This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Jeff Malone: Welcome to Half Hour with Jeff and Richie, the podcast where we explore the latest shows we see, sharing our insights and opinions on the performances, storyline, and everything in between.

[0:09] Richie Grasso: In today's episode, we'll be discussing the 2024 Broadway revival of The Who's TOMMY.

[0:14] Jeff Malone: Whether you can't catch the show in person or you want to expand your thoughts after seeing it, this episode is for you.

[0:20] Richie Grasso: As always, we want to give you a heads up that this episode will contain spoilers.

[0:24] Jeff Malone: So if you're ready to dive into this production, stick around with us.

[0:26] Jeff Malone: I'm Jeff.

[0:27] Richie Grasso: And I'm Richie, and we're thrilled to be your hosts for this episode today.

[0:30] Jeff Malone: So without further ado, let's start the conversation about The Who's TOMMY on Broadway.

[0:39] Richie Grasso: Half hour.

[0:44] Jeff Malone: Welcome everyone to a new episode of Half Hour with Jeff and Richie.

[0:47] Richie Grasso: Today we're talking about the Broadway revival of The Who's TOMMY.

[0:51] Jeff Malone: In 1969, The Who created a rock opera that changed the course of music history.

[0:55] Richie Grasso: Some 25 years later, The Who's TOMMY arrived on Broadway, winning five Tony Awards, and that was in the early 90s, if y'all were wondering.

[1:02] Jeff Malone: And pushing the boundaries of what musical theater can be.

[1:04] Richie Grasso: Now here we are in March, April 2024.

[1:07] Jeff Malone: The amazing journey resumes in a dazzling new production direct from a sold-out, record-breaking, award-winning Chicago premiere last year.

[1:17] Richie Grasso: So with that being said, why don't we get right into it and give our bold statements about The Who's TOMMY?

[1:23] Jeff Malone: Should I go first?

[1:24] Richie Grasso: Sure.

[1:25] Jeff Malone: Okay. My bold statement on this Broadway revival of The Who's TOMMY is this is exactly how revivals should be done on Broadway. That's my statement, and I will clarify into the episode.

[1:43] Richie Grasso: Okay. The bold statement here is that this is a loud and fun, I feel like nostalgic piece that really found its home on Broadway right now.

[1:59] Jeff Malone: Mm-hmm. Totally. Let's dive into that a little bit more too. Let's just talk a little bit just in general about our overall thoughts on this plot, the concept of the piece, it being this rock opera that comes to Broadway in the 90s that's revived with the same director.

[2:13] Richie Grasso: And rarely I feel do we see revivals with the same director? Sometimes it's like, oh, a reimagined, reinvented director takes on a revival. A lot of times you see that with Sondheim works.

[2:25] Jeff Malone: But there was something interesting about seeing this with the same director and people who knew the original saying, oh, it's so different. Oh, it's so different.

[2:32] Richie Grasso: I didn't see the original. I've seen productions of it. I've listened to the cast album. But this is, I mean, I could already tell it's different just because of the extreme use of technology in it that I'm sure they didn't have in their early 90s when they were doing it.

[2:45] Jeff Malone: Well, I feel like that's something interesting to kind of like even start this off on is how do you feel about a director coming and reimagining something that they originated?

[2:55] Richie Grasso: Love it because I think that things grow and change. I think directors grow and change. And like, why do you feel like he wanted to do this? He had success with it. It was a listen, The Who is a generational band, and TOMMY is from the late 60s.

[3:11] Jeff Malone: So the current boomer generation is were children of the 60s and teenagers listening to that. So of course, I always say Broadway is trying to find the ticket buyers of are people who are paying full price tickets on Broadway are the boomer generation right now.

[3:30] Richie Grasso: Yes, a lot of young people still go to theater but don't want to spend $300 on a ticket. And I think someone of that generation, maybe 65 and older or 60 and older, would say, oh my gosh, I would totally, I would totally go see this and spend a lot of money see because it's like my youth and childhood.

[3:45] Jeff Malone: Maybe when you look at something like the Britney Spears Once Upon a One More Time, if they did Once Upon a One More Time on probably 30 years from now, would there be a lot more people going into it? Maybe. You know, because that generation will maybe be the one spending the top.

[3:59] Richie Grasso: Yeah, but I think that's the difference between concept musical versus biopic musical. So, you know, Once Upon a One More Time was a concept musical with jukebox music.

[4:10] Jeff Malone: But I find what is really cool and interesting, and I wonder if this is like why he wanted to redirect the show and reimagine the show, is because he here's one thing that I'm like I'm gonna backtrack a little bit. A lot of people either love act one or they love act two is what I'm finding.

[4:28] Richie Grasso: I never really feel like someone says, I love the show completely. Except maybe you've said that, but like remember, I'm sitting there at intermission and I'm saying to you, I'm like, yeah, and I was shocked because I loved it. I loved the whole thing.

[4:44] Jeff Malone: I wasn't really sold yet at the end of Act One, because I found I was like there was a lot happening. I mean, it's a rock opera, so you have to follow the music completely to know what's happening in the storyline.

[4:57] Richie Grasso: And I find, like, after I've talked to a few people about this, a lot of people say like they think that the plot goes away in act two. Where I find the act two plot to be so like imaginative and cool and different.

[5:12] Jeff Malone: And I wonder if that's why he felt like he wanted to come back and like redirect this and reimagine this, because I'm sure when was this nineteen ninety three? Around there.

[5:23] Richie Grasso: Around then. I'm sure the futuristic ideas are completely different from then to now. Especially since you have this high level, high quality projection sound, lighting design, which talk about three designers working, or maybe two or three. I gotta see if there was a separate projection designer.

[5:41] Jeff Malone: Having multiple designers, including the costume. Oh, yes, there's scenic design, projection design, costume design, lighting design, sound design. So five designers that really needed to work together really well here.

[5:53] Richie Grasso: I mean, and it so showed. I don't think that one thing stood out. I don't think, oh, just the projections were a lot, or just the lighting. It was like all of it was at the equal level that it needed to be at, I think.

[6:06] Jeff Malone: Yeah. And I feel like what's really cool about this plot, too, kind of like thinking about this a little bit more. Like I knew nothing about this. I mean, I've heard this music before, and I didn't I never really would have thought it was part of a concept album for this show. I just would have always thought it was their album.

[6:22] Richie Grasso: Um, and hearing it and then seeing the visualization of it, it's really cool to see like what this would have been like from that perspective in the early 90s, and like when real people were starting to have fame and fans and like what the media does to people.

[6:45] Jeff Malone: So it was kind of interesting to watch like his story of oh, he's deaf.

[6:52] Richie Grasso: What is he? Deaf, dumb and blind, deaf, dumb and blind.

[6:55] Jeff Malone: Okay, so he's deaf, dumb and I mean, pinball. Right, so he's deaf, dumb and blind, and he's has all this media attention for being deaf, dumb, and blind, and then it moves into having all of this attention because he becomes a celebrity from it. And like, what is the power of celebrity?

[7:10] Richie Grasso: I always wonder if the deaf, dumb, and blind lyrics is that he's actually that or not, or that you're just like making fun of him. I don't really know why, but you know, the lyrics stand out to me though, but yeah.

[7:22] Jeff Malone: Well he was. Because like people would dance in front of him and people, you know, do all of these things. I will say when you look at the plot, I don't understand how some of the reviews said, oh, it's difficult to follow the plot. I don't think that it is. It's just told differently.

[7:39] Richie Grasso: We don't have a lot of dialogue here. Is it hard to follow the plot of Les Mis because it's sung through? Sure. I mean, at times anything that's sung through an opera can sometimes be a little tough to follow a plot when it's sung through. You just gotta watch the action.

[7:50] Jeff Malone: And I've I always remember a professor, I think of one once told me that if you didn't have any lyrics or lines in a show, and you watched a show like you were watching a TV show on mute, you in theory should be able to understand what's going on based on the actions alone that you're seeing on the stage, generally speaking, right?

[8:11] Richie Grasso: I could totally understand what was going on with that family, the war, the pinball, all I totally followed it. I don't know.

[8:18] Jeff Malone: And I'm also getting a little tired of people saying, well, it like it was the New York Times or something, like mostly great reviews. The New York Times gave it a mixed review and kept referencing how loud and in your face it was.

[8:28] Richie Grasso: And I said, but we all go to Madison Square Garden for rock concerts which are louder and in your face. I don't we know it. I understand maybe not all Broadway needs to be this loud, but that's what we're gonna say about it.

[8:39] Jeff Malone: Like we're just gonna sit here and say, oh, it was so loud. It was all it was a lot. What I I mean, really? We're gonna sit here and say that, then you really don't have much else to say about it.

[8:48] Richie Grasso: Because I think that's the least of to talk. I loved how loud it was. It's supposed to be loud.

[8:54] Jeff Malone: Are they talking about the sound design in general then that like the designer didn't really take it down a notch to kind of appeal to the whole audience?

[9:03] Richie Grasso: Yeah, maybe. I mean, it's rock and roll, right? You know, and the movements showed that. And I will say something. It's nice to see Des McAnuff directing again for the modern day.

[9:13] Jeff Malone: I think he's he does have some misses, but he does have some hits when he jersey boys was his big thing, TOMMY.

[9:19] Richie Grasso: But Lauren Lataro choreographing this. I usually not the biggest fan of her work. I find her choreo to be okay. This is, in my opinion, by far her greatest work I've ever seen on her do on a stage.

[9:34] Jeff Malone: The choreo, I was like, what are they doing up there? It's insane. They're like throwing themselves around at the end of Act One.

[9:42] Richie Grasso: What's the other song? Um a sensation. Um a sensation. That song was so good, Jeff. I remember being like, what am I watching right now? This is I just thought the choreo was sick, and it better get a Tony nomination.

[9:56] Jeff Malone: Well, so let's get into that. Let's go fully deeper into the direction, character performance, and design of the show in general.

[10:06] Richie Grasso: We'll be right back.

[10:10] Jeff Malone: Welcome back. Let's start with the choreo.

[10:12] Richie Grasso: Yeah. Like you're saying. I mean, yeah, I'm watching this choreo, and I'm saying this is some of the best choreo we're getting this season. We're just watching this. The lines are so clean. That ensemble is working to the bone.

[10:28] Jeff Malone: And it just helps really enhance and tell that story, you know. That being it that it's a rock opera, you know, it also verges on being a dance piece because there's so much story happening through the dance.

[10:41] Richie Grasso: Lauren's done, you know, well, she's doing The Heart of Rock and Roll this season, also. She did the Into the Woods, not really dance heavy. Waitress, I wasn't really blown away by the choreo on that. And Mrs. Doubtfire, there was some cool choreo on that.

[10:56] Jeff Malone: So, this is like a big deal for her, I think. Is this a big dance piece?

[10:59] Richie Grasso: Yeah. And I was very impressed. I really, really was. And I just think that once again, like I said earlier, it's clear that the designers and the team work together to reinvent this show, but without that's why I said my bold statement was revivals doing what this is doing makes sense.

[11:16] Jeff Malone: Keep the good, change what you need to make good positive future changes. When a show comes back and does the exact same thing when you look at something like The Music Man, when you look at something like, you know, and they keep it mostly the same.

[11:30] Richie Grasso: Okay, there's nostalgia there, and I get that. There's not much nostalgia of a clunky, I don't want to say The Who's TOMMY in the 90s was clunky, but I think they actually had like you know, another thing that the reviews were kind of ripping was there was no actual pinball machine.

[11:42] Jeff Malone: We have to use our imagination set as an audience and listen to the sound, look at the projections in the background, watch what his jolted movement playing pinball was all stylistic theater.

[11:52] Richie Grasso: Right. It was it was like a director's choreographer's vision. It wasn't like let's have him stand there playing pinball with a real pinball machine. Why do we need that?

[12:01] Jeff Malone: I loved the modern stripped-down set of just pieces all in neutral colors, totally and usually I don't usually say, what is up with this set? This was a prime example of a set that worked in the exact way that it needed to.

[12:15] Richie Grasso: Well, you couldn't really have a big set in a show like this. There's so many different scene changes that you're moving through, and it has to be able to tell the story effortlessly.

[12:25] Jeff Malone: I mean, if we're gonna go into costumes now, I thought the costumes were super cool and futuristic. I know we've seen some people talk about how they didn't like the kind of like alien, you know it was like a Daft Punk kind of style look.

[12:40] Richie Grasso: But I thought it was cool. I was like, great, we don't have to see like, you know, random stage hands just running onto the stage that don't fit the piece at all. And this was like, no, the set was part, it was living, it was breathing, it was doing what it needed to get.

[12:55] Jeff Malone: I that ensemble is busy. They must be so exhausted. When I tell you the ensemble plays the following characters: flight crew, swing dancers, congregants, German soldiers, spies, prisoners of war, nurses, policemen, barristers, church choir, Christmas carolers, youths, local lads and lasses, thugs, louts and loudettes, band members, lab technicians, hospital patients, security guards, fans, camera operators, and others.

[13:22] Richie Grasso: Like, hello, you are playing a million different people in a million different scenes, and every time they walked on and off that stage, it was it was brilliant.

[13:33] Jeff Malone: Brilliant. And now, like, let's get into who the standout performer is, number one.

[13:40] Richie Grasso: Oh, well, Ali Lewis Borzui. I hope I'm saying his name correctly. He is absolutely brilliant in this whole role.

[13:54] Jeff Malone: Broadway debut, newcomer to the stage.

[13:56] Richie Grasso: Yes, yes, yes.

[13:58] Jeff Malone: And he's not in a ton of act one, like he is, but like he really comes in at the end of Act One and the little boy grows up.

[14:05] Richie Grasso: He is sick vocals, amazing acting, leading that cast. I was very, very impressed. I mean, I would be shocked if he snubbed of a Tony nomination this year. He definitely deserves one.

[14:18] Jeff Malone: I was uh so the my next one is gonna be Allison Love.

[14:21] Richie Grasso: I mean, yeah, I at first, you know me with parental figures in musicals. They either I either love them or I can't stand them. And at first, I was like, hmm, Adam Jacobs and Allison Love playing these two roles. It's like it's interesting seeing them in the parent roles right now, and especially when we had Adam Jacobs playing Aladdin, and it's like, whoa, age gap jump, but right at first, I think that's why I didn't like Act One so much because I find the parents to kind of be annoying.

[14:55] Jeff Malone: They are a tough sell because they also are like always upset, yeah.

[15:00] Richie Grasso: The whole time they're just worried parents, like the whole time, and their songs are slow. I get it. But let me tell you something. Allison has the breakthrough moment when she's singing the song and she breaks the mirror, uh-huh, and I'm like, sing that song. Hello. Because I was like, that was the moment that we needed, and I actually really liked the choice of kind of like keeping her small and kind of like sad and you know, battered after being like abused and growing into this moment, and especially growing into this moment with her son.

[15:37] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[15:38] Richie Grasso: And and I also will say that Bobby Conti as the cousin was also great.

[15:44] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[15:45] Richie Grasso: He was a standout for me too. Really, really worked that way. Yeah. And and it's such an ensemble piece. The Acid Queen is a moment too. She was great. Everyone, the other cousin. I think I I always hear about the Acid Queen moment, and I think I was a little underwhelmed by that moment. I actually think that whole song could have just been a little more stylized or a little it was already stylistic, but I think it could have been like I think they were trying to let it live on its own because everyone knows how iconic that kind of is, but yeah.

[16:16] Jeff Malone: I also feel like it's interesting.

[16:19] Richie Grasso: Yeah, and it's interesting when you see them songs placed in the order they are. When you talk about the Acid Queen scene and we just talk about scenes in general, there's a lot of dark stuff happening in this.

[16:28] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[16:29] Richie Grasso: Like sexual drug use. I mean, there's a lot of dark abuse. There's a lot of stuff happening. And if you're not really watching carefully or paying attention, you could miss some of the dark stuff that I think they're trying to tell you.

[16:43] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[16:44] Richie Grasso: Um, it's not just like a rock and roll concert. Like it's it's like a story about a child really struggling in this post-war era, you know, and it was nice that they not that I think they would have needed to really change the time period, but it's nice that they kept it in that like post-war Americana of what people were going through in the world and raising children and going through life, and a pinball machine was a big big deal. Right at the time, and still is for some people. But I was like, I think I think of people from the 70s, and they like love pinball. Especially like I remember being young going to the arcade with my uncle, and he uh he was always at the pinball machine.

[17:23] Jeff Malone: Hmm.

[17:24] Richie Grasso: You know, but totally you know, I wanted to kind of talk about the score in general a little bit too, because this is interesting because it being a concept album, how much of this was actually part of the album versus what was added, and usually jukebox musicals cannot be up for original score, right?

[17:48] Jeff Malone: Usually not, I don't think.

[17:50] Richie Grasso: Because it usually needs to be like original score written for the stage or something like that. Um, so that's hard. Um, even though the music is great, but it's also revivals don't usually get eligible for that because it's a revival too.

[18:02] Jeff Malone: Right.

[18:03] Richie Grasso: But this one original score. So that's why in 1992, it won because it had the additional music and lyrics by Pete Townsend.

[18:12] Jeff Malone: Oh, so they must have added enough music off of the album that considered it qualified.

[18:17] Richie Grasso: So I kind of wanted to talk a little bit about that more because why do you feel like more shows don't do that?

[18:25] Jeff Malone: Um probably because of money. Like I think it costs.

[18:28] Richie Grasso: I know, but if you want to be up for an original score and you don't want to be like classified as like, oh, it's just a jukebox musical. I don't really know if this one kind of sits in. This sits in rock opera, not jukebox musical.

[18:41] Jeff Malone: Yeah, I mean, because it was so iconic of the 60s, and then there was a film, I believe, in the 70s. I think it was their goal to get to the stage in whatever way they needed to. And and also don't forget the early 90s was a very difficult time for Broadway. Here's my little theater history month. In the 80s, we had the epics, the Cats, the Les Mis, the Phantoms, and then we had a time period. Sondheim was slowing down with his work, Andrew Lloyd Webber was slowing down, and until Disney came in in the mid 90s and kind of boosted children's theater and boosted the spectacle show again. I would say from like 1990 to 1994, maybe those first three or four years was really light for Broadway. There wasn't a lot.

Sunset Boulevard was a big show of the early 90s. I think um uh Smoky Joe's maybe was the early 90s. Maybe there was a Grand Hotel. There were some things from the early 90s. Um City of Angels that was a big show of the early 90s, but not now like it is now. There was actually one season where I think only two shows were up for Best Musical Score, three, because there wasn't enough shows in this season. So I think something like TOMMY came at a perfect time where we were gonna do this like loud, fun thing that was gonna get people in from 20 years prior to listen to it. And and now I just think this was I totally think this was the right time. I totally do. I think it's got the audience wants this in a post-COVID world, loud, fun rock show. I named 10 people leaving the theater that I think should go see this. Yeah just because they either like the 60s rock who music or they like spectacle shows, or both.

[20:12] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[20:13] Richie Grasso: Well we'll be right back.

[20:20] Jeff Malone: Let's jump back into things. I want to get into like our kind of experience and now kind of touching on that because you know, leaving the theater, we always have our first initial thoughts. And when you have a show like this, it's like, okay, rock opera. They had like a moment, especially with like what Jesus Christ Superstar would be considered a rock opera-ish. Uh, Rent is a rock opera.

[20:44] Richie Grasso: Right. I mean, and this, I'm sure there are others, but some of these things, and it's like, okay, that was such a genre moment in Broadway. And I feel like don't you feel like it's been missing?

[21:01] Jeff Malone: The rock opera?

[21:02] Richie Grasso: Yeah.

[21:03] Jeff Malone: Yeah, I mean, we've had like operetta style things sung through, like Sunset Boulevard's almost all sung through.

[21:09] Richie Grasso: No, I'm talking about like no one's really making new works in the rock opera film.

[21:16] Jeff Malone: Yeah, but I mean, what would be like the last thing like American Idiot would have probably can consider it a lot of it?

[21:22] Richie Grasso: And I al I always think that that's it's harder. What Jonathan Larson had to do, you know, the all those telephones, this is Mark, I'm your mother. Like all the music that you have to write, and all those mo those on the uh window washer guy who does the uh Merry Christmas or whatever he says. I don't know, like the repetition of the cyclical music. It just is harder. It's longer. And I hate to say it, but I think a lot of composers are asked now, just write eight, eight to ten songs for that show. Like we just we need a ballad here, we need a and they fill, like you say, the check the box musicals, especially when they're Disney adaptations, and they say, Well, we already have four songs in the movie, we just write four more, then we got our eight to ten songs.

Put your name on it. We need another ballad here, we need another dance number here, and that's what's becoming the oh, take that movie and just write some songs for filler instead of like, no, I really need to concept this whole piece, you know.

[22:25] Richie Grasso: Well, I think what I'm trying to say is if anyone out there is listening, we're due for something like this. And I think if someone gets it right, it's going to do really well because we haven't had it in a while.

[22:39] Jeff Malone: I will also say, in a way, I think Days of Wine and Roses is pretty through composed almost. There are some scenes, but there was a definitely a lot of music throughout. Uh and and and it's hard, but not enough for it to be raw, is what I'm saying.

[22:54] Richie Grasso: Oh, yeah, yeah, for rock, yeah.

[22:55] Jeff Malone: I also will say there was a time, I'm gonna this is a lot of theater history today. But and the last thing I'll say about in theater history is there was a time when the musical theater art form, I would say maybe in the 40s, was trying to break the mold of opera at all. They were trying to create a new art form, which is book, song, books, scene song, scene song, and have a book and take a play and add music to a play. And so that's not operetta at opera. So when you see rock opera come through, that's kind of later now because there was a time where I think they were trying to break away from that format and the art form because what you had in the turn of the century was uh Portems and um even show boats kind of almost operetta-y, like those old, old shows uh with Gilbert and Sullivan, Pan Pirates of Penzance's operetta, you know, so like all those sung through pieces, they were trying to do different things. It was like so, you know, it's interesting to see it kind of back now in a way, especially with rock music.

[23:53] Richie Grasso: All right. And and and in terms of experience in general, I had a nice time at this. The audience was having a great time. I was a little worried that this was gonna be a rock and roll crowd and that there was gonna be like shouting and screaming in the middle of the show. And luckily in our performance, there was not. People did scream and shout at the end and appropriately, and everyone stood up during the I think people stood up before the bows during the final number. I didn't realize if it was over or not.

[24:17] Jeff Malone: Well, yeah, it was I don't know if it was over because then they all left the stage and he was uh left on the end of the stage with the two boys, right?

[24:23] Richie Grasso: Well, the thing is we happened to be there on the night that was alumni night. So Des was there and he was talking and he talked about the show, and then also a lot of the alumni from the original production were all there sitting a few rows in front of us, and you could totally tell that energy was like in the space with us, and that's why they're like seeing this production at the end. Of course they're gonna get up and um, you know, give a standing ovation. But talk about also a two-hour and 15-minute musical that it's in your face to then just get to the final song and just put a line of people in front of the stage and just sing with regular lighting and just stand and sing. That is brilliance to me in directing how we get to like all this stuff, all this stuff, all then just stand there and sing now.

[25:08] Jeff Malone: And they're gonna and I know you're gonna say it. They didn't sing about going home. There was no home.

[25:14] Richie Grasso: There was no I'm home, we're home. I need to go home. You are my home. I'm gonna do that at the end of every uh every show now.

[25:24] Jeff Malone: But that's what we're gonna say in every episode. We're gonna say, um, is there a home song?

[25:29] Richie Grasso: Well, it's funny because I was just doing a um I was working on some music for In the Heights recently, and at the end finale song, it's I was realizing the song is when they say that at the end of the heights, they go, We're hello. And like, what are the odds that so many shows like love this whole like we're home? And like, no, TOMMY's ending to Well, guess what? As soon as we see the whiz, you're gonna be saying there's a home song in the Well, that's a little different because that's a big beautiful ballad that's not just ensemble standing and singing about home.

[25:56] Jeff Malone: Uh anyway.

[25:57] Richie Grasso: But I guess we could probably say the whiz started it.

[26:01] Jeff Malone: Yeah, yeah, I guess so.

[26:03] Richie Grasso: So oh my gosh, we're almost out of time here. Wow, this was a great discussion. Um, final thoughts on TOMMY on Broadway Revival, Jeff.

[26:12] Jeff Malone: Listen, I think this revival's gonna give a run for the revival categories. Money. I think a lot of people are gonna like this, especially in the theater community, because that does have that nostalgia um impact with it. And it's a great production. So and I really think that there is a lot of fan base for this show to be on Broadway right now because you have people that loved it in the 90s. And listen where we are. We're like 30 years later, and it's still classic rock up on the Broadway stage.

[26:48] Richie Grasso: Totally. My thoughts are that this it works now. It worked then. I think it's great. It's a great piece of theater. I'm usually not a rock and roll person, but this just totally works for the stage, the story, all of the ensemble, the design, the acting is phenomenal. I highly recommend. I have nothing bad to say about it. I was just blown away by the whole.

[27:07] Jeff Malone: He's been humming the Pinball Wizard.

[27:12] Richie Grasso: I love that song.

[27:14] Jeff Malone: So uh that does wrap up our discussion for the episode today. We hope you enjoyed our deep dive into The Who's TOMMY. We will share the link with the ticket information in our description. And don't forget, we want to hear from you. Continue the conversation with us on Instagram and TikTok at Half Hour Podcast. Let us know your thoughts on The Who's TOMMY. And if you enjoyed our show, please leave us a review. Your feedback helps us bring more theater to you. And remember, you can listen to our past episodes and stay tuned for upcoming ones as well. Until next time, I'm Jeff.

[27:40] Richie Grasso: And I'm Richie saying ta-ta for now.

[27:42] Jeff Malone: Bye.