Tommy Soundtrack CD

This version of TOMMY includes a 31-page booklet with complete cast and orchestra information, a synopsis, photos, stage directions and lyrics. The Broadway production of Tommy premiered at The St. James Theatre on April 22, 1993.

The Who's TOMMY won the 1994 Grammy Award for "Musical Show Album."

The Broadway cast album of Tommy (called The Who's Tommy presumably to alert Who fans that this really is the stage version of the group's 1969 "rock opera" and not some unrelated Tommy) is the best recording of Peter Townshend's song cycle since the Who did the original; Beatles producer George Martin was in the recording booth, and a stellar cast led by Michael Cerveris sings fervently. That's the good news. The bad news is that Townshend has radically rethought his ideas in 24 years, and rewritten nine songs to reflect his many changes of heart. Artists rarely improve their work by changing it years later, although they frequently succumb to the temptation, and anyone familiar with the original who tries to sing along to this album is in for a rude surprise. The Broadway Tommy has been secularized and domesticated; no longer a messiah, he now longs for normality. It's too bad that Townshend didn't have the wisdom to bring Tommy to the stage intact. (The Who's Tommy tied for the 1993 Tony Award for Best Score.) ~ William Ruhlmann

Recorded at The Hit Factory, New York between May 9-11, 1993. Includes liner notes by Pete Townshend.

Principal cast includes: Tommy (Michael Cerveris); Captain Walker (Jonathan Dokuchitz); Mrs. Walker (Marcia Mitzman); Sally Simpson (Sherie Scott); The Gypsy (Cheryl Freeman); The Minister (Bill Buell); Uncle Ernie (Paul Kandel).