I always wanted to do this show, in fact I planned to do it in 1999, but I didn't really know much about it and after the summer of 1998 I discovered, to my chagrin, that the sheet music was not available. I couldn't believe it, but it had never been published. My only option was to buy all four volumes of The Who Anthology and pick out the songs one by one. That was not going to happen.

However, after the summer of 1999 I purchased the Broadway cast album and it just blew me away; the music was so good, so far beyond my wildest expectations, that the show absolutely had to be done. Even if I had to learn the whole thing by ear, I was going to do it. That's how awesome this music is. Fortunately, and I don't remember how I got the idea to look, I found the entire score (guitar chords/tabs) on the internet, and the album booklet contained the entire libretto. Enthused, I began to write the adaptation.

The 1975 Ken Russell film version wasn't much help; in fact, it's pretty awful. I found the hardcover coffee-table book from the Broadway show at a used-book store online, and from there I got most of the visual ideas including the pinball-machine backdrop. The story didn't make much sense, especially with the cuts I had to make, so again I had to throw in some narration; this time it took the form of dialogue scenes which I wrote, tongue-in-cheek, as a response to people who like to complain to me about how they "didn't get it" after a show. The scenes showed one Pontiac camper whining about not understanding the show, and another camper trying patiently to explain the plot to him. In retrospect, the scenes were superfluous; I probably would not include them were I ever to do this show again

Jan Ford, who came to camp to work with me in 2000 when Emily didn't return, did an amazing job choreographing this show. Jan is an exceptional dance teacher; she and I really worked well together and I always hoped she would come back, which she finally did part-time in 2006.

This show was unfortunately the last hurrah for the dynamic duo of Marc Asnis (Tommy) and Dan Vesey (Captain Walker), but needing a small boy to portray Tommy as a child we discovered Brandon Dinetz, a sophomore that year who would go on to featured roles in three different shows in the coming years. Brandon stood out amongst the four or five freshman and sophomore boys we auditioned and fit right in with the older cast. Dan sang extremely well, as always, and Marc gave by far his best and most animated performance. Few campers have been as dedicated to the theatre program as he was; one, Corey Elan, had a great number here as The Specialist and also played Sally Simpson's father. Jen Smokler returned from her role in "Hair" to play the infamous Acid Queen, and newcomer Jamie Krasnoff took the role of Tommy's mother, Mrs. Walker.

As small as it was (17, the fewest we ever had), this was really a wonderful cast, exceptional talent and dedication from top to bottom and from start to finish. With a cast so small we were able to give everyone something to do, as just about every cast member played multiple parts. Before the show, backstage, I remember quietly thanking the cast for such an overwhelmingly positive experience. Even the stage crew, who stayed up with me the night before to painstakingly go over and practice all the technical cues, was exceptionally proficient, dedicated and enthusiastic. We really had no problems at all on this show.

This show also broke new ground musically as it was the first (and so far, only) show on which I was not the sole musician; Steve Nemeroff, a huge Tommy fan, accompanied me on his electric guitar. It sounded great, and in retrospect it was just one more thing that made this show unique and special, one I will always remember fondly. 2000 was really "The Summer of Tommy;" it may have been the most popular show we ever did. It was parodied in "Puttin' on the Hits" by one group, which included some of the actors from our show, and "Pinball Wizard" became a sort of unofficial sports cheer for competing teams at tournaments and inter-camps.
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