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Theres something exhilarating and also a little bizarre aboutTommyas both time capsule and time traveler.
Its not that theres anything offensive aboutTommys datedness McAnuff and co. have made sure of that.
WithTommy, if the dissonance is sometimes distancing, its also fascinating.
I had plenty of questions, but I also had a damn good time.
First, one of my questions: Did McAnuff have to get Daft Punks permission for this show?
No, no, I know its not (or, I mean, do I?
Daft Punk could be anywhere, or anyone.
A projection in a typeface that could believably belong toEnders GameorEvent Horizontells us were IN THE FUTURE.
And boy, does Tommy get handled!
and one thats designed to shift in meaning as the story advances.
You wont say nothing to no one / Ever in your life.
Their warning works too well.
Toddler Tommy goes catatonic, rendered psychosomatically deaf, dumb, and blind by the event.
People still surround him, grab him, and carry him around, but now its because hes famous.
While theres plenty to mine there, the more broadly allegorical thisTommygets, the shakier it becomes.
The possibility for both confusion (Wait, whatexactlyis happening?)
and cliche (Why would you want to be more like me?
Tommy asks a fan.
For 15 years I was waiting for what youve already got.)
mount up when metaphor takes on flesh.
If a show isnt careful, the anchor of literalism is going to start dragging it down.
I told you I had questions.
But also, Im not really that bothered.
Especially not when Bourzgui has the stage.
Theres a youngTim Curry energy at work, an aura thats thrillingly ambiguous but not at alltwinky.
Whatever his literal voice part is, Bourzgui is not giving tenor.
(Hes also wearing thehellout of a turtleneck.)
What will it look like in the next tridecennial production in 2055?
(Who, who; who, who?)
But now, I kinda really want to know.
The Whos Tommyis at the Nederlander Theatre.
