Not everything works to perfection in the National Tour of the 2024 Broadway revival of The Who’s Tommy, but a spectacular production design, mesmerizing choreography, and soaring vocals add up to a thrilling theatrical extravaganza at the Hollywood Pantages.

As any 1960s rock aficionado will tell you, The Who’s Tommy began its life back in 1969 as a two-disk 70-minute concept album by British Invasion rock band The Who, one that told the tale of a child born to an apparently war-widowed mother in WWI England who witnesses his still alive-and-pistol-packing father murder Mama’s lover in a fit of rage, and when Tommy’s happily reunited parents insist that “You didn’t see it, you didn’t hear it, you won’t say nothing to no one ever,” the poor child is rendered “deaf, dumb, and blind” to the outside world.

Debuting as a full-fledged musical at the La Jolla Playhouse in 1992, The Who’s Tommy’s had director/book writer Des McAnuff updating the time frame to World War II while using inventive staging to fill in the blanks as Tommy finds himself tortured by his evil Cousin Kevin and abused by his pedophiliac Uncle Ernie, then becomes an ace pinball player, and when his hearing, sight, and voice are miraculously restored, a media sensation to end all media sensations.

That production’s Broadway transfer the following year led to multiple regional stagings leading up to the show’s 2024 Broadway revival and its 2026 national tour with director McAnuff once again helming the whole shebang while giving it a 21st-century update, in particular where production design is concerned.

The Broadway original’s physically rendered sets have given way to David Korins’ minimalist designs that allow Peter Nigirni’s spectacular projections to do the heavy lifting, from the historical newsreels, headlines, and videos projected upon multiple scrims in the show’s WWII-era scenes to more abstract images rendered in saturated reds, blues, and oranges as we enter Tommy’s “silent, distorted mind.”

Equally thrillingly, choreographer Lorin Latarro has her hard-working, athletic song-and-dance ensemble caroming across the stage like balls zizzagging inside a pinball machine, their legs vaulting off props, their bodies jerking, and their torsos bending over backwards to eye-popping effect.

This The Who’s Tommy is less successful in creating a clear storyline, in particular when characters like The Hawker, The Acid Queen, and Sally Simpson suddenly show up midway through and we’re left wondering who these people are and what exactly they are doing here.

Also in the minus column is this national tour’s reconception of Tommy’s two younger selves, performed on Broadway by two alternating pairs of child actors.

Tommy on tour has a single adult performer playing both the 4-year-old and the 10-year-old Tommy and for this reviewer at least, having grown-up actress Mari Grossman (who looks nothing like adult Tommy) don a loose-fitting sweater vest and a hair-hiding hat and pretend to be an actual vulnerable child robs the tour of much of the musical’s potential emotional wallop.

Still, caveats aside, the overall impact of hearing hits like “Pinball Wizard,” “I’m Free,” and “See Me, Feel Me” performed to stunning effect, of witnessing dance performances that rock the Pantages like nobody’s business, and of basking in a production design that gives this The Who’s Tommy an exciting new look and you’ve got about as electrifying a national tour as any Broadway show lover could wish for.

Collin Matthew Flanagan’s Tommy combines messianic charisma with sky-high rock star vocals in “Amazing Journey,” “Sensation,” and hit after Pete Townshend-Roger Daltry hit as Pasadena’s very own Zach Fogel and Hollywood first-timer Mia Bergstrom (as Tommy’s guilt-ridden parents Captain and Mrs. Walker) hit their own firmament-reaching notes in “Do You Think It’s All Right?” “I Believe My Own Eyes,” and “Smash The Mirror.”

Peyton Cassity’s predatory Uncle Ernie, Kyle McFalls’ sadistic Cousin Kevin, Audrey Fisher’s starry-eyed Sally Simpson, and Justin Lee-Price as both The Hawker and The Specialist deliver the performance goods as well as does rock goddess powerhouse Kris Lyons as The Acid Queen.

Add to that the most indefatigable song-and-dance ensemble in town (completed by Amaya Adams, Bo Bailey, Tiyanna Gentry, Chase Graham, Trevor “Tjay” Groce, Evan Hoefer, and Greyson Taylor) and this The Who’s Tommy never ceases to thrill.

Music director Calvin Hitchcock and associate music director Gregory Franz on keys, Talia Rose on guitar, Cat Barker on bass, and Kelvin Newell on drums provide rock concert-ready instrumental backup throughout the show.

Last but not least, Sarafina Bush’s WWII-period-meets-dystopian-future costumes, Amanda Zieve’s alternately stark and prismatic lighting, and Gareth Owens’ wall-of-sound sound design reinforce director McAnuff’s vision from start to finish.

Mariangeli Collado, Josh Devine, Julia Martini, and Albert Sterner are swings.

Converting a concept album into a full-fledged rock musical presents its own unique challenges as shows like American Idiot, Chess, and Jesus Christ Superstar have made abundantly clear over the years.

The Broadway Revival Tour of The Who’s Tommy may not ace them all, but what it does achieve on the Hollywood Pantages stage is guaranteed to get an audience up on their feet and cheering.

Hollywood Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles. Through November 15. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 7:30 Fridays at 8:00. Saturdays at 2:00 and 8:00. Sundays at 1:00 and 6:30
www.broadwayla.org

–Steven Stanley
October 28, 2026
Photos: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

Tags: Los Angeles Theater Review, Pantages Theatre, Pete Townshend, Roger Daltry, The Who's Tommy