By Dale King
Tommy rocks.
The stellar performers at Lake Worth Playhouse pull out all the stops to stage an energetic version of the rock musical Tommy, based on The Who’s 1969 double album. The tale of the “deaf, dumb and blind kid” who became a pinball wizard explodes on stage with nearly two dozen players backed by the screaming guitar of Ben Brown and three other top-notch musicians.
Those familiar only with the hit single “Pinball Wizard,” released more than 20 years before Tommy hit the musical stage in La Jolla, Calif., in 1992, and Broadway a year later, will learn the front and back stories of the traumatized lad, how he broke free from his world without senses and how he became a rock star in a world he came to loathe.
Tommy stars a youthful cast with bountiful energy and great singing voices. The show, created largely by The Who’s front man, Pete Townshend, brings back the psychedelic era of the 1960s in full, gyrating colors.
As a rock opera, Tommy is sung wall-to-wall as the players, dance, run up and down a ramp, climb stagings and surround a pinball machine at mid-stage where the elder Tommy (Jason Ziev) sings and struts.
Ziev earns special plaudits. He’s a major presence in Act I and takes an even larger role on stage in Act II. Ziev, who’s on track to get his BFA at Emerson College in Boston, shows his stuff without diminishing the important roles of other performers.
Tommy begins during World War II where battlefield action shares the stage with the delivery of the baby Tommy to Mrs. Walker, his mom (Mallory Newbrough). Believing her husband has been killed in the war, she takes a boyfriend (Michael De Persio), who is shot dead by Mr. Walker (Aaron Lee) when he unexpectedly returns. Realizing 4-year-old Tommy (Matthew Weinstein) witnessed the shooting, his parents violently shake him, telling him he didn’t see or hear anything (“What About the Boy”). The police arrive; Tommy simply gazes at the mirror in silence. A narrator — Tommy’s older self (Ziev) — appears to the audience to begin retelling his life’s story.
The mirror continues to be a focus of Tommy’s life as he grows to age 10 (Ronan Tucciarone), though no one can understand the blind boy’s fascination with it. In a desperate attempt to reach his son, Mr. Walker shouts “Tommy, can you hear me?” Older Tommy, visible only to young Tommy, still staring into the mirror, sings to him (“See Me, Feel Me.”)
Tommy’s cousin Kevin (Austin Caroll), a sadistic bully (“Cousin Kevin”) and his friends take Tommy to a youth club where, to everyone’s astonishment, he plays pinball brilliantly (“Sensation”).
Holding the massive production together is no easy feat. Veteran actress and Lake Worth Playhouse Artistic Director Jodie Dixon-Mears makes it so. And while Ziev may be the wildest performer on stage, other important cast members round out the show.
As Tommy’s parents, Lee and Newbrough, are not only good singers and talented actors, but they’re a couple again. In Cabaret, they appeared as Sally Bowles and Cliff Bradshaw.
Steven Youngstein is fascinating as Uncle Ernie, who is suspected of abusing young Tommy (“Fiddle About”) and has a fondness for booze and cagey deals. He was seen as Luther Billis in South Pacific at Lake Worth.
Princess Victome — a star of last year’s Ain’t Misbehavin,’ — takes center stage as Gypsy, a prostitute suspected of having curative powers (“Acid Queen”). She takes young Tommy on a medicinal journey, but to no avail. The song is no doubt a throwback to a 1960s drug-induced incarnation. But it still works today.
All the Tommys — Weinstein, Tucciarone and Ziev — are masters of their roles, excellently capturing the catatonic role with ease. They all sing well and have terrific stage timing. Alex Garcia, an ensemble member, steps out for an important role as Tommy’s girlfriend, Sally. She’s perky and cute, and will be heading to New York City for graduate study in theater.
The show gets a big boost from a musical quartet: Evan Ferrar on keyboard, Nicole George on drums, Will Cromer on bass and, of course, Ben Brown on guitar. Choreographer Roger Dunson adds the excellent footwork that literally fills the stage.
Tommy will be presented through July 26 at Lake Worth Playhouse, 713 Lake Ave., Lake Worth. Call 561-586-6410 for tickets and information.