Tommy

Leave all your memories of the 1969 production of Tommy at the door, because it has been given an overhaul. If you are one for tradition then you may gasp at Eric Mingus’s interpretation of this classic score. Forget rock opera for Tommy is scattered with more musical genres than your iPod.

Tommy is the brain-child of Pete Townshend and The Who. Born out of his desire to expand on the 3 minute pop song, Tommy tells the story of a deaf, dumb and blind boy and his life journey from death to abuse to ultimately becoming a hero and being dubbed the pinball wizard. The plot is ambiguous, but through the music we are transcended into Tommy’s world; a world that is full of pain, deception and self-discovery.

There is no denying the amount of talent that adorns the stage, Eric Mingus the son of jazz great Charles Mingus and Harper Simon the offspring of singer/songwriter Paul Simon are joined by The Go-Betweens' Robert Forster and talented artists such as Gavin Friday, Camille O’Sullivan, Elana Stone and Yael Stone, each very successful in their own right.

The open curtain reveals musicians set up either side of an arch way upstage. A projection of Tommy’s face floats on the surface above and through the arch, child-like and bewildered. As the musicians enter it becomes apparent that you are unable to see them clearly, this was irksome because it is a problem with an easy solution. Mingus strolls on stage to reveal his reasons for taking on Tommy and then resumes his role as the Narrator. Tommy (Yael Stone) stands upstage and you soon realise she is being portrayed by a girl. Silent for most of the performance, she is merely a foil for the other characters to motion to. This meant that the audience witnessed a lot of action upstage with performer’s backs to the crowd. This highlighted a lack of direction and became increasingly frustrating as the performance went on. Tommy’s mother (Camille O’Sullivan) is powerful, with a raspy voice and obvious stage presence, she makes the songs her own, but there is no chemistry with the father and at times you feel like they are just going through the motions. Robert Forster (Father) looks uncomfortable, he sings more than a few off notes and is completely unconvincing. There did not seem to be any choreography to speak of as actors roamed aimlessly around the stage. Perhaps more rehearsing was needed or this was the intention, but either way it did not work. I was underwhelmed and disappointed, never more so than with Harper Simon’s acoustic rendition of Pinball Wizard.

Taking on a score that is so well known can leave you open to criticism. Wonderful lighting design and talent just could not save this for me.

Kerry Cooper

Image: Elana Stone - Tommy. Adelaide Festival of Arts