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Dateline staff

"But I ain't seen nothing like him, in any amusement hall. That deaf, dumb and blind kid, sure plays a mean pinball." Yes, indeed, he's a pinball wizard! And he's coming to the UC Davis stage.

The show is none other than The Who’s Tommy, set to open next week in Main Theatre, as a production of the Department of Theatre and Dance.

Director-choreographer Mindy Cooper, back for her third turn as a Granada artist in residence, knows the rock opera well. She oversaw the dance auditions (1,500 a week) for the original production, working with choreographer Wayne Cilento. The musical opened in 1993, ushering Broadway into the rock era — paving the way for shows like American Idiot and Rent.

Tommy is based on The Who’s 1969 double rock album of the same name, mostly composed by the band’s guitar playing Pete Townshend, and featuring such now-classic hits as “I’m Free,” “See Me, Feel Me" and "Pinball Wizard."

The title character becomes deaf, dumb and blind as a child, after witnessing a murder. Ultimately, he breaks free from his emotional trauma and becomes a pinball wizard.

Cooper revealed a bit of Townshend trivia: “He added the pinball element early on in his writing process simply to please a London music critic who was a pinball fanatic in hopes of a good review!”

Broadway veteran at the helm

Cooper noted how Townshend was very nervous regarding the addition of dance to his rock ’n’ roll concept. Turns out he was in good hands then and now: She is a 25-year veteran of Broadway, with performance credits in Chicago, Titanic, Beauty and the Beast, Song & Dance, and Tenderloin; and directing-choroegraphy credits for Dracula: The Musical and Wrong Mountain.

In her previous Granada stints, she directed Urinetown: The Musical (2007) and Oklahoma! (2009).

Cooper said her Broadway experience with Tommy in 1993 has not influenced her direction of the �ٺ���Ƶ production. Working with fresh eyes, she has worked with graduate and undergraduate performers to find their strengths and has sculpted the dance routines accordingly.

Master of Fine Arts acting candidate Michael Davison, who plays the irrepressible (and reprehensible) Uncle Ernie remarked: “Mindy has a very sharp eye for the images she creates on stage and is able to use her resources (the performers) to their best advantage to create what she is looking for — meaning she is able to choreograph and stage a show that would appear to be at the Broadway level that she is accustomed to working, but with enough modification so that the university cast can actually produce the results.”

The results are due, in part, to the actors doing their homework — researching conditions such as Tommy’s withdrawal from the world and his cathartic rise to superhero.

Above all else, Cooper said, Tommy is an opera (with Graham Sobelman as director of the show’s professional musicians).

Only 20 lines of dialogue

“It has great musicality and only 20 lines of dialogue, whereas standard musicals have at least three pages of dialogue between songs,” Cooper said.

Orchestrating the operatic themes has been most challenging for the director, creating a heightened reality with actors who are not all deeply musically trained. Still, Cooper has been able to interpret the scope and scale of Tommy into a production with great spectacle, fun and dimension.

Lead actress Alison Sundstrom said: “It's like a musical and a rock concert are colliding. It creates this epic event where you have all the music and the thrill and awe of a rock concert with the story of a musical. It jumps from song to song to song."

Tommy is essentially a rock 'n' roll show set on a pin ball machine. "The stage can be very, very alive, and yet simple at the same time," Cooper said. Master of Fine Arts candidate Kourtney Lampedecchio created more than 14 sets — and even that was not enough.

The production also features a video prologue, to tell the backstory and show what would have been difficult to stage.

Video deigner Collin Davey, a doctoral candidate in English, said: “We've created a coordinated blend of live-action and film that tells the story of Tommy's parents -- how they meet, fall in love, and how Tommy's father must go off to war.

“My work on the film portion was designed to tell a love story, set the stage for 1940s war-torn London, dovetail the film with action appearing on stage, and keep it all consistent with Mindy's greater vision for the show — all in five minutes.”

Ryley Steggall and Benjamin Hoffner-Brodsky play Tommy as a boy, while Matthew Dunivan, a graduating dramatic art major, plays the grown-up Tommy.

Dunivan starred in �ٺ���Ƶ’ The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, in 2010, under Cooper’s direction. Last winter, he played the lead role in Come Hell and High Water, directed by Granada Artist-in-Residence Dominique Serrand.

Reporting by Janice Bisgaard, publicity manager for the Department of Theatre and Dance.

AT A GLANCE

WHAT: The Who's Tommy, the groundbreaking rock opera about childhood, trauma and triumph, directed by Granada Artist-in-Residence Mindy Copper, with music and lyrics by Pete Townshend.

WHEN:

• Thursday-Saturday, May 19-21 — 8 p.m.
• Sunday, May 22 — 2 p.m.
• Thursday-Saturday, May 26-28 — 8 p.m.
• Sunday, May 29 — 2 p.m.

WHERE: Main Theatre,

TICKETS: $18-$22 general admission, $15-$20 students, children and seniors. Advance tickets are available (click on “Purchase Tickets Now!”), or in person or by telephone at the Mondavi Center box office, (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787. Box office hours: noon-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday.

DISCOUNT: $10 tickets are available for school and youth groups of 10 or more, at the teacher or group leader’s request. To make arrangements, call the Department of Theatre and Dance, (530) 752 -5863.

ADVISORY: PG-13 (a motion picture rating that states: “Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13").

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