HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2013-07-18, Page 19THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 18, 2013. PAGE 19.
McAnuff’s ‘Tommy’ impresses on Stratford stage
Tommy, directed by former
Stratford Festival Artistic Director
Des McAnuff in collaboration with
The Who’s Pete Townshend, is one
of this year’s most talked about
shows in the province.
McAnuff first directed Tommy,
one of the most famous rock operas
of all time, in 1992. The play opened
at the La Jolla Playhouse in San
Diego. Over 20 years later, he has
returned to the project for a
reimagining of it alongside
Townshend, who was in Stratford
earlier this year for the play’s
premiere.
Featuring a three-storey display
screen behind the actors, this
installment of Tommy is a
technological journey that takes the
game of pinball and brings it into the
year 2013, despite the play’s
wartime setting.
The band jolts the audience to
attention as the 8 p.m. curtain time
arrives and goes as the lights remain
lit and people chat and work to find
their seats. An extremely loud single
electric guitar note startles the crowd
and prepares them for the rock and
roll they’re about to experience.
The first act is like a rock and roll
buzzsaw that tears by in what seems
like minutes.
The back story is broken down in
a mere 10 minutes or so. Tommy is
born to Captain Walker and his wife
and he a perfectly healthy British
boy.
Walker is thought to be gunned
down as a paratrooper in World War
II, leaving Mrs. Walker and Tommy
to move on with their lives, as Mrs.
Walker takes in a new suitor.
Captain Walker, however, is
discovered in a P.O.W. camp and
eventually returns home to see said
suitor with his hands all over his
wife. Walker kills the man and
Tommy is told to keep his mouth
shut.
(Those hoping to attend Tommy,
prepare yourselves for guns firing
loudly.)
It is after this incident that life in
the Walker family turns anything but
normal, as Tommy is found to be
“deaf, dumb and blind” as described
in “Pinball Wizard,” perhaps the
most popular song from The Who’s
1969 original album Tommy.
The first act harkens back to
“Pinball Wizard” several times, as
well as The Who’s “See Me, Feel
Me” which is not on the original
Tommy album.
Tommy follows the young title
character through his childhood and
adolescence as he is bullied and
molested in his vulnerable state until
he eventually, inadvertently
discovers his hidden talent of
playing pinball, despite his many
challenges.
As Tommy remains silent, except
for the occasional song, throughout
the first act, the stars are very much
Tommy’s parents, played by Jeremy
Kushnier and Kira Guloien, who
Blyth Festival audience members
may remember from 2011’s
Hometown, where she played Thea,
a girl who bookended the play as she
rode a train back to her hometown.
Both Kushnier and Guloien are
fantastic as Tommy’s parents as they
carry the story on their shoulders
and excel in the musical task with
which they’ve been charged.
Kushnier portrays excellently the
rage and frustration that come from
a military man who has met his
match in trying to raise Tommy.
Guloien perfectly complements her
stage husband as the beautiful
mother with a gentle hand,
portraying patience, as well as silent
heartbreak as they struggle with
Tommy over the course of his life.
Steve Ross is great as Uncle Ernie,
who is funny on one hand and who
shows his dark side on the other with
a song like “Fiddle About” which is
when Tommy forever loses his
innocence at the hands of his uncle.
Another standout is Jewelle
Blackman, who plays The Gypsy.
Blackman performs “The Acid
Queen” and she is enticing in a way
that makes you think she’ll swallow
your soul.
Mr. Walker brings Tommy to a
shady alley where the pair encounter
The Gypsy, played in the 1975 film
by Tina Turner, who pledges that she
can “cure” Tommy with a
combination of sex and drugs.
And of course, the star of the show
is Tommy, portrayed as three
different ages in the play. All three
are heartbreaking as adult Tommy,
played by Robert Markus,
commonly refers back to his
younger self on stage with the
common refrain from “See Me, Feel
Me” of “See me, feel me, touch me,
heal me.”
Markus brings just the right
amount of bravado to the role as
Tommy finds his voice, and his
fame, in the second act.
The first act speeds through the
stage at 100 miles per hour with
wall-to-wall music, as well as on-
stage pyrotechnics and gunplay,
while the second act finally slows
down a bit to tell a bit of the story.
The show is a true treat, and an
upgrade to the 20-year-old
production, that will appeal to
theatre-goers of all ages.
For more information on Tommy,
visit the website at
www.stratfordfestival.ca. Tommy
runs at the Avon Theatre until Oct.
19.
Entertainment Londesborough ON.............................................www.seedforwildbirds.comnaturesnest@tcc.on.ca StopsStopsStopsStopsStopsalong the wayalongthewayA VISITORS’ GUIDE TO HURON COUNTYstopsalonglakehuron.comLook for entertainment ideas on our Stops Along the Waywebsite at...
Silent Auction Items
Monetary donations from Radford Fuels, Sparlings and the BBIA
Blyth Printing graciously donated the posters.
Contributor Item Bid Sheet Location
Bainton’s Old Mill Blanket Stitches with a Twist
Blyth Building Supplies Wooden Bench Blyth Building Supplies
Blyth Décor Shoppe Gift Package Stitches with a Twist
Blyth Inn/Bells Pizza Pizza Party Pack Bells Pizza
Blyth Laundromat Gift Basket Blyth Laundromat
Blyth Massage Therapy Gift Certificate Stitches with a Twist
Blyth Festival Pass For Play Festival Box Office
Blyth Variety Gift Basket Blyth Variety
Blyth CIBC Fun In The Sun Basket Of Goodies Blyth CIBC
The Citizen Country Cooking cookbook The Citizen
Blyth Corner Café Gift Cert. Dinner for 2 Stitches with a Twist
Davara Studio Decorative Star Davara Studio
Elliott Nixon Insurance Blanket & 2 bags Stitches with a Twist
The Gift Cupboard Gift Basket The Gift Cupboard
John Rutledge 3 Hour Consultation Stitches with a Twist
Maple & Moose 24"x36" Canvass Print Maple & Moose
Part II Bistro Brunch for 2 Part II Bistro
Pianovations Gift Package Pianovations
Queens Bakery Gift Basket Queens Bakery
Sharon’s Miniatures Picnic Basket Sharon’s Miniatures
Spa Essentials Surprise Gift Spa Essentials
Sparlings Propane BBQ Set Stitches with a Twist
Stitches with a Twist Threadville Series Stitches with a Twist
The Old Mill Sheepskin The Old Mill
273 Hamilton St., Blyth • 519-523-4590
www.blytheastsidedance.com
Blyth East Side Dance
Learn
the Foxtrot
An uncertain future
In Tommy , Captain Walker and his wife, played by Jeremy
Kushnier and Kira Guloien, support their son Tommy,
played here by Conor Bergauer, while he makes his way
through a troubled childhood. (Michael Cooper photo)
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Ernest & Yvonne Dow
of Blyth
and
Holger & Gabriele Tubbesing
of Kasel, Germany
are very happy to announce
the wedding of their children
Allison Irene
and
Philipp Carl
Wedding Announcement
Saturday, August 3, 2013 at 12 noon
at the bride’s parents’ residence (weather permitting)
211 North St., Blyth
(rain location Huron Chapel EMC, Auburn)
Get entertainment
information on the
Entertainment section
of our website at
www.northhuron.on.ca