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Who wrote pinball wizard1/7/2024 ![]() He stared the problem down-and brought home a string of Tonys. Instead, he did what he's done with other so-called "impossible" projects (like the La Jolla-born Broadway hit Big River). Winner of five Tonys, The Who's Tommy transforms the sixties rock classic into a dazzling journey of healing.Įveryone knows Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go wrong, will." There's a variation on it that warns, "If you try to make everyone happy, somebody's not going to like it!" ( Tommy director and co-writer Des McAnuff (who, in other incarnations helms the renowned La Jolla Playhouse, where Tommy originated) could have fallen eyebrow deep into that moat when he took on The Who's groundbreaking rock opera. "Walking straight downstage and singing 'Listening to You' to the audience and having them applaud and even stand up before the song is over - that's pretty thrilling." "At times I feel like some sort of urban guerilla actor who can excite all this energy from people and then walk right through them without being recognized," he says, "but I love meeting people and talking to them about the show." In spite of Tommy's vocal demands, he adds, each performance has "exhilarating" moments. Take a 1st Look at Marianne Elliot’s Revival of Company on BroadwayĪfter shedding his character's thick bowl-cut wig, Cerveris enjoys greeting fans at the stage door. "Having lived 25 years since he originally wrote it, Pete wanted to say something more substantial than 'Gee, isn't it fun to be out of your skull?' This is a theatre piece, first, and I think it's making a very realistic, contemporary, honest statement." "Pete often talks about rock-and-roll fundamentalists who refuse to accept that things can develop and grow," the actor says. "The Tony Awards and everything else were secondary to his being satisfied with what I was doing."Ĭerveris expresses polite puzzlement at the handful of writers who have complained that Broadway's Tommy takes The Who's explosive 1969 rock opera and tames its rebellious spirit, removing references to drugs and cults and softening the characters. "For me the biggest thrill was that Pete trusted me and made me feel I had the right to sing his songs," says Cerveris, who came to Tommy as a Yale-trained actor rather than a rock-and-roll singer. Actors pray for good reviews and award nominations, but Michael Cerveris, who plays the title role in Tommy, cared most about winning the approval of one special "critic": the show's composer, Pete Townshend.
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