The Magazine of St Aloysius' College ⢠'Men for Others' ⢠Issue XLVII ...
The Magazine of St Aloysius' College ⢠'Men for Others' ⢠Issue XLVII ...
The Magazine of St Aloysius' College ⢠'Men for Others' ⢠Issue XLVII ...
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music<br />
Anatomy <strong>of</strong> a Musical 2008 -<br />
Tommy<br />
<strong>St</strong> Aloysius’ <strong>College</strong> has a proud tradition <strong>of</strong> presenting<br />
superb musical theatre. On May 15, 16 and 17 <strong>of</strong><br />
this year that tradition continued with a season <strong>of</strong> the<br />
1970s rock opera hit, Tommy. <strong>The</strong> choice <strong>of</strong> a musical which<br />
is a suitable vehicle <strong>for</strong> high school boys and girls in the<br />
21st Century can be quite problematical. <strong>The</strong> introduction<br />
to the Tommy programme annotations by the Director, Mr<br />
Peter Gough summarises his own amazing journey with this<br />
iconic production and sheds light on the incarnation <strong>of</strong> the<br />
work and the motivation behind the decision to stage this<br />
particular work at <strong>St</strong> Aloysius’ <strong>College</strong>.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Punks per<strong>for</strong>m ’Pinball Wizard‘.<br />
as drawing heavily on the writings and life <strong>of</strong> Meher<br />
Baba, the Tommy story was interwoven with allusions to<br />
and references drawn from Christianity, Eastern esoteric<br />
philosophy and twentieth century popular culture. Obvious<br />
reference points were the life <strong>of</strong> Helen Keller, the 1926<br />
scandal <strong>of</strong> controversial American evangelist Amie Semple<br />
McPherson, the pop star phenomenon in which <strong>The</strong> Who<br />
themselves were immersed, and <strong>of</strong> course, pinball.<br />
Daniel Verschuer as Young Tommy.<br />
My amazing journey with Tommy began after I read a<br />
1969 interview with Pete Townsend guitarist and principal<br />
songwriter <strong>for</strong> “<strong>The</strong> Who” in Rolling <strong>St</strong>one magazine.<br />
<strong>The</strong> concept album (or first Rock Opera as some people<br />
mistakenly referred to it) was strongly influenced by his<br />
rejection <strong>of</strong> drugs and his consequent burgeoning interest<br />
in spirituality and mysticism. This interest had blossomed<br />
when he was introduced to the life and teachings <strong>of</strong><br />
Meher Baba by artist Mike McInnerney, who went on to<br />
do the famous cover illustrations <strong>for</strong> the Album. As well<br />
Lauren Curtin, Peter Slaven and Harry Power.<br />
Tommy is mostly the work <strong>of</strong> Pete Townsend, with only<br />
three songs by the other band members. Eyesight to the<br />
Blind had already been written by Sonny Boy Williamson.<br />
Ironically, the signature tune Pinball Wizard and the now<br />
famous pinball plot device were devised on the spot and<br />
purely <strong>for</strong> the sake <strong>of</strong> expediency. <strong>The</strong> band was very much<br />
in debt, partly because at each per<strong>for</strong>mance Pete Townsend<br />
would smash his guitar and amplifier on stage and Keith<br />
Moon, the drummer, would destroy his drum kit.<br />
After the album’s release <strong>The</strong> Who per<strong>for</strong>med excerpts<br />
at the 1969 Woodstock Rock Festival be<strong>for</strong>e 250,000<br />
people and <strong>for</strong> the next two years they toured the world<br />
(except Australia) giving Tommy concerts, with Roger Daltry<br />
as Tommy and Pete Townsend as the narrator.<br />
In 1972, producer Lou Reizner began work on a new<br />
a lavish new all-star orchestral production <strong>of</strong> Tommy. It was<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the first rock music projects to use a full symphony<br />
orchestra as an integral part <strong>of</strong> the arrangement and<br />
presented a fuller realisation <strong>of</strong> the characters with an allstar<br />
cast in the various roles. This orchestral version was very<br />
successful and is well-remembered <strong>for</strong> its lavish cover, which<br />
was at the time the most elaborate album package ever<br />
created. I got to see that concert, along with 30,000 other<br />
people, on a stage designed to look like a pinball machine,<br />
at Randwick racecourse on April 1st, 1973.<br />
In 1975, iconoclastic British film director Ken Russell<br />
made his controversial film version <strong>of</strong> Tommy. Townshend<br />
reworked both the storyline and the music <strong>for</strong> the film<br />
version. <strong>The</strong> major plot changes were the shifting <strong>of</strong> the<br />
original time <strong>for</strong>ward <strong>of</strong> the story line from the end <strong>of</strong> World<br />
War One to the end <strong>of</strong> World War Two.<br />
For those <strong>of</strong> us who were lucky enough to see this film<br />
<strong>St</strong> Aloysius’ <strong>College</strong><br />
A Jesuit School <strong>for</strong> Boys _ Founded 1879<br />
aloysiad / page 32