Video- Broadway Who's Tommy Previews: Mar 8, 2024 • Opening: Mar 28, 2024

By editorial board on March 8, 2024

The landmark rock opera, reimagined by Pete Townshend and original director Des McAnuff, opens in New York in March 2024

Cast members Ali Louis Bourzgui (Tommy), Adam Jacobs (Captain Walker) and Christina Sajous (Acid Queen) and choreographer Lorin Latarro also shared their thoughts on the production, which begins performances on March 8, officially opening March 28.

Joining the previously announced Ali Louis Bourzgui in the title role are Alison Luff as Mrs. Walker, Adam Jacobs as Captain Walker, John Ambrosino as Uncle Ernie, Bobby Conte as Cousin Kevin, and Christina Sajous as The Acid Queen. All six actors reprise their roles from the pre-Broadway run of Tommy at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre in 2023.

“LED lights had not been invented 30 years ago when this show premiered,” said Bobby Conte, who plays Cousin Kevin. “The technology that is at our disposal to make this production look like nothing you’ve ever seen before in Tommy is really exciting.”

 

Run time 2h 30m (15m intermission) Start dateMarch 8th, 2024- Tickets starting at $ 72 .89 on sale HERE

The Who's Tommy' names Broadway cast | New York Theatre Guide
Photo credit: Alison Luff, Adam Jacobs, Bobby Conte, John Ambrosino, and Christina Sajous. (Photos courtesy of production)

 

The current revival of the musical got under way last year at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. Casting for the Broadway show will be announced soon.

The Who’s Tommy, the landmark rock opera that opened on Broadway in 1993, will return for a new run in March 2024. Nederlander Theatre will host the production starting with previews on March 8 before a full opening on March 28. The original run closed in 1993, before a one-off revival by the original cast in 2008.

Tony Award winners Pete Townshend and Des McAnuff, nearly 30 years after their epic pop-culture musical theater sensation first bowed on Broadway, have reconvened to tell the story of Tommy Walker for 2023 audiences.

The Who’s Tommy appeared at Goodman Theatre June this summer and Pete Townshend went on to address his detractors that felt the mid-'90s Tony Award-winning musical featured a series of pulled creative punches.

Townshend said in press materials:

In 1969, when I originally wrote TOMMY with The Who, nobody had ever written popular music songs about trauma, nobody talked about bullying, domestic sexual abuse was a subject that was virtually censored.

 

 

 

Then, in 1993, working with Des on the staged theatre piece, we broke the established rules for a musical show. Now, the current generation is breaking all of those rules again—and what Des has achieved with this incredible new production honors them and their courage and audacity. I can’t wait to see how this newly empowered show connects with younger Broadway audiences today. I hope the younger ones come, for they will identify in an entirely new and important way with Tommy’s tumultuous life. Meanwhile, longtime fans of TOMMY, The Who and all their music will be blown away by this new show.

Townshend spoke to The Chicago Tribune, and recalled the multi-generational issues that inspired the original 1969 piece: "What happened with Tommy was. . . it became the story of a post-war child. . . because I saw what was happening to the Who, what was happening to me and what was happening to the movement that we had started and celebrated.

In particular with the song 'My Generation,' which had said, 'it starts now' and 'there is going to be no more old men who had fought in the war who won’t. . . talk about it telling us to get out of their way. That will never happen again. We will be respectful of them. We will tip our caps. But they will not tell us what to do. We have thrown away their rule book.'"

"I think that the music business and the press that surrounds the music business thinks that rock is a black art, magicians weaving this magic — and to some extent I suppose, I agree with them. Y'know. . . but I don't think that genius is a part of rock n' roll. I think it's an instinctive process, a bit like sport. If you can do it, you can do it. You don't often know why you can do it, but you can do it."

"It's at once an honor and a joy to again collaborate with Pete to realize the power and pertinence of The Who's Tommy today," said director Des McAnuff, who originated the acclaimed production at La Jolla Playhouse followed by its long-running Broadway engagement (1993-1995).

"While the music remains as glorious as ever, our world years later is unimaginably and irrevocably changed. As a result, there's so much more we all can recognize-and celebrate-in our protagonist's evolution, as a collective deeper understanding of mental health has sharpened our lens.

Tommy Walker's triumph over devastating childhood trauma, to enlightened leadership, to ultimately recognizing the folly in which he's surrounded himself is an Amazing Journey to discover anew."

 

A cast of 28 and a nine-piece band performed the classic songs from The Who's exhilarating 1969 rock concept album, Tommy, in an exciting new staging.

Cast in the title role of Tommy Walker is Ali Louis Bourzgui (Layalina, The Band's Visit national tour), with Adam Jacobs (Aladdin, Les Miserables and The Lion King on Broadway) as his father, Captain Walker and Alison Luff (Escape to Margaritaville, Waitress and Matilda on Broadway) as his mother, Mrs. Walker. Joining them are John Ambrosino (Les Miserables on Broadway) as Uncle Ernie; Bobby Conte (Company, A Bronx Tale The Musical on Broadway) as Cousin Kevin; and Christina Sajous (SpongeBob SquarePants and Holler If Ya Hear Me on Broadway) as the Acid Queen.

Also joining the cast are Jeremiah Alsop, Stephen Brower, Haley Gustafson, Sheldon Henry, Aliah James, Gabriel Kearns, Tassy Kirbas Lily Kren, Nathan Lucrezio, Alexandra Matteo, Morgan McGhee, Mark Mitrano, Reagan Pender, Daniel Quadrino , Jenna Nicole Schoen, Zach Sorrow, Ayana Strutz and Andrew Tufano. Young Tommy is played as a child and a pre-adolescent by the following actors in rotation: Ava Rose Doty, Presley Rose Jones, Annabel Finch and Ezekiel Ruiz.

 

DISCLAIMER: the images used by Videomuzic are for the purpose of criticism and exercise of the right to report news, in low quality, in compliance with the provisions of the law on copyright, used exclusively for the information content.
DISCLAIMER: Videomuzic usa le immagini per finalità di critica ed esercizio del diritto di cronaca in modalità degradata conforme alle prescrizioni della legge sul diritto d'autore utilizzate ad esclusivo corredo dei contenuti informativi.
Copyright © 2022 Videomuzic | Rome. ITA | Pictures, videos remain the property of the copyright owner, Any copyright owner who wants removed should contact us..
linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram