Tommy
Queen's Theatre

It's surprising, that after all the various guises in which Tommy has appeared during the last 10 years, the current production at the Queen's Theatre, London, is the first to be adapted dramatically and musically for the stage. And it represents a refreshing return to the basic simplicity of Pete Townshend's original conception. What makes the original album so lasting is the total lack of fuss with which the songs enhance without dominating the unfolding story. Lou Reizner's full symphony orchestra, and Ken Russell's celluloid version, did nothing to enhance the original.

The present production, devised and co-directed by Paul Tomlinson and John Hole, first saw the light of day at The Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch, in late summer 1978. Pete Townshend was so impressed by its vitality that he decided to help it financially — and artistically — to make the transition to the West End. In particular, Eel Pie Sound, The Who's PA and lighting hire company, put together a specially-designed sound system which, with the tasteful Holoco (another Who company) laser show, results in a quite breath-taking aural and visual show.

Because of limitation of space, the small band of musicians are actually located on stage, behind two towers of aluminium scaffolding, one either side of the stage. A 10-foot gap has been left between the towers to enable access from the rear, from where most of the entrances and exits are made through a large door. The towers effectively divide the band into two halves, the drums, bass and two guitars being situated stage right, and the remainder, including acoustic piano, synthesiser, tympani, horn section, and musical director, stage left. Relevant cues for the on-stage performers can be given by the musical director via a closed-circuit camera connected to a small TV monitor suspended from the centre of the first balcony. Ingenious.

About ten feet above the gap a platform is mounted between the two towers, and which provides a very useful focal point for some of the more dramatic parts of the production — such as the crucifixion sequence, for example. A choir of about 40 children occupy various positions on and within the scaffolding, but make several sojourns onto the stage during the performance.

Alan Love handles the difficult role of Tommy very well indeed, and is ably supported by Anna Nicholas as the Mother/Acid Queen (another difficult role of combined good and evil) and Peter Straker as the Narrator.

Dave Martin of Martin Audio was responsible for much of the design and construction of the PA, working very closely with Bob Pridden of Eel Pie and Pete Townshend, who took joint responsibility with Bob in making sure the PA was set up correctly.

The sound system comprises three separate sections for the stalls, circle or first balcony and top balcony. Coverage of the stalls is handled by a conventional set up of a single 15 inch bass bin, a mid-frequency 'philishave' horn and a high-frequency compression horn mounted on either side of the stage. Because the Queen's Theatre is graced with two large boxes mounted close to the stage on a level with the first balcony, a compromise had to be struck between obscuring the view of certain members of the audience, and providing adequate sound coverage in the first balcony without deafening the occupants of the boxes. This difficult requirement was eventually solved by hanging a pair of column side-fill speakers from the roof just in front of the balcony. The upper balcony is covered by a set-up identical to that located on stage, although here suspended from the roof in flying baskets. Amplification comprises a rack of six H/H S500D power amps, each bass bin/mf/hf horn collection being operated in a triamp configuration with the sidefills powered full-range.

A 32-input/four-subgroup/stereo-output Midas console located to the left of centre in the first balcony provides the main PA mix, while a smaller 24/8 Midas desk is used for the on-stage monitor mix. The only ancillary gear, apart from an almost ubiquitous Klark-Teknik stereo graphic equaliser on the PA feed, is a UREI limiter on the vocal subgroup to control transients, plus a Roland Space Echo for special effects. Nine Martin LE200 wedge monitors provide foldback for the musicians and choir, while a pair of effects loudspeakers project a monitor mix to the front of the stage cast.

The resultant sound is very good. Vocals are very clear and intelligible, without being oppressively bright. Balance between instruments and vocals is never short of excellent, the drums and piano sound, particularly, being realistic and precisely defined.