The Who’s Tommy at the Dallas Theater Center with Nehal Joshi and Heath Williams II. Photo by Brandon Thibodeaux.

Guest Blogger Gail Sachson owns Ask Me About Art, is Vice-Chair of the Cultural Affairs Commission and a member of the Public Art Committee. She is an auxiliary member of the Dallas Theater Center Board of Trustees.

So, What did you think of Tommy?

And what were those costumed jesters all about? And the water? And the bombed out stage set? Did you cry? Will you see it again? And again?

The Who’s Tommy, the first rock opera and the first show directed by the Dallas Theater Center’s new Artistic Director KEVIN MORIARTY, opens the season with a BANG! Actually, it opens with LOUD ROCK MUSIC!

Upon entering the theater, signs warn us that there will be LOUD MUSIC, CIGARETTE SMOKE, ADULT LANGUAGE…AND GUNSHOTS. We know immediately this will not be Rodgers & Hammerstein. But… when last Wednesday’s preview audience, many of whom are used to turning up their hearing aids, were offered earplugs…well..”it’s a little frightening”, said one.

Moriarty doesn’t want to scare us, but he surely does want to wake us! He wants to make us hoot and holler- yes- this audience did- even in the Frank Lloyd Wright designed theater. When Oso Closo keyboard player Adrian Hulet shouts, “Is everybody ready to rock?” you’d better be ready! And yes, turn off your cell phones, but from that moment on, you wouldn’t be able to hear it anyway.

For the next hour and half, with no intermission, your body will be taut. Your heart will beat faster. Your head will reverberate with the memorable music and words to songs such as, “Christmas,” “Go to the Mirror,  Boy” and “Cousin Kevin.”

So what did you think of Tommy?

Tell me. Tell your date. Tell a stranger. Tell the guy in row B and the woman in Center seat 110 who has tears in her eyes. Tell the person who you just overheard saying, “This is the best show I’ve ever seen” and the man who said he couldn’t understand the words and the two people disagreeing about the loudness of the band. Moriarty wants us to talk. Not to him, but to each other. Every night. Every performance.

Stay in your seats and schmooze with fellow theatergoers. Comment, criticize, cheerlead and discuss the play. The Tommy Talk facilitators wil be fellow audience members. So no political correctness required. No cast members. No hurt feelings. Just us. I will be leading the discussion on Saturday, September 13th. Get your tickets now and talk Tommy with me!