Broadway Access Review -
The Who’s Tommy

General:

• I would highly recommend earplugs for anyone going to see this show regardless of typical sensory needs, it is Loud. I was fine with just my Loops. 

• the sound mixing makes it hard to understand what is being sung, so if you get exhausted from trying to understand audio, read the plot synopsis beforehand!

• the giant center stage mirror is a real mirror so just. accidental strobe whenever it’s onstage

• I found the lighting/sound  similar to the sensory experience of Here Lies Love, Six, and Moulin Rouge

• the show utilizes a lot of projections on the sides and back of the stage (it’s kinda constructed like rectangles within rectangles) Most of the lighting access issues come from those, not from lights

• everything on the stage has a neon/LED-esque border

• Captain Walker smokes a lot, I don’t know if that could be smelled by the audience at all I would highly recommend earplugs for anyone going to see this show regardless of typical sensory needs, it is Loud. I was fine with just my Loops. 

• the sound mixing makes it hard to understand what is being sung, so if you get exhausted from trying to understand audio, read the plot synopsis beforehand!

• the giant center stage mirror is a real mirror so just. accidental strobe whenever it’s onstage

• I found the lighting/sound  similar to the sensory experience of Here Lies Love, Six, and Moulin Rouge

• the show utilizes a lot of projections on the sides and back of the stage (it’s kinda constructed like rectangles within rectangles) Most of the lighting access issues come from those, not from lights

• everything on the stage has a neon/LED-esque border

• Captain Walker smokes a lot, I don’t know if that could be smelled by the audience at all

Pre-Show: flickering screen (kind of like static) and airplane noises with booms

Act I:

• Overture: this entire song has a scrim in front of it so everything on stage  feels a bit blurry to the eye

  • underlying rumble/boom during the start that shakes the seats a bit, followed by a moment of silence

  • moving text and projections on the scrim, flashing white light on the welder 

  • after they kiss there are flashing newsreels, bomb noises that shake the theater, and a flashlight gets pointed at the audience

  • then the bombs increase in volume and there are more  flashes on the screens 

  • lights move up after the jump

  • several gunshots while he is flying, then really fast moving white specks

  • then the scrim moves out and everything onstage visually expands

• Captain Walker

  • side bits of the stage flash when each officer sings

  • one gunshot

  • jumpy/flashy moving projections

• Twenty-One

  • flash when Captain enters

  • the fight is really really loud - also gunshot warning

  • white flash after the show

• “What About The Boy”

  • projections do expanding motion

  • small white flashes

  • offstage whistle, followed by two more you can see 

  • handful of camera flashes

• Amazing Journey

  • white (and the occasional yellow) camera flashes & alternating white downlights throughout 

  • there are 3 big white flashes, the second is LED/strobey and it speeds up 

  • “to ride” - stage lights up LED back to front very quickly 

  • alternating yellow downlights on Tommy when he’s sitting front center

• flash & lots of moving/flashing projections when parents & baby Tommy stand center 

• gavel hit - big boom & white flash/moving projections

• floor lights slowly rotate when judge talks to Tommy

• “my love!” - projections return

• Doctor song - projection of a green scan going across the stage throughout the song

• “you should know” - LED square does a small strobe as Tommy breaks out

• alternating purple/yellow lights on Tommy

• Christmas

  • french horn causes accidental strobe - there also might have been a flash while he was playing? I looked down

  • slow rotating blue on the floor when big Tommy returns

• Fiddle Around - CW: CSA

  • blue/green light spins and pulses on the bed when it spins

  • big boom & lights on with low sustained rumble when the parents return

• Cousin Kevin - small flash after “freak”

  • everything gets very loud after he’s at the machine for a bit

• Sensation

  • purple alternating stripe projections on the walls & quick light shifts throughout

  •  lots of downlight on/offs after big Tommy rights himself

  • floor pinwheels spin during the dance break with big light pulses on certain beats

  • strobey & moving pinwheels for ~3-5 seconds

  • after “light” - 2-3 sec downlight strobe on him

  • big stripe moving across back wall when Tommy crawls out of the pinball machine

• Doctors pt 2 - green scan returns after the bell exits, big white scan after exit

• Hawker/Harmonica - moving purple downlight when he enters that may hit the front orchestra

  • each section of the stage flashes white when they get to it

  •  lots of room-shaking booms & flashy projections

• Acid Queen

  • Hard to keep track of cues here - primarily purple/orange/red, with projections moving like water/fire, lots of smoke, and on-beat light pulses

  • spinning pinwheel downlights when she spins the wheel, followed by spinning lights on the back wall

  • CW: we watch her inject a drug when they leave

• Pinball Wizard

  • also didn’t keep track of all cues, this is the flashiest song in Act I and you feel the sound in your bones, primarily yellow/teal, lots of sparkly jackets

  • disco balls appear halfway through (lights shift to red/yellow, much flashier here) & the song ends with a big white flash before a blackout

Intermission - there is audio again, unclear what it is? It felt like spa noises but with some booms throughout? Also the static screen is back

Act II:

• Underture - this song is very spinny and gets increasingly flashy

  • starts with gentle guitar while the lights are on so it’s not suddenly loud

  • spinning hexagon lights that flash on the audience that I think are made of mirrors

• Doctors pt 3 

  • pulsing downlight on Tommy when being spun in the chair 

  • scan is back when he’s on the table and the walls are flashy

  • LED box strobes when Tommy breaks out of it

• I Believe My Own Eyes

  • moving projections (getting smaller) when they’re in the car

  • expanding LEDs when they exit

• Smash the Mirror

  • big flash lights up on early beat

  • when she hits the mirror - big crash noise, big white strobe, and moving/flashing/pixelating yellow for 3-5 sec

• I’m Free

  • yellow flash when Mrs. W gets to the door

  • white flashes (from projections) throughout

  • big camera flash

  • rash sound during scene change

• quick moving yellow lines when Tommy enters and then a boom

• Miracle Cure - words move really quickly over the screens, yellow/blue/red - happens throughout the song with breaks for the news segments

• Sensation/Free/Pinball reprises

  • “waiting for you to follow me” - white flash on “me”, then moving rainbow lights around 

  • spinning mirror hexagons return, moving rainbow downlights, yellow concert lights move on audience, 2 sec of white strobe, blue then white pointed at audience when he spins, followed by giant crash and then everything goes super white, followed by a moving orange downlight 

  • strobey white downlights when the platform moves, followed by a line of concert lights that travel down the back wall, first pointing at audience and then pointing up

• Sally Simpson - white flash when she goes to the center and loud bass when she falls off the platform

• Tommy rips picture (after “more like you”) - everything gets loud & quick white downlight

• We’re Not Gonna Take It - occasional white pulse on beat

• Listening To You - lights behind the main 5 when they walk forward might shine on orch & big white flash at the end

• Bows - orange/yellow flash when Tommy enters