The Who's Tommy

[sam31]

I am really happy as I am going to see The Who's Tommy In November. It is only a one off charity performance at the Prince Edward Theatre on Monday 12th November in Londons westend. I do not really care about the cast as I am sure they will do a great job. I saw a UK touring version off this show a few years ago and I saw Roger Daltery play with album in full at this UK gigs last year which were great. so bring it on.


CAST & CREATIVE.

Joe McElderry as Tommy
Hannah Jane Fox as Mrs Walker
Daniel Boys as Captain Walker
Zoe Birkett as the Acid Queen
David Hunter as Cousin Kevin
Glenn Carter as Uncle Ernie
Siubhan Harrison as Sally

Directed by Raz Shaw
Choreographed by Steve Kirkham
Musical Supervision by Iain Vince Gatt
Musical Direction by Andrew Hilton
Casting by Anne Vosser

This concert performance is in aid of the Pure Theatre Development Fund, which has been set up with the aim of funding the development of new writing in musicals and straight theatre. The fund will facilitate workshops and readings of new writing and will be launched in conjunction with this exciting production.

[UKtheatrekid]

Joe McElderry is my main concern.

[Posner11]

Roger Daltery has given Joe the nod of approval for the role theres a picture of the two of them on the www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk site ticket page.
The twitter feed from the production team and several cast members are great fun to read and with them just starting their second week of rehearsals its going to be a fully played show rather than some snap production. Still trying to juggle chance of seeing its before it sells out - not likely we will see Tommy in west end again for a long while or even as a touring show so think its well worth a chance if you are in London that night

[Chookaburra]

Hi posner (haven't we met somewhere similar before?)

Just going to say - the show has a brilliant MD !

[sam31]

Thats great news that Roger Daltery is happy with Joe McElderry being cast in Tommy. I am really looking firward to seeing this show in 2 weeks time. Lets just hope that The Who will tour the UK next year.

[Posner11]

Pure theatre productions have set up a new website for the one off show - www.tommylondon.co.uk giving bios and more details of the cast and creative team (including that "brilliant MD" chookaburra was telling us about!)

[FrontRowDress]

£50 tix reduced to £35 on lastminute http://www.lastminute.com/site/entertainment/event-product.html?skin=engb.lastminute.com&eventID=920146302-1&dayVal=0&keyword=tommy&eventType=1&catID=&maxPrice=&monthVal=0&startIndex=1&location=I+don%27t+mind&dateAllowance=&searchRadius=&view=&numTickets=&sortBy=defaultDSC

[FrontRowDress]

£50 tickets reduced to £35 on lastminute

[winston89]

Sadly for this production of Tommy, if The Who is to tour the UK it would most likely be with their new Quadropenia tour rather than Tommy. Daltrey did tour with Tommy and his band a year or so ago and I believe that that particular tour included stops in England.

[mrkringas]

Did anyone else see this?

I had a fun evening. For a one night concert there were obviously a couple of sound cues not quite right but flaws aside it was a fairly solid and entertaining performance.

Nice to see Hannah Jane Fox back on stage. Voice is still there and she sounded great as Mrs Walker. Especially letting rip on "Smash the Mirror". Also enjoyed a more vocally aggressive performance from Daniel Boys than I'd heard in past roles as Capt Walker. Love that Christmas morning number.

Also Zoe Birkett really smashed it as the Acid Queen. I had no idea she had that sort of voice. Vocally confident and pure sass.

Plenty of strong voices in the ensemble covering the smaller parts. Not a weak link there.

Right well Joe.. gosh he is small isn't he?
I always enjoyed his vocals back on The X Factor. Lets just say he grew into the part. Fine at the more relaxed moments but some of the uptempo rock numbers in Act I were difficult to catch all the lyrics. Thats purely technique as the other performers were easily understood. But that aside he can really sing and suited his voice. Less complaints in Act II as he seemed to have turned up the volume and attacked his lyrics more confidently.

Finally I'm not sure some in the audience quite got what the paedo number was all about as some awkward laughter but props to Glen Carter for doing something different. Big improvement on the last UK tour with Jonathan Wilkes overall but direction nowhere near as clear as a student production at RAM last year.

A good evening and a very enthusiastic audience (although worrying numbers of women who I assume are Michael Ball fans seem to have transferred their adoration to little Joe.. anyway..)

Still annoyed I am a touch too young to have missed the original production at the Shaftesbury. A revival please!

[FrontRowDress]

Kind of agree with mrkringas above, but poor Joe McElderry was so out of his depth I felt sorry for him. I just kept on wishing that David Hunter had been cast as Tommy, now that would have been a good evening. More moaning in my blog as per.
Tommy

[sam31]

I saw this show on Monday night wow what a great show. I saw the last UK tour of Tommy and this was a much much better version. Joe McElderry did quite a good job as Tommy but he was just not as good as Jonathan Wilkes who played Tommy on the last UK tour. This was his first ever theatre role and thought he did a pretty good job even if his singing was a bit to quiet at times. I would just like to say the rest of the cast where great. Aagin what a great show I just love The Who and everthing they do.

[mrkringas]

Jonathan Wilkes was woeful in that tour.

[Posner11]

One week on and still getting a buzz from seeing this show and still humming the tunes - always a good sign and well worth the trip and lack of sleep before work on Tuesday.

The amount of work they put into this show was pretty amazing - far more staged and structured than the "in concert" tag hinted or what we normally expect of these shows

Of the leads David Hunter who had by passed me on the superstar TV show really gave a strong performance vocally and character - really showed hes one to watch out for and the "Seussical" producers did a smart move snapping him up for the lead.

The "borrowed" Jersey boys set worked well as a backdrop -
From what I remember of the last London production and its tour after was a very visual and for the time technical production. This Tommy showed that with a powerful and well rehearsed cast , a great band, effective choreography and some simple but sharp lighting cues you can produced a strong show without the expensive production which bodes well for another tour sometime .

Special mention has to go the ensemble who served way and above expected duty. Its rare for a chorus to work as a unit but also be strong indivdual performers when they did the various support characters. They really were the powerhouse of the show - Siubhan Harrison - Pippa Lee - Amanda Simm - Helen Siveter - James Alexander Gibbs - Joel Montague - Ben Redfern - Mathew Waters take a extra bow!

A great night and nice to think money raised for the new theatre writing fund may well help fund a show I see a couple of years from now.

A really good evening and production and nice touch was keeping the house lights dimed while the band played the exiture music after the cast had taken their bows and left the stage with everyone still standing/clapping/dancing it gave a nice rock feel to round the evening off .