That deaf, dumb and blind kid who sure plays a mean pinball has once again taken his act on the road. Returning on Thursday to the Auditorium Theatre (where “Tommy” first played in town more than two decades ago), the five-time Tony-winning “The Who’s Tommy” brings a resilient rock parable to new life.
It all began in 1969 as a best-selling album by Pete Townshend and The Who. “Tommy” has since been presented as a fully staged concert, a classical recording, a ballet, a touring production, a motion picture, and now a return engagement with strategic changes made to the plot.
Featuring music and lyrics by Townshend and a book by Townshend and Tony Award-winning director Des McAnuff, the rock epic, set in Britain between the end of World War II and the late 1960s, chronicles the adventures of young Tommy Walker. Following a traumatic childhood experience that forces him to withdraw from the world, Tommy emerges from seclusion to become the messianic Pinball Wizard, an unwilling hero who inspires a string of holiday camps and must meet the ever-expanding expectations of his fanatical followers. After so much silence, what price glory?
Perhaps rock music’s most enduring accomplishment, “Tommy” features 28 musical numbers, including such classics as “Pinball Wizard,” “See Me, Feel Me,” “I’m Free,” “The Acid Queen” and “We’re Not Going to Take It.” This touring production, soon to celebrate its first anniversary on the road, features new material by Townshend including the ballad “I Believe My Own Eyes.”
“The Who’s Tommy” runs through Oct. 29 at 65 E. Congress Pkwy.; 312-902-1500.
Other theater openings of note:
“The Dark at the Top of the Stairs,” Friday, Illinois Theatre Center, 400A Lakewood Blvd., Park Forest; 708-481-3510: Chicago favorite Gary Houston stars in William Inge’s family tragedy set in a small Oklahoma town in the 1920s. The dark in the title represents the fears that a family’s love can dispel. Steve S. Billig directs.
“Visible Religion,” Friday, Performing Arts Chicago at Steppenwolf Studio Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St.; 312-722-5463: A cross-cultural collaborative effort between American and Indonesian artists, this multimedia work combines storytelling, shadow puppetry and photographic projections to create a modern vision of an epic tale from the “Mahabharata.” It has been co-commissioned by Performing Arts Chicago, Seattle’s On the Boards and Minneapolis’ Walker Art Center.
Performed in English, Javanese and Balinese, the production is presented as a “wayang,” a music-theater shadow play using puppets. Challenging an audience’s preconceptions, it tells the story of the Indian mythological hero Bima’s quest for spiritual enlightenment with lessons from Dante’s “Inferno,” Greek mythology and contemporary America. The work features new compositions for a classical Javanese orchestra or “gamelan.”
“Roseleaf Tea,” Friday, Chicago Theatre Company at Parkway Playhouse, 500 E. 67th St.; 312-493-5360: This richly brewed Southern drama by Judi Ann Mason examines the legacy of racism in the small town of Roseleaf, La., by depicting the bittersweet relationship between the white Udell family and the neighboring black Foote family.
6th Annual Directors Festival, Sunday, Bailiwick Repertory at Lakeview Performing Arts Center, 1229 W. Belmont Ave.; 312-883-1090: Running through Oct. 27, this annual showcase for Chicago’s most promising directors helps to prepare our theatrical future by displaying the work of directors, actors and designers. Each program features three plays, no longer than 50 minutes each.
The offerings are thematically connected. The first week is devoted to “World Premieres and Visionaries From the Past,” the second to “American Writers,” the third to “New Works and Unknown Treasures” and the fourth to “Symbols and Absurdities.”
“Once in a Lifetime,” Monday, Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave.; 312-753-4472: Charles Newell revives Kaufman and Hart’s rollicking satire of Hollywood’s Golden Age and the baffling bureaucracy of the major studios. A three-person vaudeville team journeys to Tinsel Town to discover a city bursting with prickly energy and outrageous contradictions.
“This Week in Joe’s Basement,” Tuesday at Organic Theater Mainstage, 3319 N. Clark St.; 312-327-5588: The award-winning cable TV series finds a new home for the next 12 weeks. A favorite of channel-surfers, the 4-year-old “Joe’s Basement” now presents “Beer and Pretzel Theater,” a mix of interactive video and live music.
The public access cable series made its mark by combining irreverent sketch comedy with provocative documentaries, attracting a loyal viewership who responded with mail written under fantasy personae like “Sir Dada” and “King Zeke” (supposedly a troubled teenager from planet Zarkum Frolinger). Some letters were written in crayon, on the back of pizza containers, on pieces of toilet paper or on Post-it notes. This edition has already played to full houses at the University of Chicago and the Bop Shop.
An entertainment for couch potatoes, the multimedia event features live musicians and actors who interact with a large video screen and may even offer audience members the chance to change the channel.
Unusual guests will range from the Burlap Bag Man to the Clark and Belmont Dunkin’ Donuts teens. The show will also mourn the death of the Maxwell Street Market. Audiences can win a lower ticket price and other prizes, while a vending machine in the lobby will allow patrons to videotape themselves and be included in the following week’s show.
“Emily and Otto,” Tuesday, Single Focus at Cafe Voltaire, 3231 N. Clark St.; 312-943-0466: Nicole Chapin directs a work by Dr. Stace Gaddy about Emily (Karen Rea), a woman confined to a room with four gray walls who struggles against what Otto (Todd Gothard) programs her to do. She must choose between what is familiar and what will set her free.
