The
Who's Tommy from Rock-Opera to Broadway and Beyond
Written
by Michael Black
By mid 1967 the Who were quickly becoming icons of popular culture.
They had already made their mark in the pop charts with their
first single "I Can't Explain" and the youth anthem
"My Generation", and they were picking up new fans everyday
as they swept their way across America on their first headlining
US tour. It was during this tour that lead guitarist and chief
songwriter Pete Townshend would begin to write songs for a concept
album that would forever change the history of rock & roll…and
Broadway. Dubbed by critics as a "Rock-Opera", Tommy
was a concept album that dealt with the spiritual enlightenment
of a 'deaf, dumb, blind kid' who had witnessed traumatic events
throughout his adolescence. This was the first time that a rock
album had been held together by a cohesive plot, thus Tommy naturally
lent itself to theatrical production. After a number of theatrical
incarnations, Tommy finally made its way to Broadway in 1993 nearly
twenty-five years after its conception. It was at Broadway where
Pete Towshend's dream came to life the way he had originally realized
it. Tommy provided the first real bridge from the rock & roll
genre to Broadway and helped establish a precedent that would
be followed by many.
While
the Broadway success of Tommy might well be the pinnacle of Pete
Townshend's ambitious project, the album's history and impact
were what actually propelled the concept to Broadway. Townshend's
legacy as a songwriter would have been remembered strongly had
his career ended in 1967, but the creation of Tommy helped seal
Towshend's fate as a songwriting legend. The songs that the album
contained were more diverse and widely influenced than what rock
audiences were used to. The cohesiveness and diversity of the
work had rock critics labeling Tommy as the first 'Rock-Opera',
a credit to its theatrical potential.
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