![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidLast night I went to the Brandeis production of The Who's Tommy, a rock opera*. I'd heard Pinball Wizard before, but that was it.
It's an interesting story, if a bit depressing at moments. A young boy witnesses violence that makes him shut down his senses. Later bad things happen, until he finds he can play pinball, and his life changes to the center of positive attention. Until it all falls apart.
The show was in the main theater, which has a big stage and lots of possibilities, which was definitely taken advantage of. The set was mostly integrated with the lights, having rows of them around the stage as well as above. There was a big rectangle cutout in the middle of the stage, edged in neon, that the cast had to step over. Behind that were two halves of a rectangle with facing semicircles cut out of them. They were on wires, and could slide left/right to change the set. There was a circle that came down from above to complete it, made of some thin plastic that both reflected some and was partly transparent. Behind that was something else opaque that could move to show the band sitting behind. All the non-moving parts of the set had bars of lights around them. The stage itself was slightly canted, which made me just the tiniest bit worried when women in extremely high heels were dancing about.
The musicians were great, and that made the show work (I've been to musicals where the musicians were inadequate, and it was painful.). Most of the main characters ranged from decent to quite good voices for their parts, notably the narrator and the mother. The worst part about the show was that the tech working the mikes wasn't on the ball, especially in the second half, when far too many singers came in partway through their first line. They weren't missing their cues, but their voices didn't balance the music without the mikes turned on.
The other major minus for me was the choreography, which was rather blah, feeling forced at times. There was a lot to coordinate, but sometimes it felt more like disorganization than fully choreographed pieces.
Other than that, though, a good production. The actors were talented, especially the boy, woman, and man who played Tommy (in different aspects), who were all quite excellent. The music, the acting, the singing, the lights, the set, all came together, though sometimes it felt like the set was more upscale than the rest of the production (According to the program, $BignameSetDesigner came up with it.)
ETA (1315)
I knew there was something I was forgetting. They decided to have the mother's lover be a woman instead of a man. Points for political correctness and all, but it didn't work, since the play was very much set in its time (WWII era, for that part of it), and they just wouldn't be getting engaged. Also, the husband wouldn't be as likely to rush into a jealous rage, since it wasn't clear from their actions when he arrived what their relationship was.
* Why "rock opera", not "rock musical"?
It's an interesting story, if a bit depressing at moments. A young boy witnesses violence that makes him shut down his senses. Later bad things happen, until he finds he can play pinball, and his life changes to the center of positive attention. Until it all falls apart.
The show was in the main theater, which has a big stage and lots of possibilities, which was definitely taken advantage of. The set was mostly integrated with the lights, having rows of them around the stage as well as above. There was a big rectangle cutout in the middle of the stage, edged in neon, that the cast had to step over. Behind that were two halves of a rectangle with facing semicircles cut out of them. They were on wires, and could slide left/right to change the set. There was a circle that came down from above to complete it, made of some thin plastic that both reflected some and was partly transparent. Behind that was something else opaque that could move to show the band sitting behind. All the non-moving parts of the set had bars of lights around them. The stage itself was slightly canted, which made me just the tiniest bit worried when women in extremely high heels were dancing about.
The musicians were great, and that made the show work (I've been to musicals where the musicians were inadequate, and it was painful.). Most of the main characters ranged from decent to quite good voices for their parts, notably the narrator and the mother. The worst part about the show was that the tech working the mikes wasn't on the ball, especially in the second half, when far too many singers came in partway through their first line. They weren't missing their cues, but their voices didn't balance the music without the mikes turned on.
The other major minus for me was the choreography, which was rather blah, feeling forced at times. There was a lot to coordinate, but sometimes it felt more like disorganization than fully choreographed pieces.
Other than that, though, a good production. The actors were talented, especially the boy, woman, and man who played Tommy (in different aspects), who were all quite excellent. The music, the acting, the singing, the lights, the set, all came together, though sometimes it felt like the set was more upscale than the rest of the production (According to the program, $BignameSetDesigner came up with it.)
ETA (1315)
I knew there was something I was forgetting. They decided to have the mother's lover be a woman instead of a man. Points for political correctness and all, but it didn't work, since the play was very much set in its time (WWII era, for that part of it), and they just wouldn't be getting engaged. Also, the husband wouldn't be as likely to rush into a jealous rage, since it wasn't clear from their actions when he arrived what their relationship was.
* Why "rock opera", not "rock musical"?