This past weekend Northwestern University closed their Rock opera production of The Who’s Tommy. If you did not get a chance to see this mostly sold-out show, I am sorry. This was a truly fantastic evening of theatre at it best!
What made it so good? The band and cast created a great night. Set on stage with the actors, the band acted as an actual concert, with the actors performing in front of them and sometimes interacting with the group. Nice balance of sound and voice once the sound mixer got through the first few minutes of the show. Once the microphone issue was fixed, the blend was great.
The show worked perfectly with a group of mirrors acting as portals and also transformed into a pinball machine. Just beautiful! Some of the choreography was a little over choreographed but for the most part, everything worked. A great scene in the opening of Act 2 reveals the daily routine of mom and dad with chairs. Each time the day ended to start the next they moved their chairs further part from each other. What a great way to show distance grown over time!
The energy exerted from the cast was what made it so fun. Kudos have to go to Reed Wilson (Tommy) whose voice is heavenly and acting is superb and to Andi Alhadeff (Acid Queen) who blew it out of the water! Sexy, strong, perfect! The final song was performed in a line at the front of the stage, very Rent like, and sang to the audience. Wonderfully done, but a few cast members were more "in to it" than others and made for a funny affect. Not sure if this was the directors choice or if it came from emotion of the run.
I forget that Northwestern is right in the backyard and that there work is exceptional! It a great inexpensive, enjoy night out!
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