Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT) will present the smash-hit Broadway Musical The Who's Tommy, April 22 - May 1, 2010 in the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre on the Storrs campus.
Tommy
Book by Pete Townshend & Des McAnuff
Additional Music & Lyrics by John Entwistle & Keith Moon
Based on The Who's Rock-Opera, Tommy
Young Tommy witnesses a violent crime and is rendered deaf, dumb and blind. Tommy's incredible transformation from catatonia to stardom as a pinball celebrity is told through The Who's immortal songs including "Pinball Wizard," "See Me, Feel Me," "Listening to You" and "We're Not Gonna Take It."
"Somewhere between arousal and a prayer, between raw blues and high opera: Pete Townshend's insistent, accelerating intro to "Pinball Wizard" is seven bars of the most exhilarating rock ever made." - L.A. Times
Audiences follow the story through the eyes of the title character who undergoes the heartbreaking and triumphant journey of a young boy stripped of his youth by violence and abuse. The CRT production will employ a variety of elements including liquid projections, an oversized pinball machine, and a style of puppetry known as shadow play (produced by UConn's world class puppet artists). Tommy is a striking, rousing, rock opera that touches the heart and excites the senses. The cast includes two Equity actors alongside CRT's advanced student artists. A full rock combo will support the singers, actors, and dancers.
Director Gabe Barre said, "I'm thrilled to be back at Connecticut Repertory Theatre directing Tommy and exploring another rich piece from the 1960's after doing Hair here last year. Hair was ground breaking theatre that explored the world of a tribe of hippies on the streets of New York and the world around them, while Tommy is groundbreaking rock and roll that explores the life of a superstar onstage and the world within him. Our production will emphasize the idea of enlightenment through the senses, through stillness and through music ... We will be inside Tommy's head and see, feel and touch the world as he does ... This is what live theatre can do that no other medium can ... reach out ... engage and invigorate. Enlarge, enliven and enlighten. The piece attracts me because I feel that we can all identify somewhat with Tommy. He is numb from the world and is forced to work from within to seek his own path. When he breaks free however, the piece doesn't stop there, but only gets more interesting. We see how eager the unenlightened public is to idolize and blindly follow him, and how seductive this is to Tommy ... all so relevant to our, particularly American, culture of instant stardom and celebrity preoccupation."
Dramaturg Dassia Posner said, "The unrelenting rhythms and startling images of our production of Tommy boldly confront the difficulties of life and celebrate the resilience of the human spirit."
THE CREATIVE TEAM
Gabe Barre (Director): directed CRT's production of HAIR last season, as well as Love's Labours Lost the year before that. He has off-Broadway credits which include the Manhattan Theatre Club's production of Andrew Lippa's, The Wild Party (nominated for 13 Outer Critics Circle Awards including one for Best Director), Summer of '42, Stars in Your Eyes, Honky-Tonk Highway, john & jen and Almost, Maine. He directed the recent national tour of Pippin which started at the Goodspeed Musicals Opera House, as well as the national tour of Rodger and Hammerstein's Cinderella, starring Eartha Kitt, which was on the road over a three year period including stops at Madison Square Garden and the Papermill Playhouse in New Jersey. His regional theatre credits include a revival of Flower Drum Song and a production of Little Shop of Horrors at the American Musical Theatre of San Jose as well as, Private Lives at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Tom Jones and Memphis, at the North Shore Music Theatre in Boston, Sweeney Todd, Finian's Rainbow, Houdini and many other new musicals at Goodspeed; Stand By Your Man at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville; and Hay Fever and Pericles at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. He recently directed the world premiere of the new Frank Wildhorn musical, Carmen, which is in its second sold out year in Prague, Czech Republic and where he'll be returning this summer to direct Jesus Christ Superstar. He is also due to direct the world premiere of the new musical, Tears of Heaven later this year in Soeul, South Korea. As an actor he has been nominated for a Tony Award and appears often in film and on TV.
