Pinball Wizardry

Rosalie Armstrong and Samuel Koppel. Photo courtesy of the Criterion.

The Who’s Tommy, written by Des McAnuff and Pete Townshend, at the Criterion Theatre Earlsdon from 31 January – 7 February. Director Debra Relton Elves, Musical Director Rob Parish, Production Assistant Timothy East.

Review by Hilary Hopker

There was an excited and busy hubbub in the newly renovated foyer of the Criterion Theatre as show goers explored the renovation changes. There’s now more space and light in the foyer area and many had taken the opportunity to order a pre-theatre drink from the bar.

Tommy’s the first big show in the theatre post renovation and there was some small confusion when it was declared that tickets had been replaced by a digital guest list. All worked smoothly though and the show opened to a packed house.

All I knew about ‘Tommy’ before seeing this production was that somewhere there’s the famous song ‘Pinball Wizard’ in it. As someone who didn’t know the story, I found parts of act one to be unexpectedly dark.  There’s war, loss and abuse. The minimal digital set helped guide me through the plot though and it was clear by the time of a dramatic fight between Tommy’s father and his wife’s lover, that this was the pivotal scene where four-year-old Tommy shuts down, traumatised by what he’s seen and heard.

The cast of Tommy. Photo courtesy of the Criterion.

The 18 performers move seamlessly from scene to scene, switching characters but all the time driving the story forward. This is a rock musical and the amazing live band, who sadly you don’t get to see, provide high energy mirrored by enthusiastic singing from the cast. It’s hard to believe these are amateur performers and the quality of the singing is in the main excellent, with men deftly hitting incredibly high notes. The band features Rob Parish (keyboard), Jon Heywood and Nick Goodwin (bass guitar), Simon Belcher (drums), Nick Jones (lead guitar).

There’s a couple of stand-out songs. Ann-marie Green terrifies and entertains as the Gypsy who promises the deaf dumb and blind kid Tommy a miracle cure. A duet between Captain Walker, played by Nathan Holden, and Mrs Walker, played by Sue Randall is powerful and impassioned.

There’s great performances on stage too, The role of NarratorTommy is played by Samuel Koppel with unexpected cartwheels from Ella Moorley. But the stand-out performance of the night has to go to 12-year-old Rosalie Armstrong who plays young Tommy, locked in a world of his own dreams. The part of young Tommy is shared also with Izzie Lewis. In this opening night's performance, the white-clad Rosalie remains unmoved and unimpassioned on stage while all around her is a riot of noise and movement. This is only surpassed by her singing ability.

In the end the story is one of hope, as Tommy becomes a worldwide Pinball playing champion, followed and adored by the very people who taunted him in his younger years.

For tickets please visit: https://criteriontheatre.co.uk/