Isolation is a cold captor.
In the grips of its lonely cages, the world feels like an undulating sea of dark matter where everyone's a continent away.
In The Who's "Tommy," a boy experiences the ultimate isolation when he takes the expression "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" too literally.
The Blue Room Theatre's production of "Tommy" captures the explosiveness of the album with energetic performances from the cast and house band Bear Hunter.
Matt Hammons as the title role pleads for someone to "see me, feel me, touch me," but his internal cries are only answered with cigarette burns and sexual abuse. His mother and stepfather try ardently to heal his affliction, even consulting a Day-Glo gypsy, seductively played by Gina Tropea. But his only solace is the silver ball of a pinball machine.
Tommy rocks and gyrates his way to pinball stardom as his cousin, Kevin laments in "Pinball Wizard." Cameron Ford belts the popular tune with authority as guitarist Maurice Spencer attacks the strings of his Gibson SG with Pete Townshend-like windmills.
Spencer enjoyed the opportunity to get excited on stage.
"If I have enough room and it's called for, I love getting really wild and turning my brain off a little bit," he said.
Drummer Clint Bear's set rattled with each deep fill and cascading cymbal crash. He air-drummed to recordings of The Who drummer Keith Moon just to get the technique down.
"I'm definitely doing my best to channel Keith Moon as much as possible," he said. "His style is so unorthodox and so original that it's hard to copy him."
The gray tube outline of the pinball machine is inflated to become the mirror into which Tommy gazes at his consciousness. The Blue Room lacked the resources to wheel an actual pinball machine up two flights of stairs, said director Jeremy Votava. So this served as the best compromise.
"It's theater of the mind," Votava said. "It's a theatrical choice which hopefully people can follow."
After the world recognizes him for his pinball prowess, Tommy's mind releases itself from its own prison. With the newfound ability to speak, he develops a religious following. Tommy's cult rushes to grab more followers, dragging the cult members of the audience out and allowed them to partake in the worship.
Votava decided to ask friends of the cast to come on stage who would "not steal focus, but get into it," he said.
Tommy's followers strive to discover the truth Tommy found in his isolation, but Tommy tires of introspection. The crowd eventually rejects him because he doesn't want to be different.
Tommy's shock and eventual recovery is an exaggerated representation of those speechless moments everyone has to stutter through.
Audience member William Janzer experienced his own temporary shutdown. When the strobe light at a nightclub in Mexico started pumping too fast, he went into shock.
"I felt my knees getting weak and I felt my whole body go limp," he said. "I realized I had a seizure, and I couldn't feel anything."
Janzer's cries for help were answered, but Tommy couldn't even scream.
Earl Parsons can be reached at eparsons@theorion.com
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