Like a great rock concert, San Diego REP’s The Who’s Tommy explodes off the Lyceum Stage, at points leaving the audience in a state of awe.

After last summer’s successful collaboration between the REP’s professional company and students from the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA), director Sam Woodhouse went back to the well with even better results. In this year’s production, the students blend more easily with the professionals and in a couple of cases produce some surprisingly fine performances.

The Who’s Tommy is a theatrical production of the famous “rock opera,” and it has local roots. Conceived through a partnership between former La Jolla Playhouse artistic director Des McAnuff and The Who’s Pete Townshend, the show had its world premiere at the Playhouse before moving on to Broadway success. Mr. McAnuff’s contribution, at least according to a 2007 interview with Mr. Townshend (available at http://www.thewho.net/articles/townshen/pt_96.htm) was to refine what had already been written to produce a more coherent story and provide theatricality where there had been none previously. A film version, by British auteur Ken Russell, had its own theatricality and is well worth seeing, but it differs significantly from the version currently on stage at the REP.

Tommy Walker (B. Slade) is a “deaf, dumb and blind boy” who was traumatized at age 4 (Ethan Estrada and Jayden Genece alternate playing Tommy at that age) when his father (Zachary Harrison), who had been reported as killed in World War II, turned up at the family home finding his wife (Carey Rebecca Brown) in the arms of another man (Joseph Almohaya). Captain Walker shot his rival, leaving Tommy traumatized and finding fulfillment only in staring at his image in a mirror. As Tommy grew (Davina Van Dusen plays him at age 10), he was loved by his parents, who did everything they could to cure him. He was also victimized by his Uncle Ernie (Victor Hernandez) and Cousin Kevin (Louis Pardo), though through Kevin he stumbled upon a second fascination: playing pinball. By the time he reached adulthood, Tommy became known as a Pinball Wizard, and once he was cured his fame reached messianic proportions. But, Tommy had been isolated for too long, and he gave up the lure of fame to return to a quiet life with his family.

The show is operatic in the sense that it is sung through with no spoken dialogue, but it resonates because it contains some of The Who’s best music, including “Twenty-One,” “See Me, Feel Me,” “Acid Queen” (nicely embodied by Anise Ritchie), “I’m Free,” and “Pinball Wizard." And, the cast sings the music strongly, with credit going to excellent music direction by Steve Gunderson, a fine sound design by Tom Jones, and a seventeen-piece orchestra of SCPA students under the direction of faculty member Tamara Paige. Four of the students (Joshua Vasquez, Kalani Mojica-Doneza, Michael Angeles, and Martin Martiarena) even get some stage time as stand-ins for The Who (nice playing, guys, but work on your rock-star moves, ok?).

Mr. Woodhouse’s production is highly fluid, using all of the Lyceum’s large stage (credit Mike Buckley for his multi-level scenic design) and looks terrific (credit Jennifer Brawn Gittings for costumes, Trevor Norton for lighting, and Victoria Petrovich for projections). Javier Velasco’s choreography is what particularly explodes in this production, and when it is good it is very, very good. But, there are a few times that Mr. Velasco goes overboard and either creates something that the cast has trouble executing or which pulls focus from the principal performers.

B. Slade is primarily a recording artist and his theatrical highlights here (SD Musical Theatre’s Dreamgirls, the REP’s The Princess and the Black-Eyed Pea) have been on this same stage. He proves to be a charismatic presence, particularly as a singer. The other principals also sing well and occupy their roles comfortably if not memorably.

Two performances from the SCPA contingent stand out, however. One is by Dylan Hoffinger, as part of the Pinball Wizard production number. Mr. Hoffinger, who was so fine in Diversionary’s production of Anita Bryant Died for your Sins, proves that his initial professional theatre success was no fluke with a performance that lights up the stage (see the video below for a sample). The other is by Ms. Van Dusen, who not only makes a credible 10-year-old boy but whose singing voice is pitch perfect and in a timbre that is entirely credible as that of a boy soprano.

The Who’s Tommy runs through August 14 and is the first of a series of off-beat musicals to open locally (the others are Cygnet’s Little Shop of Horrors and the Old Globe’s production of Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show). These other companies will have to work hard to top what the REP’s achieved.

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