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Show: The Who’s Tommy
Society: Greenwich Theatre (professional)
Venue: Greenwich Theatre, Crooms Hill, London SE10 8ES
Credits: Adapted for the stage by Des McAnuff and Pete Townshend
Type: Sardines
Author: Chris Abbott
Performance Date: 29/07/2015
The Who’s Tommy
Chris Abbott | 01 Aug 2015 10:49am
Photo: Claire Bilyard
Taking on a period piece from rock history is always going to be challenging, but Tommy, the original rock opera, offers more challenges than most. It may have been acceptable in 1969, when the album first appeared, to talk about a “deaf, dumb and blind kid” and to feature sexual abuse in a kind of Comic Relief number, but that presents difficulties for modern day productions.
That Michael Strassen’s production largely overcomes these hurdles is largely down to his pacy direction of a mostly young but very talented cast. Considering they were performing the music not of their parents’ generation, but that of their grandparents, this cast convinced for the most part as 70s performers. After all, watching this show in 2015 is the equivalent of watching a show from the 1920s at the time The Who wrote the music.
Filling the dead days of summer in tandem with a production of Pinocchio by the same company, Tommy has not been seen in London for nineteen years. The stage adaptation itself dates from the early 1990s and, for many, will always be overshadowed by the happy marriage of the joint excesses of rock and roll and Ken Russell in the earlier film version.
In this production, with minimal sets and mostly mimed props, the focus is quite rightly on the music, and on the excellent and varied choreography of Mark Smith. The narrative sometimes gets a little confused, although this was no problem for many of the first night audience who seemed to know the piece (or maybe the performers) very well.
In a strong cast of triple threat performers, two actors stood out for the total commitment they brought to their roles. The vastly experienced John Barr coped well with the difficult part of Uncle Ernie. The director wisely staged Fiddle About non-figuratively, although the symbolism of the large and small sticks of rock was not exactly subtle; but then Tommy is not a show that responds well to a subtle approach. John Barr understood that, and his second act number Tommy’s Holiday Camp was a master class in summing up character through song and dance.
The other stand-out performer for me was Giovanni Spano as Cousin Kevin, another actor who used his evident enjoyment of performing to add layers of complexity to the character that may not always have been in the script. Always in character whether leading a number or supporting others in this small company, Spano was still dancing with the band as the audience were leaving. The combination of these two performers in Eyesight to the Blind provided a great boost towards the end of the first half.
Carly Burns was a rather muted Acid Queen, though handed the difficult task of coping with a toy cat on her lap in a nod to 1960s Bond villains. As Tommy’s parents, James Sinclair and a heartfelt Miranda Wilford made the most of the opportunities given to them, particularly in the scene-setting at the beginning of the first act. Ashley Birchall gave a strong performance as Tommy, but this is a difficult role, at the centre of the piece but mostly required to be the mute focus of the actions of others.
The tight four-piece band under Kevin Oliver Jones only really let rip after the finale and almost the whole audience stayed to hear them out. Set and costumes by Nik Corrall included some inventive ideas like the use of rope to outline an interior scene; the half costumes were interesting but the idea was not carried through, with only some characters wearing them.
The giant gleaming pinball, however, and the way it was bounced from person to person, was an extremely effective image. One word to the (male) performers however; for the correct period effect, miming the playing of a pinball machine should be based on pelvic thrusts as much as operating the flippers with the fingers.
- : admin
- : 29/07/2015