TOMMY Auditions Held At York Little Theater 5/11-12, Show Runs 7/17-26

York Little Theatre will present the rock opera, Tommy, on July 17 - 26, 2009. Written by The Who's Pete Towshend and Des McAnuff, Tommy first premiered on Broadway in April of 1993 and ran for 899 performances. It won 5 Tony awards including Best Original Score, and 6 Drama Desk Awards including Outstanding Orchestrations.

York Little Theatre Artistic Director Eric Bradley Long will direct YLT's production of Tommy. Auditions will be held on May 11 and 12, starting at 7 p.m. at YLT. Appointments are recommended but not required. More information concerning auditions may be found by calling YLT at 717-854-3894 or visiting www.ylt.org.

Tommy began in 1969 as the fourth rock album released by the English rock band The Who. The double album is the powerful tale of a "deaf, dumb and blind kid," who is a pinball wizard and becomes the leader of an international messianic movement. In 1998 the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for its "historical, artistic and significant value." In 2003 the album was ranked 96 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time." It is ranked 90 on VH1's "100 Greatest Albums of Rock and Roll."
In 1975 Tommy was adapted as a film starring Who member Roger Daltry as Tommy, and featured other members of The Who as well as Ann-Margaret as Tommy's mother, Oliver Reed as the boyfriend, and appearances by Elton John, Tina Turner, Eric Clapton and Jack Nicholson. It was one of the first music films released with a multi-channel hi-fi soundtrack ("quintaphonic sound") and in many theatres it was presented with high-powered concert-style sound reinforcement, played at rock concert volumes.
In 1993 Townshend and Des McNuff wrote and produced a Broadway musical adaptation of Tommy. This version adds a new song ("I Believe My Own Eyes"), reorganizes the musical numbers, and changes many lyrics. The most striking change from the previous versions is that Tommy Renounces his messianic role and returns to his family, embracing the normality that everybody else has and of which he has been deprived.

York Little Theatre is a nonprofit community theatre which values and nurtures the irreplaceable role of the arts and is dedicated to engaging and enriching its entire, diverse community in the dramatic arts through a broad range of professionally directed, entertaining, stimulating, and sometimes provocative performances.
York Little Theatre is located at 27 South Belmont Street, York PA at exit 19A of I-83, just south of Market Street. York Little Theatre is a proud member of The Cultural Alliance of York.

 

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