'The Who's Tommy' is a concert-cum-theater event for the middle-aged. The folks who put it together know what we like to do: We like to sit and watch.

Twenty-five years after Pete Townshend's song cycle blasted out of our speakers and into our brains, it's comfy as old shoes, safe as Disneyland — and reminds you of nothing so much as the circus.

It feels a lot older than 25.

For anybody who missed the '60s, Tommy is that sweet little tyke who sees daddy come home from the war and kill mommy's lover. Tommy retreats to a better place somewhere inside himself. He's deaf, dumb and blind — some small protection for the Grimm world that is the post-war London suburb where the family friend molests him, the delinquent cousin tortures him and daddy has the bright idea of handing him off to an acid queen for a night to see if she can provide the shock to the system to cure what ails him.

Imagine everyone's surprise when Tommy connects with a pinball machine. It may have been a surprise then. Today, a parent with a Nintendo in the house wouldn't so much as blink at this dramatic turn. In any event, Tommy is elevated to pop icon.

Tommy is a triumph for the design team and not much else. The design work is so dazzling, in fact, that you barely notice Tommy is empty of everything but light and sound — sound that was garbled on opening night to the point that too often the lyrics were indistinguishable. But, oh, how that percussion reverberates through your bones.

The cast is capable but not charismatic. The best work, or at least the highest energy level comes from Steve Isaacs in the title role and Roger Bart as nasty Cousin Kevin, leading the malevolent local lads.

There's nothing dramatic to hang on to — pop psychology remains slippery — and if the rest of it feels old, the touchy-feely time-for-forgiveness-and-redemption ending is sooooo '90s it makes the '60s look good.

The rock still rolls, but videos, slide projections, dry ice, flashing lights and a whoosh of flame is, by any definition, just smoke and mirrors.

Tommy makes you wish somebody would have the guts to create a contemporary, real marriage of theater and rock. Given its success, maybe somebody will.

The Who's Tommy, Taft Theatre, through March 13. Tickets $28-$38. 749-4949.