The UC Follies’ latest show, directed by Shakir Haq, is a reprisal of the Broadway musical The Who’s Tommy. Though the rock musical uses the music off of The Who’s album of the same name, this particular production fell a bit short of rock and roll glory.
The plot of the story is focused on Tommy, a boy who becomes blind, deaf, and dumb after he witnesses his father, Captain Walker, kill his mother’s lover. He goes through his childhood completely catatonic, which causes his parents immense grief and leaves him vulnerable to abuse from members of his extended family. The second act focuses on the fame Tommy receives from the public after he is cured and restored to “normalcy,” and finally, on his return to the love and support of his family.
Zachary Levine and Mark Ferrari played the younger and older versions of Tommy. Ferrari did a good job at playing Tommy both in his catatonic state and in his “fifteen minutes of fame.” Notable performances came from Liz Laywine who played Tommy’s bullying school-aged cousin Caren, as well as from Duncan Derry who played a child-molesting alcoholic, with a twist of humour that made him a crowd-pleaser.
However, the production was aesthetically lacking. The set pushed the action upstage in a weak position and the use of lighting was not ideal. A number of moving LED lighting fixtures were used ineffectively — used more for their ability to change colour than for practical theatrical purposes. As a result, there were multiple times in the production when actors were partially or completely unlit.
The inclusion of a live band in this show did add a little bit of rock and roll to the production, as did many of the dancers in the chorus. However, the dancer’s technique as well as the choreography was not clean or uniform.
A production based off a script that has very little dialogue needs very clear action on stage to advance the plot. A musical needs strong dancers and singers, not multicoloured lights. The Who’s Tommy has moments of promise, but on the whole, the production falls flat.
