Having the precedent of Roger Daltrey is a weight but not something that was ever really considered in this production. I was never encouraged to be him or imitate him. In the movie - Roger Daltrey just spends a lot of time sort of wandering around blind. I spent a fair amount of time with Pete not so much discussing the role of Tommy, but soaking up his thoughts and energies about all kinds of things.




He brought me to London and showed me his old neighborhoods and old Who stomping grounds. We played music together and parties in NY and on his solo tour. The actual character
work he left to me with occasional suggestions. La Jolla is a great place to work and creating Tommy was a challenging but natural fit. I did
research into Autism, listened to lots of music and looked into myself for where Tommy and I met.
- Michael Cerveris


Basically - Tommy is a passive hero and nothing happens to him so it's very difficult to make the character 3 dimensional and I think Michael's battling it - with that the same way I was.
- Roger Daltrey


Tommy is a magnificent character because he is born whole at twenty.
- Des McAnuff

Lighting evokes different emotions and states of mind, and in creating the lighting for Tommy's world I tried to underscore his traumatic state through the use of color. His interior world was filled with heavy, unreal colors so I often used strong, saturated color combinations.
- Chris Parry, Lighting Designer

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