Townshend's Boy Who Heard Music to Play Bway or West End?

The New York Post's Michael Riedel reports that Broadway and West End buzz surrounds The Boy Who Heard Music, a new rock musical by The Who's Pete Townshend that will have its premiere at the Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY as part of the New York Stage and Film festival.

Townshend - whose Tommy was an iconic film rock musical before becoming a hit on Broadway on 1993 and ushering in a new era of Broadway rock operas - adapted the musical from his own novella (which had appeared only on the internet).  The autobiographical story, which reportedly draws upon Townshend's relationships with fellow The Who members Roger Daltrey, Keith Moon and John Entwhistle, concerns "an aging rock star who looks back on the band he formed as a teenager with three friends from his neighborhood."

Riedel writes that the show "will be directed at Vassar by Ethan Silverman, although people involved in the musical think that, if it's any good, a top-drawer director - most likely McAnuff - will come on board to shepherd it to London's West End or Broadway."  McAnuff (Jersey Boys) famously won a Tony Award for staging Tommy.

The Boy Who Heard Music will include a number of songs from The Who's 2006 album Endless Wire, although Riedel reports that half of the songs will be written especially for the show.  The Boy Who Heard Music was originally to have been a movie musical directed by Terry Gilliam and starring Johnny Depp, but after the project was put on hold, Townshend opted to try a stage version.  The rock musician's other musical include Quadrophenia, which was staged at Madison Square Garden in 1995.  He wrote the music and lyrics to Tommy, as well as co-writing its book with McAnuff.

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