:
> <<<I talk about what to me are major changes in the plot below so If you
> are planning on seeing the musical and want to see these for yourself, stop
> reading now>>>
>
> In my eyes the storyline on the live performace was changed significantly
> from the album. For example, I always thought it was Tommy's father who was
> killed in the beginning and not his step father. Not so in the play.
>
> I've always thought the rebellion at the end was brought on because
> Tommy's followers realized what he was teaching was B.S. and they didn't
> need it, kind of a rebellion against what was the "in" thing. In the
> performance, it was Tommy who told his followers that his preaching meant
> nothing and what they had (normal day to day lives) was what life was all
> about. Those two things will make me listen to the album again closely.
There was a great book released last Christmas all about the
broadway show in which PT explains all his changes in the script. For
example, (it's been a while since I looked at it but...) on the subject
of Tommy's father, PT says that he always intended for the step-father
to die because the step-father would have never felt the concern, later in
the story, for Tommy that the father felt. The father-dying idea was
Ken Russell's and his movie is the only place it happens. I don't think
you should base any interpretation of the plot on what
you saw in the movie. PT let Russell have quite a bit of creative
license with the movie (the baked beans scene for example. What the hell
was that about anyway?)
Pete also said he changed the ending (remember the original was
somewhat open-ended) because he said he knows the answer now, he knows
how it ends. He thought Tommy going back to his family, despite
everything they did, is the answer; showing PT's new found family values.
This book is pretty good. It comes with a cd single of "I
Believe My Own Eyes" (I managed to scratch mine all to hell) from the
show and it includes the complete script. There isn't a ton of stuff
about the Who but there are lots of big color pictures throughout -- the
mark of good book for me. :) It runs about 40 bucks if you can still
find it.
shanon
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Shanon Dell |
Radio/Television Broadcasting | "Deaf, dumb, and blind boy, he's in a
University of Montana | quiet vibration land..."
tommy@selway.umt.edu | -- The Who's "Tommy"
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