Matching set: Local company’s staging boosts ‘The Who’s Tommy’

Kimberley McGee

Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2002 | 8:29 a.m.

It's classic rock with a Las Vegas twist.

The latest touring production of "The Who's Tommy" is a combination of classic rock, elaborate Broadway choreography, and a shiny, new, rock-concert-styled set that a local company painstakingly built by hand.

The rock opera opens today and plays through Sunday at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts.

For the third national tour of "Tommy" in eight years, award-winning New York set designer Edward Pierce wanted something different for this production.

"I wanted to capitalize on rock 'n' roll and theater, to isolate moments, to give a kinetic atmosphere to the (musical)," Pierce said. "The stage had to have all that."

This new production of the 33-year-old rock opera features a $150,000, 31-foot-tall aluminum stage that was built by local set manufacturer Themeing Solutions Inc., at its facilities on East Craig Road.

Last summer Pierce sought out Peter Mensching, president of Themeing Solutions, to build his dream set.

Mensching has built themed sets for Kahunaville at Treasure Island and Star Trek the Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton. He is well-known in the theater industry, having built Broadway show sets in the '80s and into the early '90s.

"Building (the set) was a quick, intense job," Mensching said. "We got inside the designer's head and made his (Pierce's) vision three dimensional. It's very rock 'n' roll."

Which is exactly what Pierce wanted.

The rectangular metal set is a collection of gleaming girders garnished with high-tech lighting equipment for flashy effects.

The towering set took three weeks, 45 staff members and 3 tons of metal to build, Mensching said.

"This story is based on rock 'n' roll," Pierce said. "We wanted the set to enhance Tommy's story and the lyrics of the songs that tell what's going on in this tortured kid's head."

"Tommy" was penned in 1969 by Pete Townshend, lead songwriter and guitarist for The Who. The rock opera was the first of its kind and is considered a masterpiece by critics.

The award-winning musical contains some of The Who's greatest hits, including "Pinball Wizard," "See Me, Feel Me" and "I'm Free."

The songs tell the sordid story of a boy, Tommy Walker, who finds refuge in catatonia after witnessing the murder of his mother's lover by his father.

The deaf, dumb and blind boy regains his senses by mastering the game of pinball. In the process, he gains -- and loses -- fame and a cult following.

Onstage under the metal structure, Themeing Solutions also built giant rubber-and-Plexiglas pinball flippers that undulate, 6-foot-tall mirrors on wheels that careen across the stage and pinball machines and Fiberglas barrels upon which cast members dance.

"People think it's a simple barrel, but it's a high-tech piece of set equipment," Mensching said. "There's a lot going on within the set and the actors have to be able to move it around. We made it all so that they could, which is what (Pierce) wanted."

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Most scenery in contemporary Broadway shows are computerized and shift on and off the stage by electronic instruction, Pierce said.

But Pierce wanted each actor to be able to move the set around as they intrude on Tommy's world.

"It's something audiences don't see anymore," Pierce said. "On an artistic level it's very exciting. There's an ever-changing motion to the stage that reflects what Tommy is feeling."

To breathe life into Pierce's vision, Mensching realized he had to create a shining, towering metal stage that would move with the light touch of an actor's fingers, yet stay stationary during a raucous rock song.

"The tricky part is that they had to move these pieces with ease all over the stage," Mensching said. "They had to be light, yet solid, so that the actors could do what they needed to do for the (musical)."

To do that, Mensching used lightweight aluminum and hundreds of moving pieces to construct Tommy's world. Each piece was measured, weighed, polished and fitted into place by Mensching's staff in Themeing Solutions' North Las Vegas warehouse.

"We made sure everything was perfectly in place before we sent it," Mensching said. "You can build it on paper, but you have to try it out before you know it's absolutely right."

Seelbach said that the new set reflects the growth of the character more significantly than past sets.

"The stage can twist and turn with Tommy's emotions," Seelbach said. "It's its own character. It's a big part of 'Tommy.' "

Who's Tommy?

"Tommy" was born from an idea by Townshend to combine the angst of a boy coming of age in the soul-searching generation of the '60s, with contemporary tunes -- a rock opera.

The plans for "Tommy" were revealed by Townshend in a 1968 Rolling Stone magazine article.

The Who first performed "Tommy" in 1969 at a London club with the release of the rock-opera album of the same name. In the early '70s it became a playhouse hit in England and America.

In 1975 director Ken Russell made a movie of "Tommy" starring Who lead singer Roger Daltrey with Ann-Margret, Eric Clapton and Tina Turner. It remains a cult-camp favorite.

"Tommy" didn't make it to Broadway until 1993, when Townshend and Tony Award-winning director Des McAnuff collaborated to bring it to the stage. It has since earned five Tony Awards, including Best Original Score by Townshend.

The two-hour musical being performed at the Aladdin includes a 15-minute intermission sandwiched between the rock opera's thundering guitar solos and riotous choruses by the 20-member cast, which includes Michael Seelbach as Tommy, Lisa Capps as Mrs. Walker and Michael Babin as Captain Walker.

This is the second time the 24-year-old Seelbach has played the title character. He first slipped into the psychedelic world of "Tommy" as the lead in the 1999 national tour.

The character's rise from self-loathing to decadence to salvation strikes a chord with Seelbach, and with the audience, he said.

"(The musical is) about forgiveness, loving yourself, forgiving others, being a whole person and moving forward," Seelbach said. "It's odd and trippy, but a lot of fun to get to do every night."

The new set is more interactive, Seelbach said, and is used as an extension of Tommy's fierce rages and reflective moods.

At one point during the song "Smash the Mirror," Seelbach reels from Tommy's mother's destruction of the boy's one true treasure, a mirror that reflects his rock-star image.

"The stage really relates to Tommy's journey," Seelbach said. "It changes as Tommy changes and moves forward in his life."

After the mother-son confrontation, Seelbach gently rotates the large, metal panels of the stage to alter the mood of the climactic, tense scene.

"I love doing it every night, to live through his love and his pain," he said. "It's really incredible to have that music go through you and feel that rock-star energy."

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