It’s been 40 years since The Who released its epic rock opera, Tommy, but the tale of betrayal, redemption and pinball still sings in Ray of Light Theatre’s production of the musical now playing at the Victoria Theatre.
Tommy, the “deaf, dumb and blind kid,” ends up that way after seeing his father kill his mother’s lover. The catatonic Tommy’s pretty much a piece of furniture for the first half of the show — knocked around by kids and adults and buffeted by a string of people who promise to cure him with religion, medicine and sex.
He’s played by three actors – starting with the four-year-old Tommy, a wisp of a kid who’s got the blank yet haunted stare down. He’s followed by a ten-year old, and finally, an adult Tommy, who’s played by Zachary Franczak. Franczak’s voice is strong and his presence on stage is solid. We’re with him every step of the way as he portrays Tommy’s progression from mute and wounded to a swaggering pinball phenom.
Following Tommy at every turn is a crowd of young people that go from being Tommy’s tormentors to his groupies. They evoke a mob’s volatility and group-think. Early on, the ensemble appears in choir robes, intoning “ha, ha, ha” in a creepily innocent yet menacing way.
From there, they become swing-dancing teenagers who reject and tease Tommy. In the end, they are Tommy’s ecstatic disciples, but after a period of feverish devotion, they ultimately shun him.
Ray of Light’s production isn’t overly slick, but the live, loud rock band sounds good. There’s also some pretty deft dancing and cool vintage costumes. The theater’s shabby, but its small stage is big enough to seem overrun with groupies at some times and like an expanse as vast as Tommy’s isolation at others.
The Acid Queen, played by Leanne Borghesi, steals the show. A seductress with supposed healing powers, she spills out of her skimpy gold regalia and grinds her feline, fleshy body against the blank and passive Tommy. Of all the singers in the show, Borghesi’s brassy voice holds its own the best against the band.
Another highlight is Tommy’s belching, lurching, leering drunk of an Uncle Ernie, played by Paul Plain. We first see him as the vile babysitter who molests Tommy while his parents are out in the creepy song “Fiddle About.” After Tommy’s transformation into a pinball celebrity, Ernie’s back, this time prowling around as a trench-coat flasher, showing passersby the goods — t-shirts and buttons bearing Tommy’s image.
But the show’s best moment is halfway through the second act, during “Smash the Mirror.” Tommy’s mother finally snaps her son out of his stupor, by breaking the mirror where Tommy Franczak is deep in metamorphosis at the back of the stage to the tune of distorted guitar and crashing drums. The clamor is punctuated by the two young Tommys who stand on either side of the stage singing a sweet refrain. The audience actually squeals.
Finally, the new Tommy emerges and Franczak, surrounded by shafts of gold light, sings an impassioned version of the song “I’m free.”
Tommy is a cocky, mirrored-sunglass-wearing rock star now. He wears a white spaceman helmet, and does pelvic thrusts while he’s playing pinball. In a scene that any bullied kid would love, his former tormentors watch, enamored.
But the mob finally tires of Tommy’s messianic ways and turns on him with an angry, fist-shaking rendition of “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” Again, Tommy is alone.
The Who’s Tommy plays at the Victoria Theatre at 2961 16th Street through November 7.