Rock Opera Opening Flamboyant, Skillful

By Josh Mills

NEW YORK (AP) — "See me, feel me, touch me, heal me," Tommy asks the world again and again.

This deaf and blind English lad is the hero of the first rock opera, "Tommy," performed by The Who this week at the Fillmore East.

Tommy becomes a pinball champion, then a messiah, in two dozen rock songs, most of them written by Peter Townshend. He's The Who's guitarist, who dubbed the work "rock opera."

It's not really opera. The English quartet takes turns with the role of Tommy and divides the minor roles. But there's nothing to prevent its presentation in opera format.

Best-Selling Album

"Tommy" became a best-selling album after its release in June and is still high on the sales charts. But The Who had never performed it completely in the United States and this one-week run was set to make up for that.

Tuesday night The Who played at a furious pace for nearly two hours, starting with their early hits and Townshend's first experiment in rock story-telling, "A Quick One While He's Away," three songs long.

Townshend, drummer Keith Moon and bass guitarist John Entwistle are fine musicians, whose flamboyant stage manners don't hamper their music. Townshend jumps, jogs and kicks about while playing. Moon clowns and bounces sticks in the air without missing a beat. Lead singer Roger Daltrey swings the microphone around by its cord and catches it.

Refreshing Change

Each musician shows his skills within the songs, instead of taking long solos — a refreshing change for anyone often subjected to drum or bass solos. Each song sparkles with Moon's sharp punctuations and thunders with the bass line. Entwistle even picked up the guitar melody on his bass one time.

Daltrey wasn't in top voice, possibly from having to sing over the 12 amplifiers The Who set up. But he was still a notch above most rock singers, with four arduous nights to go. Townshend and Entwistle chip in fine singing.

"Tommy" may be the complaint of a younger generation that feels ignored. Perhaps Townshend's trying to tell us it's time to build bridges.

"Tommy" might be one, if the enthusiastic applause of the few adults in the audience is an indicator.